Albert Einstein famously said, “If I had an hour to solve a problem, I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.”
The first step in transforming your school or district is knowing why you are transforming your school or district. What does it mean to understand “the why?” Usually, this has three parts: looking backward, looking forward, and reflecting on values. Looking backward, your “why’ will come from historical challenges, shortcomings, and gaps. What challenges have you faced? What shortcomings in outcomes have you historically seen for students in your school or district? Which students have been continuously underserved? Why? What have you tried that has not worked? Looking ahead, what will you need to do do prepare students for success in the future? What gaps exist between the educational experiences you provide for students and the educational, civic, economic, and social competencies they will need to thrive in the modern world? And finally, your “why’ will come from reflecting on your values. What does education mean to students and families in your community? Are you living up to these aspirations and expectations? To what extent is your school or district modeling the values of equity, inclusion, and learning?
As you reflect on the past, the future, and your values you will begin to see a picture. This will be a picture of the challenges you’ve faced that require new solutions, the changes that need to occur for your school or district to keep pace with the modern world, and what it could look like to align education with your community’s values and aspirations. These are the components of your “why.” These insights comprise the compelling reason for change, and they are important for everyone in your community – students, teachers, leaders, and families – to understand. You will draw on your “why” often: to inspire people, to address fear of change, to identify change priorities and starting points, and to measure progress.
Questions to Consider
- Who needs to be involved in the process of determining your “why?” How will you involve voices that have been traditionally marginalized?
- What challenges have you faced? What shortcomings in outcomes have you historically seen for students in your school or district? Which students have been continuously underserved?
- What will you need to do do prepare students for success in the future? What gaps exist between the educational experiences you provide for students and the educational, civic, economic, and social competencies they will need to thrive in the modern world?
- What does education mean to students and families in your community? Are you living up to these aspirations and expectations? To what extent is your school or district modeling the values of equity, inclusion, and learning?
- Who needs to understand your “why?” How will you communicate it?
- How will your why inform what you do? What does it tell you about change priorities, starting points, and success metrics?
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