Lynn


 * Resistance to Change: Educators**

[|http://0-web.ebscohost.com.uncclc.coast.uncwil.edu/ehost/detail?vid=6&hid=3&sid=6c1ecf1e-ac35-4e7a-84c4-d24b7a7c8e14%40sessionmgr10&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=eric&AN=EJ813226]  Traditional schools are notorious for being isolated, inflexible, and //**reluctant **// //**to **// //**change **//. This lack of professional dialogue among educators remains a significant barrier //**to **// successful school improvement, resulting in teachers' practices becoming stagnant and student achievement suffering. The K20 Center for Educational and Community Renewal at the University of Oklahoma addresses this barrier through research and professional development focused on teaching and learning innovations. Knowledge gained from these research activities is transferred //**to **// network schools through professional development for K-12 teachers, principals, superintendents, and other key stakeholders. This article describes the K20 Center's research-based systemic //**change **// model, which moves beyond a conceptual framework //**to **// actually improving teacher quality and student success.

[] School restructuring can be frightening for teachers, administrators, and even students as they give up familiar roles and are introduced **//to//** new paradigms. Educators affected by restructuring efforts often feel out of place, are **//reluctant//** **//to//** **//change//**, and anxious about the unknown. This paper describes approaches for helping school community members deal with educational **//change//**. Individuals must be given the chance **//to//** attach personal meaning **//to//** the paradigm and the **//change//** it implies. The organization should acknowledge that some people may feel loss and act out their grief in a manner similar **//to//** Kubler-Ross's stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. School administrators must allow individual relearning **//to//** take place as participants reorganize new paradigms and assign personal meaning **//to//** them. Successful restructuring entails: (1) the courage **//to//** ask people what specifically terrifies them; (2) the support that allows people **//to//** share their fears; (3) the patience that allows people **//to//** experience feelings and work through conflicts; and (4) the respect **//to//** honor individuals' searches for personal meaning.
 * The Heart of Educational Restructuring: Dealing with ****//Change //****. **

[] //**Reluctant **//** //<span style="font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif';">to // //<span style="font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif';">Change //: Self-Enhancing Responses //<span style="font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif';">to // Diverging Performance Measures ** <span style="font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif'; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">Although there is extensive evidence that past performance influences the propensity //**<span style="font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif';">to **// make //**<span style="font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif';">changes **//, research on how decision makers respond //**<span style="font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif';">to **// diverging performance measures has been sparse. This paper addresses this gap in an experimental and a field study in which we examine how decision makers respond //**<span style="font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif';">to **// the ambiguity introduced by two diverging performance indicators of unequal importance. Both studies suggest that decision makers respond //**<span style="font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif';">to **// diverging performance indicators in a self-enhancing manner. Decision makers gave importance //**<span style="font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif';">to **// a secondary performance indicator only when it helped them maintain a sense of positive performance, that is, when a secondary performance measure was high and a primary performance measure was low. The results suggest that, in contexts in which decision makers are likely //**<span style="font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif';">to **// experience diverging performance indicators, perceptions of success and the associated reluctance //**<span style="font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif';">to **// make //**<span style="font-family: 'Tahoma','sans-serif';">changes **// might be more pervasive than is often thoug ge

[] The reluctance of teachers to use technology in the classroom. It addresses why K-12 professions are the last to jump on board for 21st Century Technology.

[] Discusses the negative feedback loop/change process--the obstacles to change such a laborious process.

[] Addresses how systemic change usually involves throwing out the old and bringing in the new---certain to fail. Change should embrace the good/functioning parts of the old; it is imperative to introduce change in a way that supports what already exists effectively.

[] Discusses four categories of barriers to change: cultural, social, organizational, and psychological. I think the objective is to embrace resistence as a form of feedback to be used proactively to create change. It should be viewed as separate from the sender, receiver, environment, innovation, and the process. Resistance can independently block communication among the five active components. An analogy would be the Zen process of embracing an illness to cure it.