1.2 Change and the knowledge base of educational administration  (Page 16/16)

The results of this study suggest that schools take at least five years to adapt, transform, andinstitutionalize a major change effort. Substantive change requires time to educate participants about what is being changed and timeto implement strategies that facilitate and sustain change efforts. Shorter timelines that are expected by the general public, schoolboard members, and other policy makers are counterproductive to sustaining change. Although this study examined changes in middleschools, the process of deep change at other school levels, mostlikely, will follow a similar process and use similar strategies, whether initiated at the district or school levels. Comprehendingchange theories and understanding how these theories guide the implementation of substantial change are essential components inthe knowledge base for educational administration.

Failure to change schools is often attributed to the incompetence of educators to alter the outcomes ofschooling. We suggest that the lack of deep levels of school reform is actually the failure of policymakers, school board members, andeducational leaders to fully understand the different levels of change, recognize the cycles of the change process, and comprehendthe strategies needed to facilitate and sustain second-order change.

Data from this study clearly confirm that the demands and expectations for current and future educational leadersexpand far beyond the knowledge and skills needed for instructional leadership alone. In this regard, the assertion by Fullan (2002) isappropriately stated:“The role of the principal as instructional leader is too narrow a concept to carry the weight of the kinds ofreforms that will create the schools that we need for the future”(p.17).

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