1.6 Step-up-to-excellence:a change navigation protocol for transforming  (Page 15/20)

The most direct answer to the above objection is that Step-Up-To-Excellence is being used in the in theMetropolitan School District of Decatur Township in Indianapolis, Indiana. The protocol has been blended with a protocol created byDr. Charles Reigeluth called the Guidance System for Transforming Education (GSTE). Dr. Reigeluth is also facilitating that systemicchange effort.

New methodologies to create and sustain district-wide change are not perfect and they never will be.Educators should not even try to find a perfect protocol. Instead, they need to examine new methods for navigating whole-districtchange, study how they work, find glitches in the processes, and search for logical flaws in the reasoning behind the methods. Then,assuming that a method is based on sound principles for improving whole systems, educators should then think about how they mightcorrect the flaws to make the method work for their districts.

Some people read about whole-district change and exclaim,“Impossible”! Impossible is what some people think can not be done until someone proves them wrong by doing it.Whole-district change not only“is-possible,”but it is being done successfully in school systems throughout the United States; e.g.,in the Baldrige award-winning school districts of Chugach Public Schools in Anchorage, Alaska; the Pearl River School District inNew York; and the Jenks Public Schools in Oklahoma. Other districts engaged in district-wide change were described in a research studyby Togneri and Anderson (2003). The districts in that study were:

• Aldine Independent School District, Texas
• Chula Vista Elementary School District, California
• Kent County Public Schools, Maryland
• Minneapolis Public Schools, Minnesota
• Providence Public Schools, Rhode Island

The improvements these districts experienced were guided by many of the principles that underpin SUTE. So, ifeducators read about a protocol that seems impossible, they should ask,“If other school districts are using ideas and principles like these, why can’t we?”

Some educators and policymakers will read about whole-district change and say,“Impractical.”Not only are the core principles and change-tools based on these principlespractical, many of them are proven to work in school districts and other organizations throughout the United States. So, if and wheneducators and policymakers think that trying to improve an entire school system is impractical they should ask,“If other school districts have used these principles effectively, why can’t we?”

Some people will read this article and proclaim,“Wow, these ideas are really far out. They are way outside the box.”It is my hope that readers will say this. If theydo, this means I have succeeded in offering them some innovative ideas to think about and apply. And, if and when they see somethingthat seems“way outside the box,”they should ask,“If this idea is outside the box, what box are we in?”and,“Do we want to stay inside this box of ours?”