weekly assignment(9)Realizing School Improvement Through Understanding the Change Process

Realizing School Improvement Through Understanding the Change Process

透過了解改變的過程來理解學校的改進

Federal legislation, state regulations, district mandates - in addition to local school and community interests - all have demanded change, improvement, and new results from schools. These voices have vigorously exhorted school administrators and teachers to respond to the challenges of producing a more technologically prepared citizenry and to the needs of various student populations designated as at-risk. While schools have responded with effective schools projects, school improvement programs, and any number of efforts to change curriculum and instructional practices, little real or widespread change seems to have occurred. Schools, classroom settings, teaching, and instructional strategies are remarkably the same as they were years ago. Cuban (1988, p. 89) observes that "innovation after innovation has been introduced into school after school . . . disappearing without a fingerprint." Why has so little change been realized? Why have so few new results been obtained?

－除了當地學校和社區利益之外－聯邦法規，各州規則，學區命令三者都要求學校的改變，改進和新成果。這些聲音強而有力的規勸學校行政者和教師對技術上打造一個準公民的挑戰以及為在危機中的不同族裔學生的需求作出回應。當學校已對有效能學校方案、學校改進計畫以及改變課程和教學實施做了努力，少數真實或廣為流傳的改變似乎已經在發生。學校，教室布置，教師教學，以及教學策略與多年前非常雷同(Brandt, 1991)。Cuban (1988, p. 89)觀察到“創新之後的創新已經在學校間廣為流傳…然後消失到連指紋都看不到”。為什麼如此微小的改變能被實現？為什麼新的成果少得可憐？

Nearly everyone is familiar with the number of highly promising new programs or innovations that have paraded through schools. Their recurring introductions were matched all too frequently by teachers' antipathy and resignation. "Don't put too much energy into this one," they would say, "this, too, will go away." This is not to fault teachers, who typically received little support, guidance, or assistance in implementing the new programs. Rather, the change process was not given sufficient attention.

幾乎每個人對大有可為的新方案或已經風靡學校的創新都感到熟悉。對於它們被介紹的太過於頻繁以至於引起教師的反感並且辭職。他們會說“不要耗費太多精力在這事兒上”“這個（創新），也一樣，很快就會消失”。這並不是責難已經在實施這些新方案上得到一點支持、指導或協助的教師。而是改變的過程並未受到足夠的關注。

The regular demise of this multiplicity of programs led to the judgment that the innovations themselves were not effective, because they produced no appreciable student outcomes. In most cases, in fact, the programs were never incorporated into the day to day operations of classrooms and could be found in bookshelves gathering dust. As Fullan (1982, p. 22) suggests, "Reforms . . . may fail to make a difference . . . because the plans and resources necessary to accomplish implementation are not adequate to the task." A simple way to state this lack of events is: no implementation, no change, no improved results.

這種方案的多樣性經常終止，導致做出創新本身是沒有效能的判斷，因為它們沒有對學生產生不同的學習成果。事實上，在大多數情況下，方案並未被融入日常教室運作內而且可能被放到生蝨母（可能被放在書架上生灰塵）。如Fullan (1982, p. 22)所建議，“改革…想要與眾不同可能會失敗…因為實施所需的計劃和資源對任務而言並不適當”。“簡單一句話就是：沒有執行，就沒有改變，當然更沒有改進的成

果”。

The good news is that we understand a great deal about the process of change and how to incorporate new programs into classroom life. Acting on that understanding can provide a significant means for moving schools toward desired improvement. One of the imperatives for acting immediately to address school change and improvement is the status of many children in our society, and their widespread lack of success in schools. These at-risk students now constitute thirty percent of the school population. They include students who will drop out before high school graduation, or who will graduate ill-prepared for meaningful work or post-secondary education (Knapp & Schield, 1990). "We are programming our children and our nation to fail," states Charles Gershenson, director of statistical analysis for the Center for the Study of Social Policy (Goldman, March 31, 1991). Policymakers in both the education and economic sectors call for action now. Fortunately a number of innovative programs and strategies, tested for their potential to increase the educational success of at-risk students, are available (Orr, 1987). However, no innovation, however effective, can succeed unless schools accommodate and address the process of change.

好消息是我們非常了解改變的過程以及如何將新方案融入到教室生活中。根據那種理解來行動，可以為推動學校達到我們所期望的改進，提供一個重要的手段。提出立即推動學校改變和改進的其中一項必要性是我們社會中許多孩子的狀況，以及他們普遍缺少在學校成功的機會。這些在危機中的學生現在占了學校總人口數的30%。包括未完成中等教育的輟學生，或者是在準備不足情況下畢業，找不到有意義的工作或繼續高中後教育。(Knapp & Schield, 1990) 社會政策研究統計分析中心的主任Charles Gershenson 說“我們正在規劃我們的孩子和我們的國家走向失敗(Goldman, March 31, 1991)”。在教育部和經濟部正在呼籲採取行動。幸運地有一些測試危機中學生增加其教育成功的可能性創新方案和策略隨手可得 (Orr, 1987)。然而，沒有創新，卻要獲得效能和成功，除非學校能夠調適並提出改變的過程。

Two important questions, each focused on a dimension of the change process, can inform implementation activities so that school improvement can be realized: What exactly is the innovation to be introduced? What happens to the individuals who will implement the innovation into their work settings and practices? A discussion of these two questions is the major focus of this paper.

有兩個重要問題，焦點都著重在改變過程的角度，能夠傳達實施活動以使學校改進能被理解：創新到底應該介紹些甚麼？對想要在他們工作環境和執行上實施創新的人會發生甚麼事？討論這兩個問題是本文的主要焦點。

資料來源：

http://www.sedl.org/change/issues/issues11.html

本譯文僅做課堂上學術交流討論使用，特此聲明。