Giving Compass' Take:

• There are many misconceptions about school change management and how teachers will approach different tasks with success.  The authors outline three significant misconceptions regarding school improvement methods. 

• How can schools use the Jobs to Be Done Theory of change to understand what school reform will work with individual teachers and what won't work?

• Read more about the Jobs to Be Done Theory and teacher motivation. 

Misconceptions are dangerous things. They shackle our visions of what’s possible and doom us to consequences we do not expect.

School leaders, especially, need accurate notions of how the world works if they want their school improvement efforts to succeed. Yet many bold and promising ideas to transform schools falter when leaders rely on conventional wisdom about how to make their initiatives flourish.

Recently, my colleagues and I released a research paper that unveils common misconceptions about change management in schools.  Using research methods based on the Jobs to Be Done Theory — an approach for identifying the causes driving demand for new products, services, and solutions — we asked teachers about the specific circumstances and events that led them to adopt new instructional practices.

Our findings shed light on a number of widely accepted, yet inaccurate, change management ideas that often lead well-intended initiatives awry.

  • Misconception 1: Student-centered practices appeal intrinsically to most teachers: The teachers we interviewed wanted to do what’s best for their students. But when school leaders extended this notion in the belief that student-centered strategies would have universal appeal, their approaches often ran afoul.
  • Misconception 2: Early adopters are the key to building buy-in: New initiatives always have early adopters — the teachers who are ready and eager to try out new practices. But it’s a mistake to assume that age or personality type is what makes someone an early adopter.
  • Misconception 3: Beginning-of-year professional development ensures an initiative’s success: Professional development consistently earns top billing in the list of essential elements for effective school change management. We don’t disagree with its importance.

Read the full article about school improvement by Thomas Arnett at The 74