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"Creating a Learning Organization" (1998).
By Larry Lashway, ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Management
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School leaders in a whimsical mood sometimes play a parlor game
called "Spot That Jargon," in which the goal is to name as many
past educational fads as possible. The list is usually impressive:
dozens of would-be reforms that were introduced with great fanfare
& then quickly faded away.
The game is played with tongue in cheek, but it often stirs some
sad reflections. Why are schools so susceptible to enthusiastic
but short-lived fads? What makes it so difficult to turn a
promising idea into a lasting contribution?
Such questions have recently sparked interest in yet another new
idea: "the learning organization." According to some theorists,
schools that dedicate themselves to systematic, collaborative
problem-solving can "continually" develop & implement new ideas,
thereby not just improving but transforming themselves. Does
research support this optimistic view? Or will the learning
organization, five years from now, be just another entry on the
jargon list?
CAN SCHOOLS BE LEARNING ORGANIZATIONS?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kenneth Leithwood & colleagues (1995) define a learning
organization as:
a group of people pursuing common purposes (individual
purposes as well) with a collective commitment to regularly
weighing the value of those purposes, modifying them when that
makes sense, & continuously developing more effective &
efficient ways of accomplishing those purposes.
Although this is an inspiring vision, schools may be far from
achieving it. Teacher isolation, lack of time, & the complexity of
teaching present significant barriers to sustained organizational
learning (Larry Lashway 1997).
Not surprisingly, researchers have often found that substantive
changes in teaching practices are elusive. Richard Elmore &
colleagues (1996) discovered that even when teachers were willing
to learn new methods, they often applied them in a superficial or
inconsistent way, offering the appearance but not the substance of
real change.
Moreover, while rhetoric on learning organizations is plentiful,
thoughtful research is harder to find. Summing up their study of
the literature, Leithwood & colleagues noted that "we have almost
no systematic evidence describing the conditions which foster &
inhibit such learning."
Despite this vein of pessimism, other researchers have begun to
identify schools in which entire faculties have become proficient
in new forms of instruction, resulting in immediate impact on
student learning & behavior. The remainder of this Digest
highlights several key findings from this work.
HOW CAN STAFF LEARNING BE FOCUSED?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Educational reforms are often undertaken in a rushed atmosphere,
with a dozen different initiatives going on simultaneously.
Training may consist of a one-day workshop, with little provision
for practice & feedback.
Beverly Showers, Carlene Murphy, & Bruce Joyce (1996) studied three
schools that undertook a systematic, sustained reform that focused
on several models of teaching with a strong research base,
including cooperative learning, concept-attainment, & synectics.
These models were designed to supplement teachers" existing
strategies, not replace them.
The models were taught in three steps to all teachers. The first
phase was designed to give teachers a theoretical understanding of
the new concepts. This was followed by multiple demonstrations
(mainly videotapes of classroom instruction) & opportunities to
practice the new skills in the workshop setting.
Showers & colleagues note that this intensive workshop model is
sufficient for teachers to introduce new strategies in their
classrooms, but without additional support fewer than 10 percent
will persist long enough to integrate the new skills into their
repertoire. They maintain that proficiency requires twenty to
thirty trials under classroom conditions. Thus they encouraged
teachers to use the new methods immediately & frequently, & to
organize themselves into study teams for sharing, observation, &
peer coaching.
The results were notable. At the end of the first year, 88 percent
of the teachers were using the new strategies regularly &
effectively. In one middle school, promotion rates soared, while
the average achievement test score jumped from the twenty-fifth to
the forty-second percentile. In addition, disciplinary referrals
dropped to about one-fifth the previous level.
HOW IS LEARNING DRIVEN BY DATA?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bruce Joyce & Emily Calhoun (1996) note that schools are "both
information-rich & information-impoverished." School personnel
collect a prodigious amount of information, from test scores
toattendance figures, yet rarely link this wealth of data to
school-improvement efforts.
Joyce & Calhoun cite the case of a middle school in which only 30
percent of the students earned promotion at the end of each year.
Although these figures were known for years to everyone in the
school, the faculty had never met to reflect on the failure rate or
study the causes. When a staff development program finally focused
attention on the figures, the situation began to change. Within
two years, 95 percent of the students were being promoted.
Focusing on data confronts staff with hard evidence that may
challenge existing perceptions of success; discrepancies raise
sharp questions about what is happening & why. In addition,
monitoring data provides a good way of tracking the effects of
change efforts. Joyce & Calhoun point out that this is especially
important in convincing faculty that students can achieve more than
they thought possible. Finally, study of data often leads to a
desire for more information. As reform efforts proceed, the school
generates increasingly sophisticated data & uses it in a meaningful
way.
WHAT CHANGES IN THE WORKPLACE SUPPORT ORGANIZATIONAL LEARNING?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Some studies point to changes in the workplace as a key to
successful organizational learning.
First, schedules & assignments should allow time for collective
inquiry. Joyce & Calhoun argue that significant reform is "nearly
impossible" in a typical school workplace; at best, people will
move forward as individual "points of light," but they will be
unable to form a learning community.
Thus, schools must provide time for teachers to work & reflect
together. Some schools, using early dismissal one afternoon a
week, have been able to clear out significant blocks of time. In
addition, Sharon Kruse & Karen Louis (1993) point out the
importance of well-developed communication structures such as email
& regular faculty meetings, as well as a common space for working.
Collective inquiry may be strengthened by more democratic forms of
governance. Joyce & Calhoun advocate the formation of "Responsible
Parties" to lead the school community in improvement efforts.
These groups, composed of administrators, teachers, parents, &
community members, would not be traditional parliamentary decision-
making groups, but would act as champions for extended inquiry.
Guiding such diverse groups (whose members may have differing
agendas & little experience working together) is especially
challenging for leaders. Laura Lipton & Robert Melamede (1997)
suggest that the key to successful group dynamics is dialogue
rather than debate, with the emphasis on listening, suspending
judgment, & seeking common understanding. In successful dialogue,
participants learn not to march directly toward the nearest
solution but to examine assumptions & share multiple perspectives
that open the way to new types of collective learning.
Finally, new strategies appear to be best learned in small groups
that provide motivation, support, sympathetic sounding boards, &
technical assistance (Joyce & Calhoun).
WHAT IS THE LEADER'S ROLE?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Creating a learning organization requires a deep rethinking of the
leader's role. Principals & superintendents must see themselves as
"learning leaders" responsible for helping schools develop the
capacity to carry out their mission. A crucial part of this role
is cultivating & maintaining a shared vision (Lashway, Leithwood &
colleagues, Lipton & Melamede). The vision provides focus,
generating questions that apply to everyone in the organization.
Learning becomes a collaborative, goal-oriented task rather than a
generalized desire to "stay current."
At a more mundane level, leaders must tend to the organizational
structures that support continuous learning, squeezing time out of
a busy schedule, collecting & disseminating information that
accurately tracks the school's performance, & creating forms of
governance that support collective inquiry.
Perhaps most important, leaders must view their organizations as
learning communities, for faculty as well as students. This
requires casting school improvement in terms of hypotheses to be
tested rather than solutions to be handed out, attacking the
barriers to collaboration, & making decisions democratically rather
than bureaucratically (Joyce & Calhoun). When the spirit of
inquiry permeates the daily routine, schools are on their way to
becoming true learning organizations.
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NOTE: The "Resources" at the end of this Digest have been omitted
because of space. Those Resources, along with this Digest, can be
found at: http://www.ed.gov/databases/ERIC_Digests/ed420897.html
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Keith Stubbs, Kirk Winters & Peter Kickbush
U.S. Department of Education
peter_kickbush@ed.gov
--Jack Hirschfeld Why was I born? Why am I living? jack@his.com
Trans*Form Group, Inc. affiliated with Global Consulting Group
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>