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    Blueprint For A Learning System

    Create one larger, more flexible team that encourages collaboration in all directions

    By Learning Forward
    June 2013
    Picture this: Teachers sharing insights and challenges. Principals leading with trust. Central office leaders inspiring and supporting principals. Educators regularly crafting innovative solutions to problems of practice. Students working collaboratively to solve problems that have relevance and meaning. A synergistic school system that results in all students learning at high levels. Sadly, the vast majority of schools in the United States have not been able to reach these ideals. Most school districts provide the best education their school systems are designed to produce. Every day, teachers and administrators come to work and do the best job they know how. In the book School Systems That Learn (Ash & D’Auria, 2013), we argue that most school systems, as they are currently designed, have reached or nearly

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    Authors

    Paul B. Ash and John D'Auria

    Paul B. Ash (pash@sch.ci.lexington.ma.us) is superintendent of schools in Lexington, Mass. John D’Auria (Jdauria@teachers21.org) is president of Teachers21 in Wellesley, Mass. They are the authors of School Systems That Learn: Improving Professional Practice, Overcoming Limitations, and Diffusing Innovation (Corwin Press & Learning Forward, 2013), from which this article is adapted.

    Collaboration in All Directions

    blueprint-for-a-learning-system-1

    School Systems That Learn: Improving Professional Practice, Overcoming Limitations, and Diffusing Innovation 

    blueprint-for-a-learning-systemPaul B. Ash
    & John D’Auria

    This practitioner’s guide to creating a systemwide learning organization focuses on professional learning as the stimulus to improving student achievement. Corwin Press & Learning Forward, 2013

    Available in the Learning Forward Bookstore: https://store.learningforward.org.

    Paul B. Ash, co-author of School Systems That Learn, hosted a two-part webinar exploring how leaders can create cultures of innovation and curiosity in their schools. Watch the archive of these webinars at www.learningforward.org/learning-opportunities/webinars.

    References

    Ash, P. & D’Auria, J. (2013). School systems that learn: Improving professional practice, overcoming limitations, and diffusing innovation. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press & Learning Forward.

     

    Bryk, A.S. & Schneider, B. (2002). Trust in schools: A core resource for improvement. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.

    Edmonson, A. (2012). Teaming: How organizations learn, innovate, and compete in the knowledge economy. San Francisco, CA: Josey-Bass.

    Fullan, M. (1993). Change forces: Probing the depths of educational change. London, United Kingdom: Falmer Press.

    Hattie, J. (2009). Visible learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement. New York, NY: Routledge.

    MetLife. (2010). MetLife survey of the American teacher: Collaborating for student success. New York, NY: Author.

    Mourshed, M., Chijioke, C., & Barber, M. (2010). How the most improved school sys­tems keep getting better. New York, NY: McKinsey & Company.

    Reina, M.L. & Reina, D.S. (2007). Building sustainable trust. OD Practitioner, 39(1), 36-41.

    Scholastic & Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. (2010). Primary sources: America’s teachers on America’s schools. New York, NY: Author.

    Senge, P. (1996). Leading learning organizations: The bold, the powerful, and the invisible. In F. Hesselbein, M. Goldsmith, & R. Beckhard (Eds.), The leader of the future. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

    Wolk, R. (2009, April 22). Why we’re still ‘at risk.’ Education Week.

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    Learning Forward is the only professional association devoted exclusively to those who work in educator professional development. We help our members plan, implement, and measure high-quality professional learning so they can achieve success with their systems, schools, and students.

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