The DNA Of Development

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The DNA of development

A new model for school change focuses on adult learning

By Eleanor Drago-Severson and Jessica Blum-DeStefano

June 2018

Vol. 38 No. 3

Reflecting on what she felt was the most vital leadership work happening in her large urban district, an experienced superintendent recently announced at a professional learning event: “If we can get adult development right, we can change the world.” Likewise, when the principal of a once-struggling school was asked about the secret behind her school’s dramatically improved test scores and teacher retention rates, her answer was simple: “Adult development. We’re doing adult development.” So why all this talk about adult development? Aren’t schools — and development, for that matter — for students? The fact is, caring for adults’ internal development is one of the most powerful drivers of educational change. When the adults in schools have the personal and organizational support to grow, they can

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Authors

Eleanor Drago-Severson and Jessica Blum-DeStefano

Eleanor Drago-Severson (drago-severson@tc.edu) is a professor at Teachers College, Columbia University, New York. Jessica Blum-Destefano (jblumdestefano@bankstreet.edu) is an adjunct instructor at Bank Street College of Education, New York.

References

Donaldson, G.A. (2008). How leaders learn: Cultivating capacities for school improvement. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Drago-Severson, E. (2009). Leading adult learning: Supporting adult development in our schools. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Drago-Severson, E. (2012). Helping educators grow: Strategies and practices for leadership development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.

Drago-Severson, E. & Blum-DeStefano, J. (2016).Tell me so I can hear you: A developmental approach to feedback for educators. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.

Drago-Severson, E. & Blum-DeStefano, J. (2018).Leading change together: Developing educator capacity within schools and systems.Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Drago-Severson, E., Blum-DeStefano, J., & Asghar, A. (2013). Learning for leadership: Developmental strategies for building capacity in our schools. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Ingersoll, R., Merrill, L., & Stuckey, D. (2014). Seven trends: The transformation of the teaching force. CPRE Report #RR-80. Philadelphia, PA: Consortium for Policy Research in Education, University of Pennsylvania.

Kegan, R. (2000). What “form” transforms? A constructive-developmental approach to transformative learning. In J. Mezirow & Associates (Eds.), Learning as transformation(pp. 35-70). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Kegan, R. & Lahey, L.L. (2016).An everyone culture: Becoming a deliberately developmental organization.Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press.

Leithwood, K. & Louis, K.S. (2012). Linking leadership to student learning.San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Meier, D. (2002).The power of their ideas: Lessons for America from a small school in Harlem. Boston, MA: Beacon Press.

School Leaders Network. (2014). Churn: The high cost of principal turnover.Hinsdale, MA: Author.