This book, an accessible resource for busy practitioners, is a unique hybrid of two genres. As a "tourist guide", it shows you:- how to prepare for the journey- what to pay attention to upon arrival- how to deal with the unexpected.
As a "consumer report", it helps you:- identify some of the best tools and sources about change- access useful information about the change process- find information about the strengths and challenges of various strategies.
Thorough and comprehensive, it offers essential information about how to:- form leadership teams- identify high stakes problems- build commitment- create a school-wide vision and establish school-wide goals - handle setbacks- maintain the vision and sustain change. - evaluate and assess comprehensive school change.
Also included is a section called "Ports of Call" which provides sources of information to help you implement comprehensive school reform at your site. From Michael Fullan's Foreword . . ."Chenoweth and Everhart take the big concepts of change and work them through operationally at the level of day-to-day practice. We learn how to form leadership teams, the importance of focusing on capacity-building and reculturing, how to build commitment while dealing with dissatisfaction, problem-solving during implementation, how to keep going, and how to go beyond standardized testing in developing a range of alternative assessment strategies.