For systemic change to be effective, it is
important to involve the stakeholders in the decision making and
change processes and to look beyond pieces of the whole to
understand the relationship between them. With this awareness and
involvement of others, the change process begins. At its core is
the concept of continuous improvement.
The process of continuous improvement was
first put to widespread use during World War II, when the United
States government supported improvements in quality, basically,
to make sure every gun would fire and hit the right target. With
the end of the war, American industry abandoned the continuous
improvement practices in the rush to meet global demand for
goods. Meanwhile, the originators of the continuous improvement
approach were invited to Japan to assist in rebuilding the
war-ravaged economy. The Japanese readily adopted the continuous
improvement approach and within 40 years had outstripped American
industry in several sectors.
With the Japanese foreign car boom, U.S.
industrial leaders sought the reason for the Japanese success and
found continuous improvement at its core. With renewed interest,
American industry began using these concepts again. The practice
quickly spread to the service economy and is now being adopted in
many school districts as part of the systemic change approach.
Continuous improvement strategies can provide the tools for
education decision-makers to demonstrate leadership and be
accountable to the public. They have also been used to prepare
our students for the transition from school to the 21st century
work place.
This section provides an overview of the
basics in systemic change and continuous improvement, including
how to overcome obstacles. It shows the roles of various players
within the district and points to some resources that are useful
in developing a systemic change approach in your school and
district.
In this
section:
In the
Toolkit: