1.3 Teacher Led Instructional Improvement
While Dr. Fullan's suggestions on "How to Get There" (Chapter 5) do not specifically call for small, collaborative groups of teachers focused on achievement (See Schmoker, Lesson Study) - he does discuss a continuum between "Performance Training Sects" (Hargreaves) that appear to be manifestations of informed external prescription and "Professional Learning Communities" that would fit with the concept of teacher-led instructional improvement.  However, he also expresses a belief that teachers cannot be trusted to work in such groups with deep and rigorous focus on results when, on page 7 he says, "It takes capacity to build capacity, so providing professional autonomy to groups of teachers who don't have the commitment and wherewithal to conduct their work with disciplined knowledge inquiry and moral purpose will do no more than squander resources."
I ran into this attitude a great deal when working on Lesson Study.  Central office administrators who seemed to support the idea would, about twenty minutes into the discussion ask, in one fashion or another, "How are we going to keep the teachers from screwing it up?"  As I worked with principals and teachers who really "got it", I came to the conclusion that it was central office administrators and control-oriented principals who were more likely to "screw up" teacher-led instructional improvement.
However, Dr. Fullan does go on to identify the need for principals who can get teachers in deep conversations about student learning, and systems that can develop such principals in sufficient numbers.  He also identifies a number of challenges that have to be faced in creating a culture of teacher-led instructional improvement:
  • a tendency by principals and other administrative leaders to assume more constraints on their options than really exist
  • a tendency to believe improved student achievement depends on external factors such as reduced poverty, fewer "broken" homes, more community support for schools, etc.
  • frequent top-down change programs that convey the message that the ideas and engagement of teachers are not important and tend to develop dependency in principals, teachers and schools
  • lack of the habits and attitudes necessary for collaborative effort, including acceptance of peer scrutiny and critique of one's work
  • failure at the system level to design a complete and complementary set of policies
  • lack of a transparent method of accounting to the public for the results of collaborative efforts.
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