EDD-FPX8526_JudeRoss_Assessment1-2.docx

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Capella University *

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8526

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Management

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Jan 9, 2024

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Uploaded by JusticeExploration25896

1 Problem of Practice Jude Ross School of Public Service and Education, Capella University EDD-FPX8526 - Change Leadership in a Learning Organization Stanley Crawford 12/16/2023

2 Organizational Overview The Lake School is a non-profit, PreSchool through 8th-grade independent school in the Lake Tahoe Area. It has around 50 total employees, 21 of which are teachers with 7 aids, and about 250 students. The mission of the school is to create a joyful and academically challenging learning environment that echoes the wonder of Lake Tahoe, cultivates community, and sparks personal discovery that leads to an extraordinary future for every student. Its vision is described as creating a thriving community of engaged students, passionate educators, and connected families. The school also describes its values as community, creativity, critical thinking, empathy, and optimism. Organizational Issue The problem is that there are few, if any, teachers at The Lake School basing their teaching practices on current brain science research. With a current audit of curriculum and practice at the school, it has been found that there is a growing gap between what is seen as best practice based on brain science research and what is actually happening in the classrooms. This gap is not focused on one area, grade, division, or classroom, it is seen across the school in all classrooms, although there is less of a gap in some classrooms than others. There is a clear indication that all teachers need to be able to apply Mind, Brain, and Education Science to their classroom practices in order to better serve our students and prepare them for the future. Currently, there are very few, if any, teachers trained in Mind, Brain, and Education Science. This fact can be seen in how the students are taught, their awareness of how their own brains work, and their knowledge of the strategies they can apply to grow and strengthen the synapses of their brains. It is clear that the main reason for this lapse in current educational best practices is due to the lack of training for the teachers.

3 Organizational Opportunity This is an important opportunity for the organization to reevaluate how they are applying best educational practices in order to create a space that reflects its mission, vision, and values. Mind, Brain, and Education Science has been able to map out scientifically proven methods for enhancing academic learning, making the process challenging and at the same time joyful and engaging for the students. By making students more aware of how their brain works and grows, along with proven strategies that will help the students enhance this process, the school would be providing them the tools to help them on their journey of personal discovery. They will be discovering how they learn, metacognition, and how they can grow this knowledge within their own bodies for the rest of their lives. There is no question that the school has a dedicated and passionate body of teachers. Yet, by giving the teachers these proven tools to further engage students and grow their abilities, it will help the teachers to continue to grow their passion for teaching as they see how the students are able to help regulate their own learning experiences and mental growth. This is also a chance to further grow this body of teachers beyond the experts in their teaching fields to experts in how the student’s brains work and learn as well. Mind, Brain, and Education Science has also been shown to help students think critically and grow creativity. It will help the students thrive in an ever-changing world, as the tools will be provided for them to know how they learn best and how they can adapt and grow as human beings. One of the tools this research will be able to give the students is optimism, as they learn that all brains are malleable and we are able to strengthen and grow our brains. They are able to create a growth mindset and will not be stuck in any one area, they can change themselves.

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4 Finally, by also educating the families of students in this important work, the organization will be creating a stronger community. Families will be given the tools in order to better understand how their children are growing and changing. These tools will also help these families to help their children on this journey of growth and understanding. It has been described by some researchers and teachers that by ignoring this body of work and not applying it to educational practices, teachers are actually committing educational malpractice. The science is so strong in showing how we can better connect with students and grow their knowledge and brains, that by not using this research educators could actually be found to be harming their students. Dr. Immordino-Yang says that “many of our educational practices in traditional educational environments directly undermine a person’s development of a proclivity toward a curious mind state.” (Freedman, J. 2020). The application of this research to the practices at the school is important as the school grows and reflects on its ability to live its mission, vision, and values. Not only is it imperative for schools to constantly be reflecting on how their lived experience is reflective of what their stated purpose is, but The Lake School is also coming up for re-accreditation in the next couple of years. This re-accreditation process will be a deep dive into how the school is living its mission and applying best practices in its organization. By not addressing and tackling this gap in best practice, the organization is not only doing a disservice to its students and families, but it will be in danger of not following the reflective practices that are needed to be shown during the re-accreditation process, thus endangering the re-accreditation of the school. Needs Assessment Support from the Head of School will be needed to conduct a full assessment of this issue within the organization. It would be helpful to have the backing of the Board of Trustees as well,

5 but this is not necessary. To create a proper assessment of this situation, there needs to be a proper strategic needs assessment in order to help determine how the organization can be moved and impacted over the long term in order to change the whole structure of how we teach our students. This study will give an overall roadmap of how the whole organization is impacted by the identified skill and knowledge gaps. Knowing where these gaps exist will help make the decisions as to how and where the school needs to change to move forward. It will also bring to light which training needs to be prioritized to help reach the desired state of the organization. Securing Support for the Needs Assessment Support for the needs assessment came about through a combination of events. First of all, an outside auditor was brought in to conduct an assessment of the curriculum practices at the school. This person found that there were gaps in how things were being taught and what current best practices were in the field of education. Suggestions were made, including working with the Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning in order to learn more about Mind, Brain, and Education Science and how to train teachers in this work. A little after this assessment was completed, the new Coordinator of Teaching and Learning attended a conference that was focused on Mind, Brain, and Education Science and met the director of the Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning. Through continued contact and conversations with Glenn Whitman and the outside auditor, as well as further research, this person was able to bring the research to the Head of School and show the continued importance of bringing this work to the school. Following all of this information, the Head of School was in full support of moving the school in this direction and also helped to add a new member to the Board of Trustees who was well-versed in this new research and could help explain the importance to the rest of the Board.

6 Stakeholder Interview Results and Impacts A preliminary interview conducted as part of the initial stages of research into an organizational performance issue provides valuable insights and serves as a foundation for further research. They can identify key issues and concerns that are deemed critical to the organization by these individuals. It can also help define the research objectives and questions, making them relevant and so they directly address the expressed concerns during the interview. These types of interviews can also refine the scope of the study, focusing it on the performance issues that emerge. Preliminary interviews can help the researcher choose the research methods needed to conduct the study. They also help to construct the theoretical framework as it can point the researcher in the direction of relevant theories and conceptual models for the study. Using the identified issues and concerns raised in the interview, the researcher can better develop the research propositions or hypotheses. Trust and rapport are also built between the researcher and the stakeholders through this process. Information gathered in the preliminary interviews assists the researcher in determining appropriate sampling strategies for the study. There is also an ability of the interview to provide insights into the feasibility of the proposed research. Finally, feedback from these types of interviews can be used in order to refine and enhance the data collection instruments. The issue at The Lake School was communicated by the Head of School in a variety of ways. Using the initial report created by the outside auditor as reading material to bring the researcher up to date on work done at the school to identify issues before conversations with the Head of School was a first step. This report was discussed at length between these two people with a focus on the curriculum and teaching practice issues. During this conversation, there was

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7 also a focus on how some of the teachers were working in silos and not always aware of how their actions were affecting others. This siloing was having an effect on the overall structure of the organization and the experiences of the students and families. The Head of School was also concerned about how teachers with longer seniority acted around the idea of change within teaching practices at the school. There seemed to be push-back from these individuals and further siloing might occur. An interview was also set up with the new member of the Board of Trustees who is also well versed in these issues and best educational practice research. This interview provided further insights into how the lack of use of Mind, Brain, and Education Science techniques is becoming a hindrance to the school reaching the excellence that is possible. The conversation gave the researcher connections and avenues for further research into this budding field of study in educational practices. These interviews and research from the outside auditor showed that familiarity and training in Mind, Brain, and Education Science is something that the teachers lacked at the school. This, along with some siloing and push-back from teachers, seem to be the key issues regarding organizational performance and improvement. Further research into best educational practice through the lens of Mind, Brain, and Education Science will be needed to accomplish a good needs assessment. It will be essential to collect where all the teachers lie in regard to their knowledge of Mind, Brain, and Education Science and how to apply this research to their everyday practice in the classroom. There is a great diagnostic tool developed by The Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning that can be used to gather some of this information. Further research into how Mind, Brain, and Education Science can be applied to everyday teacher use needs to be

8 gathered in order to be able to provide this information to the teachers. It will be essential to complete the post-diagnostic also developed by The Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning in order to see the impact any professional development for the teachers has. Continued monitoring of the standard Renaissance tests at the school will be essential to measure what impact this type of training has on the academics of the students. Diagnostics to measure student and family knowledge and growth within Mind, Brain, and Education Science will also need to be developed and used.

9 References Freedman, J. (2020, November 20). Learning & the brain: Neuroscientist Immordino-Yang . Six Seconds. https://www.6seconds.org/2020/09/15/neuroscience-learning/ What’s your MBE-IQ? The Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning. (2023, November 20). https://www.thecttl.org/necd/ Whitman, G., & Kelleher, I. (2023). Neuroteach: Brain science and the future of Education . Rowman & Littlefield.

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