The Change Toolkit and High School Renewal in Vermont
By Doug Harris, Executive Director, The Vermont Institutes

As a former teacher, principal and superintendent I know that change in public schools is complex and requires orchestrating multiple interventions, juggling priorities, and engaging the entire learning community in the change process. I also know that this type of leadership must develop within the school or district and that an organization such as ours – which primarily focuses upon increased performance in mathematics through professional development, technical assistance, research, evaluation, and technology applications – works best when supporting local leadership through clearly defined protocols and focused interventions.

I first encountered the Change Toolkit in August 2002 in a Vermont-based seminar hosted by IBM, and I was immediately drawn to the Change Toolkit as a practical tool that could serve as an organizing framework to support interventions. The following year, I joined a Vermont team for a three-day seminar at Harvard Business School, led by Rosabeth Moss Kanter, which focused on leading innovation and transformation in public school systems. Our Vermont team was comprised of an Associate Superintendent, a Technology Director, a Program Director in Mathematics, a Program Specialist, the President of our Board, and me. Our team determined to focus on high school reform in Vermont as our state had just released High Schools on the Move, a blueprint for high school reform in our state.

Since the seminar I have utilized the Change Toolkit internally at The Vermont Institutes and with public school partners, including two high schools committed to fundamental changes in the educational experiences of their students. In the first high school, located on the Canadian border in northwest Vermont, we utilized the Change Toolkit in an Oversight Committee. This group, comprised of parents, educators, community, and Board members, revisited the school’s mission and purpose and developed a plan for comprehensive school reform. The committee utilized the Change Toolkit, and especially the Change Wheel, the Change Fundamentals, and the Diagnostics, to assess their organization, to set priorities among multiple, competing needs, and to select a strategy and partners to spearhead significant school changes. This work is well underway, has momentum, and has engendered community support not commonly seen in that community.

The second school, a small rural middle and high school in central Vermont, has embarked on a restructuring plan with four objectives: raise standards; improve student achievement levels, increase student responsibility, and respond to the needs of each student. The work is spearheaded by the school principal and a strong, committed faculty design team. As these leaders link the school curriculum to the state’s grade level expectations and develop the assessment system, we have introduced the Change Toolkit early in the process. We have used the many tools in the Change Wheel to structure our work and our planning as engage students, parents, community, and educators in this complex transition. The school is creating a continuous progress learning environment, including a team-based program in grades 7-8, a common core curriculum in grades 9-10, and individually designed learning opportunities in grades 11-12. The foundations of this change will be assessments of student performance, including tests, exhibitions, and demonstrations, personalized learning plans, and multiple learning pathways.

In my work I have found that the Change Toolkit is especially effective in working with a defined change team committed to a specific, defined, set of outcomes. Each of these high schools have used the Change Toolkit to great advantage in planning communication strategies, in focusing and defining their work, and in developing specific timelines and milestones for implementing schools change. The Change Toolkit is invaluable, the support from the IBM team led by Marian Lawlor has been exemplary, and the impact of this set of tools unlimited.

--About the Vermont Institutes: the Vermont Institutes is a non-profit educational organization in Vermont committed to "Excellence and Equity for All Learners."