Can We Make Real, Transformative Change in Education?

Educaon depends on safe, o rd e r l y, p re d i c ta b l e sy stems—something that the COVID19 pandemic undermined. It's taughtmanyofushowinterdependent we all are and how interconnectedoursystemscanbe. There are examples on almost every level Our regional educaonal school district, aer moving locaons, hasn't had office furni ture all year, due to the shipping crisis. I recently visited several middle schools that only have porta-poes aer students vandalized bathrooms at the start of the school year, spurred by a destrucvesocialmediacampaign. Orderly school board meengs are interrupted with heckles and protestsaroundissueslikemasking and vaccinaon, reflecng raging culture wars. On the front yard of mylocalelementaryschool,abusis parked with a giant banner adversing the desperate need for bus drivers, a dramac display of the labor shortage throughout America Administrators are acng as substute teachers, mopping floors,changingdiapers…whatever it takes to simply keep the system going.

It feels like chaos, and it isn't just our systems that are falling apart—it's people, too. The mental health crisis among children that was already occurring before the pandemic is at epic proporons, with reports that up to 80% of children are now suffering from depression, anxiety, and other issues. Arcles that “the kids are notOK”werefollowedwitharcles of how “the teachers are not OK.” But what's really not OK are the systemsthemselves.

“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society,” as the philosopher Jiddu Krishnamuroncesaid.

Attheonsetofthepandemic,some educators saw hope that perhaps as typical school systems were disrupted, things would never “go back to normal”—and that would be a good thing. Maybe the pandemic would be a catalyst for educators, students, parents, and community members to come together,onbehalfofchildren,and totally rethink educaon and how wecouldbeerserveallchildren. It's a perspecve that brings to mind the ideas of ecologist and Buddhist thinker Joanna Macy She spoke of the “Great Unraveling,” a me when the colonial- and industrial-era systems that never were working for those on the marginswouldbecomesodysfunconal that society would begin breaking down and even those who seemed to benefit from the systemswouldsuffer Macy—along with other systems sciensts like Margaret Whea tley—argued that this unraveling would give way to the “Great Turning,” when systems of oppression and compeon would give way to new systems based on paradigms of equity, relaonal connecon,andwell-being.

Historically, mes of change need strong,visionaryleaderstoharness posive outcomes. But, unfortunately, educaonal leaders have been under too much stress keeping up with day-to-day crises to imagine, much less implement, sweeping change of a kind people like Macy envision. For many, any opmisc images of “not going backtonormal”havemorphedinto dystopiandisarray

Managing dystopia is certainly more in the comfort zone of educaon leaders than leading a turn toward a more equitable paradigm. Administrator licensure programs primarily train new leaderstocomplywithcurrentlaws and systems; they aren't training administratorstoberevoluonary! So not only are our public school systems not designed for secondorder change which requires changes in beliefs and behaviors but our leaders are not trained for transformave change.

T h a t ' s w h a t d r e w m e t o parcipang in a new professional d e v e l o p m e n t p r o g r a m , 'Transformave Educaonal

Leadership (TEL)' , which is designed to prepare leaders to effecvely facilitate system-wide educaonal change—and evaluaonssofarsuggestTEL'seffortsare payingoff

Thescienceoftransformaon

In schools, there is a constant striving for improvement, but improvement geng beer at what we already do within the