Originally posted September 22, 2006

“What’s Working in Colorado”
Summary:  September 19th Workshop

The first of CSDC’s series of three events focusing on “Leadership Strategies for Purposeful Change” was excellent.  In the morning Mike Miles, superintendent of Harrison School District in Colorado Springs, presented “What’s Working in Colorado”, a systems approach to purposeful change.

Increasingly, educators and policymakers are focusing on systems thinking and the leadership needed to affect it at school, district and state levels. Mike Miles outlined specific steps administrators and teacher leaders can take to operationalize systems thinking. He helped participants identify system connections, focus on leverage points, and use system archetypes to effect purposeful change..

The afternoon featured a team from Boulder Valley Schools who shared their program called Tools of Inquiry for Equitable Schools (TIES).  The team consisted of Judy Skupa, Assistant Superintendent for Learning Services, Sandy Ripplinger Director of School Leadership, Jonathan Dings, Chief of Planning & Assessment and Pam Duran, Director of Equity. TIES focuses on maximizing student achievement and closing the achievement gap and is already working effectively in Boulder.

School improvement is a complex task. Through Tools of Inquiry for Equitable Schools (TIES), participants can engage in a systematic process for creating school improvement plans. TIES provides a framework for schools to use multiple measures of data to analyze practices, programs, and policies for inequitable causes of achievement. Central to the TIES model is the collaborative creation and implementation of an action plan to reproduce or transform systems and practices in order to maximize student achievement and close the achievement gap.

Comments from participants included …
        

• “We needed more district level people here.”
• “I felt that both morning and afternoon were excellent.”
• “The day was great – need time to reflect on models and application.”
• “I thought it was all good – wish there had been more!”
• “Education must change!  We must think much more as a whole system.”
• “The TIES model challenged my thinking.  We need to use a model like that.”

We hope to see you at our November 2nd Conference featuring Dr. Kikanza Nuri Robins, the second event in our series on “Leadership Strategies for Purposeful Change”.  It should be a powerful day.