MindShift – Denise Pope, PhD, Senior Lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Education
WHAT DO WE WANT EVERYONE IN THE COMMUNITY TO KNOW?
Even the best-laid plans will likely remain plans without effective communication and professional development for school faculty and staff, a mechanism for soliciting and truly hearing student voices, and extensive parent education on the goals you are trying to accomplish with your new policies and programs. It seems so obvious, but we’ve seen schools take this part for granted and watch all of their hard work go nowhere.
Communication is often the ultimate key to the success and sustainability of a particular reform, and, as you have heard us say a number of times in this book, bringing the school community together to dialogue and solve problems, even though it will be difficult at times, is the best way to accomplish what you set out to do.
Research shows that including a variety of stakeholders—from parents to students to school teachers and staff—in the design and implementation of a school change is critical to its success (Mitra&Gross, 2009; Osberg, Pope, &Galloway, 2006; Rice, 2011).Will everyone buy into your plans for change? Most likely not, but being inclusive, communicating your plan honestly and effectively, and supporting it with data will give you the best chance for success. In order for students, parents, teachers, counselors, and administrators to work together toward effective school change, all parties need to have a basic understanding of what kids need for optimal health and school engagement. At Challenge Success we developed a mnemonic aid: PDF. It stands for playtime, downtime, and family time. We looked at the research for protective factors for kids—those things that every kid needs in order to thrive physically, mentally, and academically—and we boiled these down to three main categories for well-being. Our mantra is “every kid needs PDF every day.”
by MindMake via MindMake Blog
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