Full Description
Create a new reality by guiding your team to successful changes in special education!
Meeting the challenge of teaching a child with a disability...optimizing the potential of a classroom of troubled students...seeing the look of understanding on a child's face—these are the ideals of special education.
Making these ideals reality often requires change. As an educator, you realize this, and you would like to make a difference in your school. But how? Guiding Change in Special Education illustrates the seven stages of school change then, stage by stage, Havelock and Hamilton provide explanations and advice for incorporating each stage into your change process. At the core of the process are these change agents:
Local educators trying to ensure that no child with a disability is left behind
Parents advocating change because they care deeply about the cause
Consultants available to help people act more effectively as a team
Academics able to efficiently pinpoint needs within special education
Experts with specialized knowledge to offer solutions to problems
Informal marketing and sales people to help get the word out The "Linker"—an important player who connects people and resources, finds support, and helps organize the group
Making changes can turn ideals into reality—applying the right process and building a team of dedicated people will yield success.
Contents
Foreword - Maurice McInerney
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
Introduction
Case Study
Stage 1. Care: Establishing the Need for Action
Someone Must Care Enough to Make It All Worthwhile
A Three-Step Model of Change: Unfreeze-Move-Refreeze
How School Systems Show (and Don't Show) That They Are in Trouble
Inside Versus Outside Forces
Linking Agent as Connector and Orchestrator of Forces
Whose Responsibility? The Value Issues in Helping
Care: Summary
Stage 2. Relate: Building a Relationship
Build a Good Relationship With the People You Are Trying to Help
Diagram Your School or School District as a Social Network
Linker Configurations
How to Size Up Your Relationship
Final Word on Relationship Building
Relate: Summary
Stage 3. Examine: Understanding the Problem
Turn Cares Into Problems You Can Solve
Making a Good Diagnosis
The Data Collection Phase
The Analytic Phase
Making a Diagnostic Inventory
Systemic Analysis: Understanding the System
A Data Collection Process
A Set of Rating Dimensions
Creating a Diagnostic Matrix/Checklist That Points to Solutions
Integrating Diagnosis With the Other Stages
Examine: Summary
Stage 4. Acquire: Seeking and Finding Relevant Resources
The Money Theory of Change
The People Theory of Change
The Knowledge Theory of Change
Acquiring Materials (= Packaged Knowledge)
Acquire: Summary
Stage 5. Try: Moving From Knowledge to Action
Giving a Fair Trial to a Well-Considered Solution
Pretrial Feasibility Testing: Comparing and Selecting the Best
Plan the Implementation
What Is the Process?
How Can You Evaluate Process?
What Are the Outcomes?
Can You Measure Outcomes?
Cautions on Evaluation
Using the Results
Sharing With Your Team
Try: Summary
Stage 6. Extend: Gaining Deeper and Wider Acceptance
Issues About Adoption and Diffusion
Solidifying Adoption at the Trial Site (Keeping Going)
Expanding Change at the Trial Site
Extending the Trial to Proximate Sites (Follow-On Adoption)
Extending Adoption to the Larger System
Variations of the Adoption Curve
Going Wider: Strategies and Tactics (The Second Stage of Diffusion)
Extend: Summary
Stage 7. Renew: Encouraging Ongoing Change
How Do Systems Absorb Changes?
Improve the Process
Keep the Change Fresh
Create a Self-Renewal Capacity
From Item Change to System Change
Installing the Change Function
Terminating and Moving On
Renew: Summary
Summary and Synthesis
References
Index
