Implementing a new reading program is an important step towards improving academic outcomes across the school. However, it is also a significant organizational change that requires the cooperation of various staff. Leaders in education play a critical part in the organizational change, as they provide guidance, information, and plans for implementing change. Moreover, school leaders can improve teachers’ commitment and motivation, thus making the change more effective (Diamond, n.d.). The present case offers the following strategies that can be used by leaders to implement a new reading program for students:
- Ensuring that relevant faculty and staff have adequate release time to learn about and prepare to use the new reading program.
- Giving a presentation at a faculty meeting in support of the new reading program and describing its advantages over the reading program it is replacing.
- Overseeing the development of procedures for faculty use in modifying the new reading program to fit their individual instructional approaches.
- Meeting regularly with the coordinator of the new reading program to monitor teacher compliance with guidelines for using the reading program.
This essay will aim to analyze and evaluate the four strategies to chose one that is likely to yield best results.
Strategy One
Allowing the faculty and staff to have enough time to familiarise themselves with the new program is important. Firstly, it ensures that all of the employees involved in the program have enough background knowledge to implement it correctly. This can help them to address all the significant parts of the program in advance and to deliver the program to students efficiently. Moreover, if staff and faculty have enough time to learn about the new program, they might find weaknesses or gaps that could be addressed to make the program more efficient.
However, this strategy also has some limitations. Most importantly, it makes teachers responsible for the program’s success. As shown by Domenech (n.d.), implementing a new educational program requires consistent effort and collaboration of the teachers, school leaders, parents, and the community. The first strategy, on the other hand, does not stipulate the role played by parents, school leaders, and the community in the implementation process. Also, the strategy does not provide sufficient support mechanisms for teachers that would help them to adjust to the program and build a better understanding of it. Thus, this strategy could be useful as part of a larger strategy for implementing a new reading program, but it is not comprehensive enough on its own.
Strategy Two
Holding a presentation for the faculty is a useful way of providing information about the program. Introducing the program to teachers and explaining the main aspects of it can be beneficial and improve program outcomes. In addition, it gives the school leaders an opportunity to share their vision of the program, which can help to motivate teachers and make the implementation more effective (Holmes, Clement, & Albright, 2013). However, the strategy implies that the focus of the presentation should be on the advantages of the program rather than on the practical matters affecting its adoption. It would be better to focus on other schools’ experiences with similar programs and to address possible challenges to implementation. Le Fevre (2014) explains that teachers’ engagement in new educational programs depends highly on their perceptions of risk. In other words, if teachers view the program as ill-founded, risky, or too challenging, they are less likely to commit to it. The best choice for school leaders is thus to explain and analyze possible risks and challenges and outline how the leaders will support teachers in overcoming the obstacles and minimizing the risks. Such approach would create a balanced overview of the program that would help teachers in adopting it.
Strategy Three
This strategy is positive because it acknowledges the needs of teachers and the leader’s role in supporting the implementation process. Allowing faculty members to adjust the program to their needs would have a positive effect on the program’s success. In this strategy, teachers will be able to address challenges in a way they prefer rather than doing the program by-the-book, which improves flexibility and applicability of the program. School leaders’ role in this scenario is to oversee and guide the process rather than interfere with it, which is an example of distributed leadership. Distributed leadership positively impacts educational change as it assists “in building strong collaborative teams, building collective capacity, facilitating knowledge sharing, delegating authority, and facilitating continuous learning in the organization” (Beycioglu & Kondakci, 2014, p. 2). This strategy has no significant drawbacks and would be useful in the proposed scenario.
Strategy Four
The last strategy is somewhat similar to the third one, as it also establishes oversight in the implementation process. Setting a coordinator for the program, in turn, would generate a supportive yet monitored environment for teachers to use the program and learn more about it. However, it does not allow teachers the same degree of freedom and authority. Though this option helps to ensure compliance, it would not have a positive effect on teachers’ motivation and familiarity with the program. Furthermore, the strategy might damage the teachers’ perception of the program by increasing pressure to act by the guidelines. Lastly, the success of the program, in this case, would largely depend on the adequacy and reliability of the guidelines. Even if the instructions are evidence-based, they might not fit into the current educational environment or require additional resources.
Conclusion
Overall, the role of school leaders in implementing educational change is vital, and thus leaders should seek to motivate, inform, and guide their employees during the implementation process (Sim, 2014). All of the strategies offered recognize the important role of teachers and leaders in promoting effective change and ensuring the program’s success. However, three of the strategies have major limitations that make them less effective than the third strategy. Therefore, Strategy 3 would be the most efficient option for the proposed case. It offers increased autonomy and flexibility for the teachers while maintaining the leader’s role as a guide and supporter. Thus, this strategy would yield best results in implementing a new reading program.
References
Beycioglu, K., & Kondakci, Y. (2014). Principal leadership and organizational change in schools: A cross-cultural perspective. Journal of Organizational Change Management, 27(3), 1-5.
Diamond, L. (n.d.). Implementing and sustaining a middle and high school reading and intervention program. Web.
Domenech, D. (n.d.). Implementing a new reading/language arts program. Web.
Holmes, K., Clement, J., & Albright, J. (2013). The complex task of leading educational change in schools. School Leadership & Management, 33(3), 270-283.
Le Fevre, D. M. (2014). Barriers to implementing pedagogical change: The role of teachers’ perceptions of risk. Teaching and Teacher Education, 38(1), 56-64.
Sim, L. L. (2014). A case study of educational change and leadership in Hong Kong primary schools. Hong Kong Teachers’ Center Journal, 13(1), 97-123.