A Shift in Learning: Training, Professional Development, and Organizational Learning

Change is difficult. The larger the change, the greater the difficulty. So how does a large organization, like a school, make a large change? It does so with training, with professional development, and with organizational learning.

Over the last decade, many elementary school systems in the United States of America have made a large change by adopting Columbia University’s Reader’s Workshop model for reading instruction. This model of instruction is usually much different than the reading instruction it replaces. School systems are relying on their administrators and teachers to adopt an entirely new pedagogy for the most fundamental and important subject taught in elementary schools. Successful adoption relies on systematic change.

The first step for success is training. Teachers and administrators must receive extensive training in the new pedagogy. With Reader’s Workshop, schools must provide at least one year of training, experimentation, guided instruction, and practice, before the new model can even be implemented. Teachers must be given materials, modeling, and instruction in how Reader’s Workshop operates. This must include everything from the philosophy behind the workshop model, to the planning and execution of daily lessons. The training stage is the stage in which teachers learn; the material is new, and they gain knowledge and understanding.

The second step for success is professional development. Once the Reader’s Workshop model has been fully implemented, teachers and administrators need professional development to enhance their performance and get better with the model. The professional development stage is the stage in which teachers, now armed with the knowledge and understanding, improve in their abilities to teach using the Reader’s Workshop model. Professional development must be ongoing, and is included under the umbrella of organizational learning.

The third step for success is organizational learning. With Reader’s Workshop underway, and teachers receiving professional development to improve in their performance, the entire system must take a look at the model and determine what is working, where improvements are needed, and even whether or not the program should continue to be implemented. At an institutional level, the second year of a major change like the adoption of Reader’s Workshop will look much different than the first; students will no longer be new to the format, and teachers will have gained experience, insight, and development that they did not have previously. Model teachers will be identified to assist those requesting or requiring assistance; reading groups, courses, and time to observe peers will all become essential for success. It can also be quite helpful to bring in consultation from outside of the school to provide an unbiased look at the strengths and weaknesses of the program. At this point, the entire organization must begin to analyze the program, and make recommendations. Like professional development, organizational learning is ongoing; with each new year the school must look at where is has come from and where it is going.

Change takes time. My opinion is that in order for real improvement to be made, and for real change to occur, it must be given time. Too often today, this is not happening. For example, in Hartford, Connecticut, there seems to be a new superintendent of schools every three years. Vanessa de la Torre and Jenna Carlesso of the Hartford Courant wrote, “In the past 25 years, just one Hartford superintendent has served longer than three years and eight months on the job”  Each superintendent is hired to make a change in the school system, and throws away that which has come before. In order for any of these plans to become effective, we need to let them grow beyond the training stage. Real organizational change cannot be effective without training, professional development, AND organizational learning.