Changing Mental Frameworks: One High School's Success through a Triad Partnership
Issues... about Change, Vol. 3, No. 2 (1994)
Introduction |
Written by Nancy Fuentes, Gloria J. Crum, Esteban Garcia, Jr. (1994) |
The challenge for schools is to develop and implement practices that enable all students to learn and thrive in school. It used to be that students had to change to fit the school, but now more and more schools are changing to fit the student (Lawton, Leithwood, Batcher, Donaldson, and Stewart, 1988). In the call for school restructuring, educators question the assumptions underlying our educational system and contemplate totally different school structures. They also promote revamping the school culture and altering the relationships among students, teachers, administrators, parents, and the community.
In January 1992 the Texas Education Agency (the state department of education in Texas) selected 83 schools to participate in its Partnership Schools Initiative. The goals of this initiative are to improve outcomes for students and to close the performance gaps that currently exist among various student groups. While the goals are fixed, the selected schools are allowed flexibility in the process they use to achieve these goals. The Southwest Educational Development Laboratory (SEDL) selected one of the partnership schools in spring 1992 for a case study of school reform. This school near the Mexican border, Pharr-San Juan-Alamo (PSJA) High School, used a three-pronged approach with staff, students, and parents to alter the attitudes and mental frameworks that guide their actions. The story of this school highlights the value of setting a goal that addresses mental frameworks and using a three-pronged approach to "reculture" the school (Fullan & Miles, 1992). In addition, the unique relationship that the Partnership Schools Initiative engendered between the school and the agencies that oversee it offer valuable lessons in systemic reform.
Next page: Formation of the Triad Partnership