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I'd like to know what the process is that you are using to make your decisions. Specifically, are teachers & parents involved in brainstorming solutions and coming up with proposals? In my experience effective change can only occur if the folks in the trenches (in this case teachers and parents) come up with solutions. The solutions are always much better and implemented more effectively when shaped by the people who actually do the work. I'm not saying teachers and parents would make the final decisions, the leadership needs to do that, but they should be heavily involved in coming up with the solutions. This would require decisions to be made on a more local level since you can't do this with all teachers and parents on Oregon. To mitigate the concern that this would create inequality in schools, the leadership would need to provide clear objectives to the schools. In this way objectives are standartized rather than the way each school meets the objectives. An example of an objective could be that each child needs 30 minutes of physical activity during a schoold day, then let each school decide how best to accomplish this. I beliee this is the only way to effectively bring about change. The "define and convince" method where the leaders come up with the solution and then try to convince everyone that it's the best choice does not work.

posted 1 year, 11 months ago
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I just had a baby 6 weeks ago with a midwife in a hospital.  She is part of a practice that has both OB's and Midwives.  The partnership among them is awesome.  The midwife provided almost all of my care except for once when she wanted a second opinion from the OB, he came in right away, checked me out and discussed the options with us.  It was just perfect,  I recieved the more holistic, non-medical centered care from the midwife with the security of backup, expert medical care if needed.  This partnership was continued at the hospital as the hospital staff and midwife worked seamlessly as a team.  I really think this is the best of both worlds and  the kind of care that should be offered everywhere.   

posted 3 years ago
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