Change Forces

There are large changes at work affecting all levels of the system. The four articles in this section provide a range of perspectives on the main issues.

In a project for Microsoft, Fullan, Cuttress, and Kilcher (2005) developed an “elite course” on leading change in which they identified eight major change forces that all leaders would have to understand, contend with, and address in order to survive and thrive in addressing the complex change challenges into the 21st century.

Elmore and City take us on the “road to school improvement.” Elmore, one of the most incisive analysts and actors in large-scale reform, concludes that this road is “hard, bumpy, and takes as long as it takes,” and offers ideas for surviving the bumps and ...