Systems Theory/Thinking

Systems thinking is a thought process that considers the interconnections and reactive relationships among the parts of a system. It considers that component parts of a complex system are interacting and are interdependent; therefore, small actions at one level are evaluated to determine potential significant impacts at various levels across the whole organization. Systems thinking seeks to understand all meaningful effects on the whole organization, rather than the effects on a division, a department, or a school.

As an example, systems thinking would seek to understand the impact of a decision to delay starting times by 1 hour and the effects on all parts of the district; the process would look beyond a subset of school that might potentially benefit. The systems discipline considers organizational change theory, decision making, and human behavior to study changes in complex systems within an organization.

The use of systems thinking will enable educators to design and implement solutions that address the reality of the complex environments of schools. Systems thinking requires that leaders address longterm solutions. How will proposed program changes affect student achievement at the end of 3 to 5 academic years? What are the unintended consequences of creating learning teams? Systems thinking uses basic principles and management tools to help leaders detect holistic changes and evaluate potential impact.

A system is a group of interacting and interdependent components that make up a whole. Schools have many systems: the transportation department, the personnel department, teacher evaluation process, and many others. When all systems are considered in relationship to each other, a holistic view of a school district develops. A school district is parallel to a living organism because it is constantly changing, any adjustment to any subsystem affects the whole, and all subsystems must function properly for a healthy district. For example, teachers, books, students, and buildings are all necessary parts of the educational system. When any one of these components is changed, all others are affected and the impact exceeds those obviously expected.

A basic assumption of systems theory is that systems will change based on feedback. Effective feedback can be at many levels and take many forms. For example, feedback about student achievement can be qualitative and quantitative data and can provide information at many levels: students, teachers, administrators, and so on. The feedback must have utility, be economical to collect, and be meaningful. For example, mean achievement scores for all fourth-grade students is simplistic feedback for a fourth-grade teacher, but disaggregated achievement scores by student by content by construct is meaningful feedback for teachers. This type of feedback can be used to plan improvements; the feedback must be available within the system and at appropriate levels.

Systems thinking and feedback help educators identify patterns as different from events. For [Page 988]example, assume that data indicate that a group of fourth graders cannot perform long division. If the school teaches those fourth graders the necessary math skills, then it has reacted to the feedback. This action will not enable future fourth graders to perform long division. However, systems thinking would require the organization to consider the curriculum, assessment procedures, teacher characteristics, and student characteristics to identify the root causes of failure. What patterns exist? Have all students failed to master the skill? What systems changes can be made to influence the scores of future fourth grade students? A common example of systems thinking is that alignment of curriculum, instruction, and assessment can positively affect achievement scores. Systems thinking promotes a holistic view of the school and district and allows leaders to improve the school.

...