The Full Promise of Schools Breakout Session: Addressing the Practical, Nuts-and- Bolts Challenges of Social and Systems Change

Background The Age of Discovery vs. The Age of Implementation Up hill and against the current

Social Movements and Systems Change American Revolution/Civil War Worker’s Rights Women’s Rights Civil Rights LGTBQ Rights Educational Reform – Establishment of Public Schools to NCLB/ESSA Wave elections of all kinds

Initial Lessons from Social Movements Embracing the politics of getting things done (not partisan) The opposition isn’t like us (experience, expertise, priorities, tactics) Educating around an idea vs. Wartime strategic thinking Incentives, Punishment Misdirection, Surprise Sacrifice, Delay tactics Seizing unexpected opportunities, including tragedy Accepting failure as a step… IF…

Initial Lessons from Social Movements If… Learning Machines. Increasing skills, capacity, connectivity, and organization = Critical successes, even if rooted in failure Numbers matter. The only reliable counterweight to power, position, and financial resources. Maintaining unrelenting pressure Recognizing and accepting a win… especially if it sets up Wins! Maintaining URGENCY

What Next? Adding a new job requirement… 5% of your professional time. New job requirement demands new skills… Accurately diagnose the root causes of challenges to implementation as they occur within the broader social context and the unique ecology of the education system. Propose social and system-level solutions, policies, and practices that support and elevate the effectiveness of individual teachers and schools. Expanding efforts to ensure proper accountability by including evaluations of policymakers, administrators, and systems at the highest levels, instead of merely focusing the performance of individual health educators and school administrators. Collectively recognize, collaborate, and coordinate working together on issues too large and complex to be changed through isolated, individual efforts alone.

Actually, who are you not to be  What Next? More educators/school health professionals: With PoliSci knowledge and degrees With political experience Leading at highest levels of education system Serving as elected officials and other policy makers You may be asking… Who am I to do all this? Actually, who are you not to be 