The Graveyard of School Reform

Why the Resistance to Change and New Ideas

By (author) William L. Fibkins

Publication date:

18 June 2015

Length of book:

162 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

ISBN-13: 9781475814538

The Graveyard of School Reform: Why the Resistance to Change and New Ideas explores the critical role resistance plays in defeating valued programs for students, parents, and staff. It is time for education reformers to face the hard truths about the skilled and destructive forces of resisters and to learn that good ideas and calls for change are not enough. Reformers need to learn how to overcome these entrenched forces and muster new skills with the will to win, courage, and the persistence required. Resistance has been given little attention for far too long considering the huge cost and the loss of programs we desperately need. Fibkins argues that reformers often accept defeat when they should be discovering new ways to win.

As an education reformer Fibkins has observed far too many necessary programs meet an untimely death due to the naivety of reformers. By reviewing lessons learned from other failed reforms and analyzing successful reforms, Fibkins new book addresses issues and presents doable models for reformers to succeed and deliver what administrators, staff, parents, students, and community members need to make their schools the best they can be.

Contents

Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1: The Myths Behind Why Many School Reforms Fail
Chapter 2: The Missing Pieces Needed for Successful Reform
Chapter 3: The Negative Impact of Too Much reform on Teachers
Chapter 4: Providing Relief for Principals in Leading Reform
Chapter 5: How a Connection between Inside-Out and Outside-In Reform can Reform Schools
From Within
Chapter 6: The Personal and Professional Challenges for Change Agents When they Move on to a New Setting
Conclusion
References
About the Author

Building on a scholarly discussion of school change and his own experiences as a reform leader in two school/university partnerships in New York, Fibkins—a nationally recognized expert in the field of counseling and human development—believes that ‘the most important theme in this book is that both reformers and leaders in local schools have much to gain by becoming more aware of the contribution each group can offer to bring about needed reform.’ In his review of the educational system, the author examines why many school reforms end up in the reform graveyard and what can be done to fix the problem. He notes that today’s principals, often seen as chief promoters and marketers of the school’s brand, have little time to serve as instructional leaders. School reforms need an inside-out leader, a veteran teacher who is assigned to lead colleagues in the risky process of change. Project lead teachers, the author argues, must have the protection of a niche that enables them to be seen as an added resource and benefit for their school, administration, staff, students, and parents, but they also need to be ‘wary and on guard against the powerful persuasive role of outside-in reformers.’ This book presents models for reformers to succeed. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals and practitioners.