I have just posted the Texas experience with content standards
implementation.  Now, however, I want to jump in on the discussion
addressing the issue of resistance to implementation and resistance to
change.  Before I do, however, I want to say hi to my friend Paul Jurmo.
Long time no see, Paul.  

The question is the source of the resistance to the adoption and/or
implementation of standards.  I cannot hope to answer that question
here, but I can share some of the resistance that we faced in Texas and
some of the comments we have heard over the now four years since we
started the standards process.  

I would like to share some history that is very relevant to the question
Paul asks and that actually sheds light on the process of overcoming
that resistance and addressing change.  Paul mentions that "some might
feel that standards are something rigid and irrelevant or too
cumbersome. We have seen some of this attitude along with concerns by
some that the standards are something imposed "in addition to everything
we already do."  

Bill's observes that resistance to change sometimes is about "trust and
intention" while dealing with strategic planning.  In Texas we had a
difficult and, at times, contentious experience with the process of
adopting standards.  There was a first iteration of the adoption when,
under a different administration of the office of adult education, we
experienced a process that was, as Bill puts it, "estranged from (and
less accepted by) the grass roots."  In the early 2000s, standards from
another state were imposed on all of us in Texas by a shortsighted
administration without input, with little buy-in, and with virtually no
opportunity to pilot them or to make necessary adaptations to suit our
population or our needs.  Local administrators (our state director,
Joanie Rethlake, and I were both such local program directors) were told
that we needed to have 100% of our teachers trained to implement the
standards by the end of that fiscal year or our grants would be in
jeopardy.  Talk about "trust and intention."  To be sure, some programs
saw this as an opportunity to adopt a much needed content framework and
dived head on into the process making the standards their own and
developing their own checklists and other means of implementing them
which had not been offered by the state.  Other programs felt
overwhelmed, didn't like the standards, didn't feel they would work, and
saw them as "rigid and irrelevant."  Many tried their best to understand
the situation they were facing and invested a lot of time and resources
-along with emotion and stress-to make the standards work.  Yet, by the
end of the fiscal year, when it was apparent that as much as everyone
tried many teachers had not been trained, the state office announced the
standards would not be adopted after all.  If programs wanted them they
could use them; if they didn't they were free to do without them.  The
process had been costly, time consuming, and frustrating. 
 
Fast forward one year, and in 2003 Texas LEARNS came into existence and
a completely new leadership was breathing new life into the adult
education program in Texas.  One of our first priorities was to address
the issue of the adoption of content standards.  Our initial idea was to
continue what the former administration had started but to add some
Texas flavor, engaging some programs in piloting the standards to give
them a sense of ownership of any edits.  At our first meeting we were
not prepared for the level of emotion, of resistance, of outright
hostility that the idea was about to generate.  The issue of our
intentions and the trust of the field was now on the table for us to
tackle.  

Our decision was then, with the help and leadership of the Texas Center
for the Advancement of Literacy and Learning (TCALL) to go back to the
field and conduct a number of focus groups with instructors and with
students; in fact more students than instructors from all over the state
participated in the focus groups.  After analyzing the feedback from
these groups, Texas decided to scrap our plans and start anew.  As I
have said in my other posting earlier tonight, we adopted five of the
EFF standards because they closely matched what the focus groups were
telling us.  

We then proceeded to involve teachers and local program administrators
in the process of writing benchmarks.  Standards Writers had to apply or
be nominated, and they were selected by committee to participate in the
process. Writing the benchmarks and agreeing on the appropriate level
and examples took nearly two years of meetings and a lot of give and
take, but the result was a document which teachers considered their own.
During this process, the state office and the standards project kept
local programs, teachers and administrators abreast of developments.

Then came time to pilot the standards; we had two pilots one conducted
by many of the teachers who had written the benchmarks.  We wanted these
writers to pilot the materials because they were closer to their
development.  The second pilot was an expanded pilot which came after
the changes which resulted from analyzing the feedback from the first
pilot.  

In June 2007 came time for the official launch and nearly 700 people
from all adult education and EL Civics programs in the state registered
for the three day conference.  

After the launch, a group of the standards writers volunteered to be
trained by external consultants to become "Standards Specialists."
These specialists became the trainers helping us provide expert
professional development that was "close to the source" of the
standards.  

Why do I tell you step by step what happened in the process?  I think
that one of the keys to overcoming the initial resistance was our
willingness to invest in a process that would take time but would
involve all stakeholders:  students, teachers, administrators, and
expert consultants. 

The documents were written by the people who will use them with feedback
from their students.  Involving 100 students in the process indicates a
true commitment to listen to their voices; we were not simply paying lip
service to student participation.  The standards were then piloted and
re-worked immediately based on feedback.  This showed we were listening.
We then involved a large number of teachers in the second pilot.
Finally, the project provided training to volunteer standards
specialists to become trainers of their colleagues. All throughout, the
process stayed very close to the field.  The bottom line is we tried to
enable a bottom up process to ensure buy-in.  Even administrators who
were afraid to embrace the document have slowly come to see the new
document as something worth giving a try.  While full implementation
will take a long time, by addressing the fundamental objections teachers
and programs had with the earlier experience the leadership of Texas
LEARNS and TAESP were able to get significant buy-in from the field.  


federico

Federico Salas-Isnardi, Assistant State Director
Texas LEARNS
6005 Westview Dr.
Houston, TX 77055
Direct: 713-696-0719
Toll Free: 866-696-4233
Fax: 713-696-0797
 
The State Office of Adult Education and Family Literacy

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