Abstract
School change is complex, messy, and unfortunately not always a guarantee for improvement and enhanced student outcomes. While changes in policy, procedure, and infrastructure are necessary, they are insufficient for true, long-lasting change. As social systems, schools are composed of individuals who must work together, reflect on and make adjustments to their own practices, and listen to and support others to implement practices that constitute the innovation that is needed for school improvement and student learning. As Skinner (1953) noted, organizations change only when the individuals within it change. Recently scholars have emphasized the importance of people – those who work in and with schools – in the implementation and scaling of evidence-based practices (Castillo, 2020; Hall & Hord, 2015; Horner et al., 2017). This chapter focuses on the who of systems-level change in education by examining the application of implementation science and the intentional leveraging of education professionals’ expertise, interest, engagement, and stakeholder support. A case example focused on the school-wide collection of universal mental health screening student data is provided.
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Nellis, L.M., Wood, B.J., Fenning, P.A. (2023). Roles of School Professionals and Stakeholders in Systems Change. In: Nellis, L.M., Fenning, P.A. (eds) Systems Consultation and Change in Schools. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-21381-6_3
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