Creating Authentic Change is like Launching a Rocket

"A little dab'll do ya!"  might have been a great slogan for Brylcreem, but it won't work for professional staff development.  

Creating desired change in a school or a district, or even in a single classroom, is very similar in many ways to launching a rocket to the moon.  

Just as launching a rocket requires enormous thrust to escape the gravitational pull of the Earth, your initiative will require the same thrust. 

Your goal is to escape the gravitational pull of traditional, factory model education - the thrust you need to escape that paradigm is intensive professional development and other supports, from policies to schedules to the learning environment.

Professional staff development is not an expense, it is an investment - in your teachers, in the students and in your community.  Ensure that your initiative is fully supported and funded.  Commit to your teachers the necessary resources to make the successful transition you have asked them to make.  

In the video below you will see examples of failed rocket launches.  These represent failed or poorly planned reforms for schools.  Failure is necessary for learning;  NASA finally got it right.  

Why don't we learn anything from the many failed reforms in education, mostly centered on the testing industry?  Isn't it time to do what's right and what works?
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Learn here about Effective Professional Development, i.e., How to Have a Successful Launch !