Leadership Approach, the New Work of Teachers and Successful Change.

This paper describes case studies involving two Canadian high schools. These schools, recognized nationally and provincially as outstanding schools in dealing with multiple changes, provided a venue to explore the conditions that contribute to successful change. The research is based on the assumption that organizational learning is a valid framework for the study of how schools cope with change, illuminating the conditions that allow some schools to overcome barriers to innovation and to appear more successful than others in implementing various initiatives. The paper assesses the leadership approach that contributed to the schools' success to determine the extent to which the teachers' role was consistent with the six domains that Fullan claims are required if schools are to be"learning organizations." Data for the study consisted of interviews of teachers and administrators of both schools, as well as review of various documents, such as school academic-achievement reports. A leadership survey was administered to the entire school staff. The results demonstrate the dynamic, complex nature of change. The findings also demonstrate that such complexity does not prevent change, but often presents new opportunities. All principals were overtly engaged in the change process but also initiated structures that provided for distributed collaborative leadership. Contains 38 references. (RJM)