Discussion 2: Target Areas for Change
As you have observed, each member of Mayor Keller’s task force views the need for change from his or her role in the community and specialization perspective. Whether their issues stem from a lack of teaching staff and resources to training for employees, task force members are committed to addressing the learning and development needs of Grand City’s children, students, and citizens. With such myriad needs, how should the mayor’s task force prioritize these issues to enact both educational and community change?
For this Discussion, you will evaluate programs within your specialization to determine target areas of improvement for educational and social change in Grand City.
To prepare:
Review all Learning Resources for this module. Think about the meaning of educational change, the impact of data collection on change initiatives, and the impact of positive social and educational change on all individuals in a community.
Review the Grand City data and media for this module as well as your analysis of the data from the Module 1 Discussion 1. Consider what programs are most critical in supporting Grand City’s children and students, including both those in early childhood programs and K–12 schools. Think about how data supports the need for change initiatives. How might a successful change in those programs impact the community as a whole?
Hargreaves and Fullan (2013) note the difference between business capital and professional capital. Reflect on the concept of capital, your investment in your own education, and the benefits you anticipate in your career and in the lives of the children you reach.
Review Walden University’s mission and vision for social change. Imagine you are on the Grand City task force representing your specialization, and consider the areas needing improvement or change. How might you propose the task force address those areas? What impact might such changes have on social change in the Grand City community?
By Day 3 of Week 2
Post a response that explains:
At least three target areas that are in need of improvement or change in your specialization
A rationale for each area supported with specific data from Grand City
How and why targeting these areas would be most effective in supporting positive change within both your specialization and the Grand City community
For this Discussion, and all scholarly writing in this course and throughout your program, you will be required to use APA style and provide reference citations.
By Day 7 of Week 2
Read a selection of your colleagues’ posts.
Respond to at least two or more of your colleagues in any of the following ways:
Explain an additional target area that would apply to both your and a colleague’s program or specialization.
Offer additional support or a reference to the data to support your colleague’s target area(s).
Support or refute a colleague’s claim regarding how his or her target area(s) would support positive change in the Grand City community.
References
https://go.openathens.net/redirector/waldenu.edu?url=https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1478210316649287
https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ1058943&site=eds-live&scope=site&authtype=shib&custid=s6527200
Fullan, M. (2016). The new meaning of educational change (5th ed.). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Chapter 1, “A Brief History of Educational Change” (pp. 3–17)
Chapter 2, “The Meaning of Educational Change” (pp. 18–38)
http://www.michaelfullan.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/JSD-Power-of-Professional-Capital.pdf
https://www.waldenu.edu/about/who-we-are
http://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/templates/general
