Sustainable Change in Public School Districts

Reform is a reality for many school districts and schools. When faced with reform movements, districts and schools must address both the immediate implementation and the sustainability of the reform. This dissertation study is informed by two theories centered on reform implementation and sustainability: Organizational Learning Theory by Leithwood, Aitken, and Jantzi (2006) and Coburn’s (2003) Theory of Sustainability. Current empirical research in this field identified particular factors that lead to successful implementation of reform and long-term sustainability. A monitoring tool was used to investigate factors such as: vision for reform, decision making, professional development, innovation and change, effectiveness of reform, leadership, accountability, use of data for continuous improvement, value for diversity, climate, organizational learning, systems thinking, and innovation and creativity. Factors were collected and analyzed for one school district’s large-scale mathematics reform. Descriptive data was gathered to analyze teacher perception relative to these variables, which were identified as either strengths to current reform or potential barriers to future sustainability. Additionally, statistical analysis aided in the identification of statistically significant associations between teachers with differing levels of implementation experience and teacher perception associated with key reform variables