The effect of Peter Senge\u27s learning organization framework and shared leadership on a staff developmental model

This study examined a staff development model that incorporated the disciplines of a learning organization and shared leadership. The staff development model was designed to bring about change in curriculum, instruction, and assessment. The researcher was interested in how leaders can effect change through a system-thinking view. The framework of Peter Senge in developing a learning organization and the work of Caine and Caine (1997) regarding the possible human need for 21st-century schools were factors examined in the study. The unit of analysis was a public school district in the Northeast. The disciplines of personal mastery, team learning, mental models, systems thinking, and shared vision were examined within the study to understand the impact of these disciplines on a staff development model. In its purest sense, this study is about the desire to change, how change occurs, and what motivates individuals to change. The study explored the leadership role of individuals within a school change process. Learning organizations were viewed as a significant concept in the structure of the change process examined. This study was a qualitative case study. The researcher explored the meaning of the staff development phenomenon through the participants\u27 view. Interviews, review of evaluation documents, and observation were part of the data collection. A constant comparison of data was used throughout the collection of findings. The most important findings of this study are that the awareness of a learning organization model engages participants to have confidence in a staff development model and that the disciplines of a learning organization influence change. Use of common language, curricular documents, and student tools emerged as examples of evidence that demonstrate change. The themes of encouraging responsibility for personal and organizational learning, supporting individuals who exhibited leadership and created a climate of ongoing learning were conclusions that were deemed important to the staff development model