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they find engaging, challenging, and satisfying.  The key to improving schools is the quality of the work students are provided, according to Dr. Schlechty.  Schools must be organized around students and the work provided to students rather than around adults and the work of teachers.

Briefly, the 10 System Standards are Standard 1: Developing a Shared Understanding of the Need for Change; Standard 2: Developing Shared Beliefs and Vision; Standard 3: Developing a Focus on Students and on the Quality of Work Provided to Students; Standard 4: Developing Structures for Participatory Leadership; Standard 5: Developing Structures for Results-Oriented Decision Making; Standard 6: Developing Structures for Continuity; Standard 7: Providing Ongoing Support; Standard 8: Fostering Innovation and Flexibility; Standard 9: Employing Technology; and Standard 10: Fostering Collaboration.  The website, www.clsr.org, can provide further details if you are interested.

As I reflect on the change efforts initiated over my career, much emphasis was on collaboration and getting people to "buy in."  The buy in in some cases was unsuccessful because of the failure to develop a shared understanding of the need for change.  I have since learned that by using quantitative and qualitative data to support the case clearly, coercion and selling are replaced by valid evidence and compelling reason.  Developing capacity in each of the 10 Standards requires a strong commitment from the key constituent leaders in your district.  Until you get their attention with evidence of the need for change, more time will be spent fighting off the saboteurs than in moving your district forward.

Besides Dr. Schlechty's books on educational reform (Schools for the 21^st Century: Leadership Imperatives for Educational Reform, 1990); Inventing Better Schools: An Action Plan for Educational Reform, 1997; Shaking up the Schoolhouse: How to Support and Sustain Educational Innovation, 2001; and Working on the Work: An Action Plan for Teachers, Principals, and Superintendents, 2002), I recommend many of the Drucker Foundation sources at www.drucker.org and Harvard Business Review on Change (1998) among the volumes of valuable research on change.  Enjoy the challenge of sustaining significant change in your districts!