Chapter 5: Systems Thinking and Culture Change in Urban School Districts

Despite years of focus and significant increases in spending, urban districts have not succeeded in bringing a majority of students to high levels of achievement. Even though many urban schools have demonstrated that consistently high achievement is possible, bringing that achievement to scale has so far proved elusive for large urban districts. One reason that district-wide success is difficult is the complexity and resistance to change of deeply embedded systems and processes upon which district functions rely. Systems thinking can reveal the underlying systems and processes that resist change and provide a mechanism for re-engineering the culture for system-wide improvement.