LEADERINSTRUCTIONAL
Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association www.tepsa.org
Leading School Change
Three Levels of Change
People tend to view change—even something as trivial as a different parking space—as
a big deal. In schools, change happens at the procedural, structural, and cultural level.
Hence, the first step to effectively leading change in our schools is to clearly define these
three levels of change.
Procedural Change
A procedural change involves a very low-level or technical alteration, often a change in
procedure (hence the name). Here are a few examples:
• Instead of having teachers take attendance at the start of the class period, have them
do so at the end.
• Change the fire drill plan so that students assemble by home room instead of by grade level.
• Instead of always sending students to the lunch line in the same order by class, rotate
the order weekly.
Typically, a procedural change is so simple that you could use a memo to inform people,
although we know better than to rely on a memo to inform people of any change, no
matter how simple or complex! I have described these procedural changes as simple, but
that is not to say they are easy. Keep in mind that even minimal changes can become big
deals if they are not handled with care.
Structural Change
Although more complex than a procedural change, a structural change is still a matter of
management or organization. Examples include:
• Introducing a block schedule at a high school.
• Switching to new textbooks for the entire math program at a middle school.
• Increasing all class sizes in a district due to budget cuts.
Each of these requires a change in the structure of an organization, but it does not
inherently lead to a change in people. Sure it does, you may say, it ticks them off! Well,
maybe, but structural change doesn’t necessarily change the way people do things. If a
high school class meets for 90 minutes every other day instead of 50 minutes everyday,
the teacher may just hand out nine worksheets in a period instead of five; the worksheet-to-minute ratio stays the same and so does her instructional approach. Issuing new
May 2010
Vol. 23, No. 3
Inside this issue
Buying-In....................... 3
Sign Language................ 6
