Because these unstoppable forces can create chaos and harm, our book is about how to corral and shape these forces for the common good—to help make unstoppably good things happen. One of us—Michael Fullan—has been focusing on whole-system change since 2003, working with governments and school districts and municipalities in different countries. The other—Mark A. Edwards—led a lowly funded, 50 percent poverty school district (Mooresville Graded School District [MGSD] in North Carolina) to remarkable success during the same period. Indeed, in this book we show how the MGSD has become an inspiration for other districts across the United States. Moreover, MGSD and others are a part of a global movement toward deep learning (Fullan, Quinn, & McEachen, in press).
We are doers—we go from practice to research. Our commitment to action is our modus operandi. We use action as the vehicle for learning what it takes to have an impact. We then write about what we learn and do it better the next time, gaining more insights, writing more, doing more, and so on. We represent a cumulative learning process, and we are proud to share where we are in our doing and thinking in this book.
Chapter 1 raises the red flag of superficial change, or what we might call the trap of modernity. Although effective technology use is essential to taking advantage of today’s unstoppable forces, if you mistakenly start with technology as your answer, you end up going down the wrong path. Technology is ubiquitous, but it is so easy to surround yourself digitally and not learn anything worthwhile. To dabble is to be worldwide and an inch deep.
In chapters 2–5 we take up the essence of the positive change solution. We examine what deep learning is and what makes it occur. We use our professional capital framework to show that you need all three capitals (social, human, and decisional) working in the service of deep learning (Hargreaves & Fullan, 2012). To understand capital in this context, think of the worth of individual and group assets and how you must leverage them to achieve broader goals. Capital is powerful when it circulates. When educators learn from each other in purposeful and innovative ways, as they do at MGSD, they are building and using professional capital in ways that improve and sustain the whole system.
Chapters 6 and 7 identify ideas for moving forward. Chapter 6 arrives at key lessons from MGSD for generating unstoppable learning. Chapter 7 goes beyond Mooresville to see how other districts generate unstoppable momentum in learning, including detailed vignettes from district leaders that detail how they reaped the benefits of whole-system change. Although much of what we write about in this book begins with our experiences at MGSD, there are three encouraging features for wider change we want to highlight.
1. MGSD is a very hard case. They don’t get much harder, unless you go to the giant urban districts. If they can do it, anyone can do it.
2. MGSD did not carry out its work in isolation. From day one, the district has been a dynamic part of a movement across the United States whereby the district learned from other districts and then helped other districts learn.
3. Other districts did learn from MGSD, and in chapter 7 we look at six other districts that are part of a network of districts going down similar paths.
We should make it crystal clear that this is not a book about technology. The driver is deep cultural change in how districts operate—to have measurable impacts on how and what all students learn. Pedagogy and culture are the drivers; technology is the accelerator.
Finally, we can say with confidence that any district can dramatically improve the way that MGSD did. However, a cardinal change lesson from system work is that you can never be successful by trying to replicate or imitate other successes.
We talk in this book about what factors contributed to MGSD’s success, but it is not a strict model. You need to learn from other successes and then figure out a unique pathway that fits your own situation and culture. This book provides good ideas and valuable lessons, but more than anything else it is an invitation for you, the reader, to create your own constellation of unstoppable forces to generate deep and lasting change that benefits those you work with and the students and families you work for.
chapter one
LEARNING IS NOT ABOUT THE TECHNOLOGY
As of 2017, the transition to technology-infused classrooms has failed to significantly impact student learning in the United States and in most systems. The digital world surrounds students outside of school and, to an increasing degree, inside of school, but they have not become better learners. For example, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OCED, 2015) report finds no correlation between the amount of money spent on technology by countries and their success in student learning. Deep learning, by contrast, does make a difference because it alters pedagogy in ways that engage students in their own learning and links this to global competencies like the six Cs: character, citizenship, collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking (New Pedagogies for Deep Learning, n.d.). As we show in this book, strong new learning partnerships between students, teachers, and families must shape and propel deep learning for students to become better learners today, and for the future.
We aim to show how learning can be radically different and fulfilling for a majority of students and educators—stratospheric is the word we like to use—and how this kind of successful technology-based change can be implemented on a whole-system basis (districtwide and schoolwide). We also hope to pave the way for states, provinces, and countries to move in this direction.
This chapter discusses the siren call of technology and its limited impact on educational progress. We write about the importance of building change knowledge and avoiding digital dabbling to generate a growth culture that uses technology and professional capital together to build unstoppable momentum.
The Siren Call of Technology
Many states and districts across the United States have fallen for the beckoning sirens of digital nirvana. Just as the sirens of Greek mythology, with their beautiful voices, lured sailors to crash on the reefs, the siren songs of technology have lured educators and students into a sea of confusion and wreckage. One such example involves the Los Angeles Unified School District, which entered a $1 billon contract with Apple and Pearson to supply curricula-loaded iPads to teachers and students only to abort the contract within one year because it didn’t fully understand how to implement the technology (Blume, 2014). Eric Sheninger and Thomas C. Murray (2017) document countless other examples of false starts.
These kinds of problems arise when educators use technology as the starting point. Technology appears concrete and sexy, and human beings tend to take the path of least resistance and go with the latest toys—a kind of shiny object syndrome. Even from a budget standpoint, one-shot computer purchases are appealing because the expenditure does not necessarily go in the base budget.
When schools buy or upgrade technology platforms, they often think they have moved into 21st century learning. But many have not developed the culture and environment that are equally necessary for student success in the 21st century. Now that the digital movement is fully underway, schools are generally adopting an acquisition strategy. They believe they are moving forward just by the act of buying machines. However, just as many golfers and tennis players have found, if their fundamentals are not sound, the latest equipment does not guarantee improvements in expertise and performance.
The state of technology use in many U.S. districts amounts to little more than digital dabbling. This is understandable given the explosive nature of digital innovations