REINVENTION WITH PURPOSE
Lists of things schools should do — or have historically done , for better or worse — grow long . Things like convey knowledge ; ensure learning ; sort students ; build citizens ; prepare learners for employment ; focus on skills ; teach children to interact with others and socialize ; educate the whole child ; help students become independent thinkers ; and many more .
Clarifying priorities is challenging . Making trade-offs is tough .
Different communities and pockets of parents hold different opinions , points of emphasis , and priorities based on their specific circumstances . Many schools struggle because of a lack of coherence amid competing priorities .
It ’ s an opportunity to do the important things better and more efficiently than ever before — or to make meaningful tradeoffs that allow for new opportunities .
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But schools also often suffer because there is a lack of clarity about what they are trying to accomplish . Assumptions about what schools are trying to do go unspoken . Unstated goals lie embedded implicitly in structures , practices , and processes formed long ago .
Without clarity around purpose , educators are often caught in what famed author Stephen Covey called “ the activity trap ”— working harder at the things schools do just because they are the things they do , not because they are the most important things . Indeed , reinventing school isn ’ t a license to just do things differently for their own sake . It ’ s an opportunity to do the important things better and more efficiently than ever before — or to make meaningful trade-offs that allow for new opportunities .
In one of the best-selling nonfiction books of all time , The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People , Covey wrote how beginning with the end in mind is critical . Without a clear understanding of your destination , you won ’ t know if the steps you ’ re taking are headed in the right direction . “ People often find themselves achieving victories that are empty , successes that have come at the expense of things they suddenly realize were far more valuable ,” Covey said .
If famed leadership and management scholars Peter Drucker and Warren Ben-
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CSEE Connections Fall 2022 Page 5