School Change and the MicroSociety® Program
- Cary Cherniss - Rutgers University, Newark, NJ, USA, Rutgers University, USA
Foreword by Roland S. Barth
- What implementation strategies make whole-school reform work?
- What factors work for or against sustainability?
- How can committed educators and change agents "scale up" models that are successfully engaging students and promoting their learning and development?
Author Cary Cherniss provides answers to these questions by examining the implementation of one particular whole-school reform model: MicroSociety®, a program founded in 1967 and recognized by the US Department of Education as a whole-school reform model.
Profiling in depth the implementation successes and challenges of six MicroSociety schools, the author offers analytical tools and strategies for school leaders attempting to implement and sustain school change. School Change and the MicroSociety® Program is a research-based and strategy-driven resource for any school leader interested in cultivating and sustaining successful school change.
"A school's MicroSociety program is not a gimmick, as Professor Cherniss carefully describes and discusses. It is a process that gives students responsibilities and obligations. They experience the benefits of collaboration and the problems of group cohesion, and they learn how and why the bottom line of their economic enterprise requires foresight, decision-making, flexibility, creativity, and more. Are there problems in creating and maintaining such an enterprise? Yes, but Professor Cherniss candidly, critically, sympathetically, and constructively explains why readers will have no doubt that the MicroSociety's educational potential is indeed great. It is the opposite of a transient fad, of which there has been a surfeit."
"Cary Cherniss documents thoroughly and thoughtfully the significant elements of the change process in adopting comprehensive school reform. Applying the detailed case studies of MicroSociety, he captures the essence of a powerful model that is focused on facilitating student learning through leaderhsip development and empowerment. Extraordinary insights and analysis on a range of topics, from emotional intelligence to funding, provide lessons learned to inform what actually matters for sustainable impact. This book is essential reading for every education entrepreneur."
