Introduction
Provocative Practice™ assists schools and districts to invest in VALUES-DRIVEN, PRINCIPLES-BASED SCHOOL AND DISTRICT REFORM. Values-driven, principles-based school/district reform establishes the foundation for the map of the territory a school or district would like to traverse in its journey to realizing its vision for student success. Specifically, Provocative Practice™ works with schools and districts to clarify and enact five essential and defining values that will drive the reform work:
Within its VALUES DRIVEN SCHOOL/DISTRICT REFORM work, Provocative Practice ™ focuses on two key services: Success Planning and Facilitation for Sustainable Change.
Success Planning
Success Planning is designed to help schools/districts create an explicit map of the territory they would like to traverse in their reform journey. A district/school success map is one that makes visible the territory of systemic and sustainable student success. A district/school success map redefines reform: Provocative Practice™ professionals support schools/districts in optimizing the conditions that manifest high quality operations fostering transformative instructional leadership practices that result in all students graduating college and career path ready with the skills/capacities required for successful 21st century citizenship.
Provocative Practice’s COMPASS FOR SUCCESS establishes four cardinal points of action: Envisioning Success, Designing for Success, Engaging Our Community for Success, and Accountability for Success. In order to support their vision of student success, Provocative Practice™ guides schools/districts in articulating a set of values-driven operational principles as well as a set of research-informed core programmatic principles distilled from the research on effective approaches for high intellectual performance for traditionally marginalized student populations, school change and reform, and systems change. These principles will serve as guidelines for the development or reform of partner schools and districts.
Through the design of customized success plans, we support schools/districts in taking equity-centered action to ensure that ALL students experience a rich and rewarding education that prepares them to be productive world citizens. As part of this moral imperative and guided by a commitment to equity, high expectations, and accountability, we work with schools/districts to provide a safe and healthy learning environment for children and youth, prepare all students to be college, career, and 21st century ready, ensure student achievement drives decision-making, and create an environment that promotes an actively engaged and supportive community.
Facilitation for Sustainable Change
Provocative Practice’s work in this area focuses on enhancing site and central office leadership teams’ and leaders’ capacity for leading and sustaining the types of positive transformation that our schools and district require and our students deserve. This comprehensive program develops the skills and knowledge education professionals need so that they can design, implement, and sustain strategic initiatives in schools in order to dramatically improve achievement for all students, and to close the achievement and access gaps that currently exist between groups of students. This support focuses on three interconnected areas of study - Leadership, Systems, and Facilitation Process Skills. Each program is customized to embed such skill development and support into the actual strategic work of the district and the schools.