Focusing on the Individual Change Process in School Restructuring.

Understanding what change is and how schools change determines the success of school reform. This paper addresses the nature of the change process at the individual level. Two assumptions are made about change. First, behavior is based on beliefs and values, and individuals, not groups or organizations, change. Second, change must satisfy the individual person. Therefore, to change behavior, individuals must relinquish old behaviors and substitute new ones. This is accomplished through the grief process (Kubler-Ross, 1969), which is comprised of five stages: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. The grief process can be used to understand educational change, and some implications are: (1) clarify expectations and give reasons for those expectations; (2) understand the negative reactions of staff as part of the process; (3) present change as improvement, rather than as criticism of individuals' past behaviors; (4) exercise persistence; and (5) provide individual support throughout the change process. (LMI)