The following appendix highlights some overall impressions, recommendations
and questions from the research reports that have been reviewed for this
project.
-
Identify needs and articulate a vision. The
task is to articulate a vision for and about the state's citizens, not
about the education enterprise. The challenge is to identify conditions that
must be changed to benefit the citizens and society as a whole.
-
Build a consensus around the need to realize the vision. Policy
leadership is about creating consensus, not finding it. It is about
defining and giving voice to issues and then taking steps to ensure that
others come to understand and appreciate the problem - although not
necessarily the solution - in a similar way.
-
Stay "on message" and maintain the focus. Issues
of strategic importance to a state and its citizens seldom are
resolved quickly. Progress requires concerted action over extended periods of
time. The responsibility of policy leaders is to maintain focus on the agenda,
ensure progress is monitored and reported, and encourage mid-course
corrections in the application of implementation tools.
-
Align the implementation tools. The obligation
is to ensure that the tools available (funding, regulation,
delegation of decisionmaking authority and accountability mechanisms) are
wielded in ways that are mutually reinforcing and oriented toward achieving
the desired ends. Too often, states and competing leadership groups take up
parts of the agenda, but cannot sustain the momentum.
Chris Pipho (2001). State Policy Options to Support a P-16 System. ECS, Denver, CO.
|
