The Story of the Positive Change Corps’ Conversation on the Future of Education

November 6-7, 2003 

Weatherhead School of ManagementCase Western Reserve University (CASE)

Cleveland, OhioU.S.A.

A Leap of Faith:Rediscovering the Wonder-

full World of Education

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A Note From Positive Change Corps Executive DirectorOut of the ashes of the 9-11 disaster in the U.S.A, a group called the Positive Change Corps (PCC) was created from the question, “What if there were a group of committed change agents, ready to contribute their knowledge of strength-based innovation and change to school systems and youth programs around the world?” PCC worked with CASE Weatherhead School of Management and many others to convene a global Appreciative Inquiry (AI) called “A Leap of Faith: Rediscovering the Wonder-full World of Education.” What brought over 120 of us together was the irresistible invitation to identify what’s working within our schools and education systems and to discover, dream, and design the best kind of schools and youth programs. We wanted to locate, explore, and learn from those seeds of innovation and excellence that are pointing the way to a transformational approach to education -- education for a global village where schools and youth are recognized agents of world and community benefit.

– Marjorie Schiller, Ph.D Margeschiller@yahoo.com

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IntroductionThis is a story about a diverse group of people interested and involved with youth and the educational community. Students, teachers, administrators, parents, and consultants from across the United States and England, Canada, Brazil, and Australia came together at CASE Weatherhead School of Management to share, dream, and dialogue about what’s best, what’s possible, and what’s next for education and youth across the globe.

The following drawings capture the spirit and energy of the two days participants spent together discovering the positive core of education and our youth, dreaming of the most preferred future, designing the best systems, structures, and programs, and extending and elevating this conversation to help move education and youth toward a wonder-full destiny.

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Day 1After a welcome from Dr. Charleyse Pratt, Executive Director of Appreciative Leadership in Education Systems Change (ALESC) and co-convener of the conversation, our first speaker was Dr. Mohsen Anvari, the Dean of CASE Weatherhead School of Management. He noted that business schools don’t normally enter into the education equation, but that his university’s belief is that the future of business is in becoming an agent of world benefit. He welcomed us in that spirit. Next, the Deputy Chief of the Cleveland Municipal School District, Rasool Jackson, welcomed us on behalf of Dr. Barbara Bennett, Superintendent of Cleveland Public Schools. Dr. Marge Schiller, Executive Director of the PCC and conversation co-convener, spoke about how so much of what we read about education is problem-focused. Our job here was to lift the positive core of education and youth to the light. She encouraged us to live in the questions, identify new possibilities for using strength-based methods for change, and make new connections with each other.

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DiscoveryIn the spirit of learning by doing, the framework of our two days together was the “4-D” process of Appreciative Inquiry: Discovery, Dream, Design, and Destiny. Dr. Jackie Stavros, Professor at Lawrence Technological University and Dawn Dole, Executive Director, TAOS Institute, launched the collective conversation by pairing up the group to interview one another. The inquiry began with conversations about peak moments in our experiences of education and youth and our hopes for the future.

When had we found the most joy in learning? When had we been part of a change effort that made a difference? What did we most value about our roles in working with schools and

youth? And what were our wishes for how education could be even better in the

future?

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Mapping the Positive CoreAfter the interviews, we gathered in small groups to share our stories and meet each other. Through our stories we created “maps” of the positive core of education. What is present in peak moments when we are most alive and effective as learners?

A community can help ignite and sustain the sparkEducation that works for all to create a world that works for all

RespectStudents active in their own change

Learning as lifelong and community-wideRelationships

The power of oneTrust Safety

Diversity Valued

Diana Arsenian, a graphic recorder from Boston, Massachusetts, captured the conversation highlights and was assisted by Christopher Lee, a Canton, Ohio, high school

student trained in graphic recording.

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Dream: The Heathside School StoryA team of people from the Heathside School in England shared how they used Appreciative Inquiry with 1350 students and staff to strengthen their school. The school had doubled in size and they needed to rethink many things.Their stories and a video of their journey, filmed by their own students, inspired us all to do our own imagining of a possible future for global education.

“I’d forgotten how much I wanted to be here.”

“The idea of having 300 students with no structure – it was quite frightening!”

“When we started I thought this was about money. But I realize now it’s about what’s in our heads and hearts.”

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Our DreamsIn the afternoon of Day 1, we returned to our small groups and talked about our dreams for the future of education and our youth. What would things look like by the year 2013 if the positive core of education and youth were present? Each group prepared a short creative expression of the dream they had developed. Each had important and inspiring ideas about what’s possible.

What is inside of you that wants to come out?Stepping to your own beat, walking in cultural harmony

From the school of hard knocks to soft schools out of the box.

The day ended with the inspirational Cleveland Boy Choir singing songs that began to make our dreams feel real.

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Design at Shaw High School

On the morning of Day 2, Dr. Charleyse Pratt and a group of students from Shaw High School in Cleveland illustrated how Appreciative Inquiry (AI) helped their school invent a program called Global Leadership and Excellence in Academics, Mathematics and Science (GLEAMS). The GLEAMS program created a new vision at Shaw: to empower, enlighten and enrich for excellence in education. AI was used to help prepare a proposal for a Knowledge Works grant from General Electric. The program has been extraordinarily successful in helping scholars pass their state proficiency exams, go on to bigger and better dreams and move deeper into their learnings. Her core message included a key lesson learned about the Design phase of Appreciative Inquiry. In Design, it’s important to be authentic about creating our vision of the future and the steps to get there. This is where we can trip over those things we want to hang on to. Remember that it’s the things that trip me, not the people.

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Our Design StepThe small groups were invited to come up with “possibility statements (PS).” These statements describe in words, the future we imagined in pictures, dance, and music in the Dream phase. Here is a sampling …

PS1: The learning process shimmers and vibrates with adventure, fun and excitement and generates energy, exploration, and risk taking. There is a chain of teachers and learners sharing their wealth of resources.   Relationships are fostered and celebrated as the center of learning. Conversation of self-respect and mutual respect with meaningful dialog are actively encouraged amongst all. We are having fun!

PS2: Our school has no walls … the community is a resource for the school and the school is a resource for the community.  We are open 24/7 as a community center.  We mine the resources of the community to provide the best learning experiences for each individual student. Teachers are released one day per month to design cross-curricular activities, make community contacts, and build relationships.School dollars are allocated to encourage the use of community resources and our school actively pursues alternative funding sources.  Students are involved in planning, learning, and teaching.

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Several More Possibilities …PS3: Our learning spaces are centers in communities that draw individuals and families into collaborative relationships. In these centers you see scholars and lead learners of all ages engaging in lively learning and spontaneous and creative interactions. Laughter, fun and joy are evident in faces and voices of everyone in the learning community. As a result everyone knows where they are, where they want to go, and what they need to get there.

PS4: Our schools are characterized by courage. Every single person in the community is 100% at choice and holds themselves fully accountable for their choices. They speak from their hearts unafraid to take chances and to speak their truths respectfully. Underpinning it all is self-awareness and heart.

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Several More Possibilities …PS 5: The learning process is composed of the flow of energy exchange between and among individuals, groups, and systems, embracing the whole person/whole system perspective.

Patterns of ENERGY MOVEMENT that promote the learning process as Positive and Affirmative …

       Freedom and autonomy       World as a classroom       Learning is directed by individual, groups & systems (collaborative)       Persistence and determination       Supports a culture that accepts mistakes       Redesign our perception of time usage       Promotes an experience of renewal       Views crisis as opportunity

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Several More Possibilities …PS6: As our environment continues to be resource rich, physically and emotionally, it fosters this type of setting:       Positive atmosphere where everyone has a sense of belonging       Learning is safe, respectful, and encouraged       Learning facilities built in places surrounded by less distractions; peaceful       Mutual trust and respect       Diversity is accepted and celebrated       All students are scholars – who want to go deeper       Teachers adjust to students needs, beliefs, values and how they need to be taught       Schools are known as places where scholars want to go and are welcomed

A complete list of the possibility statements are available on the AI commons http://ai.cwru.edu/practice/organizationDetail.cfm?coid=4210&sector=25

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DestinyWe realized that taking this step is very challenging. We shared stories and reflections on how possibility statements can be used back in our homes, schools and programs to enrich our individual work.

“Sometimes people just want to create plans for OTHERS to do, not themselves!”

“This reminded me of the importance of owning and remembering the vision.”

“The experience of dissonance is important. It tells us something is not clicking so we need to work on it.”

“It’s all about bringing all the stakeholder voices in and drawing on strengths, wherever they emerge.”

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Transforming the Destiny Dr. David Cooperrider, Professor at CASE Weatherhead School of Management and lead learner in Appreciative Inquiry, shared his thoughts about how as humans we thrive under conditions of love, in a setting where people take the time to know us at a deep level. In living systems, the fundamental dynamic is conservation. As humans, we can act knowing whether what we do conserves or destroys the loving biosphere around us. In Destiny we talk about co-construction of an evolving future. Illuminating the positive core of the past, present, and future creates a trajectory and opens up new choices. We then met in small specific interest groups to develop practical steps we could take to move projects forward, using what we had learned and the connections we made at this Leap of Faith conversation.

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Sustaining Our DestinyAppreciative Inquiry teaches us that we discover the seeds of success in the past. Then the sun shines on the seeds as we Dream together. We create possibility statements about how we want our aspirations to look once they’re grown. The Destiny phase is how we bring intent into the world. The specific interest groups came together to develop next steps and commitments to transform school and youth programs cultures, systems and processes by amplifying strengths and aligning actions with missions, visions, and values.To read more information about the Leap of Faith Conversation, The

Positive Change Corps and other school & youth AI initiatives visit the AI Commons at

http://appreciativeinquiry.cwru.edu/ and the PCC List Serve at

http://mailman.business.utah.edu:8080/mailman/listinfo/pcc-l

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New BeginningsAlyse Smith Cooper, a minister, story teller, and staff member of the Black Alliance for Health Care, wove our closing story, giving us time to reflect and deepen our experience of the collective conversation.

Having gathered your attention, the story must come forth.You are right on the edge of changes you can’t even imagine.

Conversations lead to relationships. You reach out. You can’t stay inside yourself. To take that leap of faith, you can’t take excess baggage with you. You have to be

light.

People were invited to address the group in parting. We delighted in the sense of connection and healing that we all experienced over the two days together. One of the student participants had the last word:

“I didn’t know so many adults cared about us.”

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Heartfelt Thank YouTo all of those who worked on bringing this conversation to life through this special gathering and booklet, we thank you for

your time, words, and images …

• Everyone who participated in Leap of Faith

•The Canton Public Schools

•The Utah Teachers Association

•Everyone who has contributed time, talent and tithe to the Positive Change Corps Foundation

• Diana Arsenian • Dr. David Cooperrider• Dawn Dole• Leslie Evers• Dr. Gina Hinrichs• Christopher Lee• Joyce Lemke• Debbie Morris• Dr. Charleyse Pratt• Dr. Marge Schiller • Jane Seiling• Alyse Smith Cooper• Dr. Jackie Stavros• Kathy Hazelton• Sara Mierke

• Cleveland Boy Choir

• Cleveland Public Schools

• McDonalds Corporation

• The Positive Change Corps

• Weatherhead School of Management, CASE