What is ‘systems thinking’ exactly, and why is it crucial for individuals and teams in organizations to learn and use it? Systems thinking enables individuals, groups and organizations to think holistically, see the connections across organizational boundaries, and understand the life cycles of a phase, project, or mission. Systems thinking affords for uncertainty and tracks issues from multiple perspectives, while affording the ability to think through scenarios that influence future outcomes and decisions.

Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs) – including community/technical colleges and 4-year universities – focus on academic achievement and employment preparation of students through coursework, internships, and project-based learning.

As K-12 teachers’ jobs increase in complexity, content, and workload, there is simultaneous pressure from mandated evaluation systems for teachers to improve and innovate their practice. To address this need – and to also increase teachers’ sense of professionalism - there is a strong need for alternative teacher leadership models, both inside and outside the classroom.

School districts are inundated with various types of school and classroom performance data – and not all types of data are suitable in understanding how to best provide differentiated supports to schools.

In this blog post, we highlight how high-impact, systems-thinking professional development practices address educational outcome inequities more effectively than other approaches, drawing from our 2015 Change article, “Faculty Development to Address the Achievement Gap”.

Districts engaging in human capital management system (HCMS) design often discover that, through the process of aligning their current educator support systems to a strategic HCMS approach, the organizational design of their districts does not support – and can even sometimes hinder – the effectiveness and benefits of a coherent HCMS strategy.

A significant challenge to implementing a successful comprehensive human capital management system is ensuring that that teaching and leading practices in classrooms remain focused and aligned to the broader districts goals. A critical role in this linkage are teacher career ladder positions – roles that focus on district strategic goals through aligned focus areas that relevant for new and career teacher improvement.