The Human Side of Changing Education
How to Lead Change With Clarity, Conviction, and Courage
Foreword by Arthur Levine
Today’s schools know they must make problem solving, collaboration, self-directed learning and creativity an integral part of the school’s DNA, but they don’t always know how.
When we ask schools to change, we are asking human beings to change. This requires special tools and a human-centered approach. In The Human Side of Changing Education, leaders will learn to make sense of their challenging change journeys and accelerate effective implementation. With this practical framework that includes human-centered tools, resources and mini case studies, readers will learn to navigate and succeed on their unique path of change.
- Understand why resistance is to be expected and how to get through it.
- Discover three different kinds of change strategies and when to use which one
- Learn how to use the “messy middle” of change, where real transformation happens
Change the heart of the system by enabling the hearts and minds of those who make schools work.
"Julie Wilson is both a visionary and a pragmatist. Her book is a wonderfully clear and concise guide for leaders who seek to navigate the road to educational transformation."
Tony Wagner, Author
The Global Achievement Gap and Creating Innovators
Ann Koufman-Frederick, Chief Academic Officer
LearnLaunch Institute, MAPLE
"If everyone working in U.S. K-12 education were to read this book and put even half of its thinking into practice, we would be well on our way to a far better society. It is timely, visionary, and relentlessly practical – a rare combination. Discover what our future could look like if enough of us dare to make it happen."
Andy Calkins, Director
Next Generation Learning Challenges at EDUCAUSE
Julie Wilson dares to turn common sense into an action plan. This is an urgent, important book for all educators and parents.
A refreshing and hopeful perspective on transforming the education system to prepare students for the demands of an unpredictable, unknown, and complex future. Wilson offers tools for educators to develop the necessary habits of mind to conquer wide-scale change.
Julie Wilson is both a visionary and a pragmatist. Her book is a wonderfully clear and concise guide for leaders who seek to navigate the road to educational transformation.
If you want to understand what it takes to create innovative and lasting change, then forge ahead with The Human Side of Changing Education, and bravely create your own hero's journey. This is a valuable guide, with practical advice and real-life examples to support you in this very complicated and challenging work.
Julie Wilson’s advice is spot on: Find your north star, embrace the process of change, and focus on the adults in your system. Every educator needs to not only read this book, but also commit to the journey of change that Wilson has thoughtfully implored us to take.
If everyone working in U.S. K-12 education were to read this book and put even half of its thinking into practice, we would be well on our way to a far better society. It is timely, visionary, and relentlessly practical – a rare combination. Discover what our future could look like if enough of us dare to make it happen.
Julie Wilson has emerged as an important thought-leader among those seeking to transform America’s outdated, industrial model of education. With this important book, she has produced an invaluable resource designed to make sense of the myriad initiatives crowding the educational landscape. Concise, thoughtful, and based on a comprehensive review of the field, this book will serve as a catalyst for your own thinking, and for your school’s transformation.
This book is a call to action. Drawing on proven wisdom, Julie Wilson sets out a path for championing change within the education system
At long last, Julie Wilson's thinking about how to transform school culture and teacher mindsets is now in print for the global education community to consider within their individual school innovation plans. The Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning has greatly benefited from Julie's on-site workshops and we are grateful to now have Julie's wisdom for immediate reference when she is not available in-person.
The desire for an evolution in education has reached a fevered pitch over the last few years. Amidst this forward momentum, Julie Wilson’s book serves as a useful pause button; a reminder that education, at its core, has been and always should be a human-centered enterprise. It is worth noting how useful it is to have someone point out something that, once a light is shone, seems so obvious. I thank Julie – and this book – for being that beacon.
