As Fullan (2016) notes, change is not easy, even when it is sought. As an educational leader in your community, you may be familiar with the issues facing Grand City and recognize the need for change. Not unlike many 21st-century cities, it is growing, its economy is changing, and its early childhood and other educational programs must change to accommodate the diverse needs of the next generation. As the demographics have changed, key indicators such as test scores have declined. Mayor Keller won the election by campaigning to make changes in the schools and the community to reverse these trends.

The mayor has approached leaders in the community to join her in developing a plan to prepare the city for a newly competitive educational and economic landscape. In preparation for the first task force meeting, Mayor Keller has asked its members to gather and review data for Grand City, related to their specialized area. As you will see, the task force includes a variety of professionals from diverse economic, civic, early childhood, K–12 education, and other community programs. Before the task force can make recommendations, it must understand what is happening by analyzing data relevant to the schools and students.

For this Discussion, you will analyze the educational and demographic data of Grand City by taking on the role of a task force member from your own specialization. You will then consider the implications of that data on its programs, schools, and community.

To prepare:

• Read the Gonzalez-Shancho and Vincent-Lancrin (2016) and Mandinach et al. (2015) articles related to data collection and analysis in education. Reflect on the difficulty they describe regarding making data accessible to decision makers. With the volume of data available, how can users get the information they need without feeling overwhelmed by the volume of data available?

• Read the Mandinach et al. (2015) article regarding best practices and practices to avoid in the use of data. Are there other practices you would add to either list?

• Review the Fullan (2016) chapters for this module. Consider Fullan’s thoughts related to educational change and how, using the data and your role in the community, you might apply them to Grand City’s task force.

• In the City Hall location in Grand City, view the video of the mayor’s welcome to the education task force. The video includes introductions to several of Grand City’s stakeholders who are members of the task force.

• Review the Grand City demographic, community, and educational data, in City Hall in Grand City. From your perspective as an educational leader in the community—whether your expertise is in early childhood, K–12, administrator, educational technologist, or other specialist—consider what the important changes are over time in the data and trends that emerge. What trends are important for the task force to consider? What is the impact of the data on the Grand City community and its educational programs (both early childhood and K–12)?

An analysis of the Grand City data and information from Mayor Keller’s welcome from the perspective of your role in the community. In your analysis, be sure to explain:

• Changes over time within the data related to your specialization area
• Trends that emerge from the data, their impact on the Grand City community, and your specialization in particular
• Overall implications of the presented Grand City data and comments from Mayor Keller and the task force members on the community and its educational programs
• One concept from Fullan (2016) on educational change that you believe should be a key guiding principle for the task force moving forward. Support your explanation with specific reference to the data and your analysis.

For this Discussion, and all scholarly writing in this course, you will be required to use APA style and provide reference citations.

Learning Resources

Note: To access this module’s required library resources, please click on the link to the Course Readings List, found in the Course Materials section of your Syllabus.

Required Readings

Fullan, M. (2016). The new meaning of educational change (5th ed.). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

• Chapter 1, “A Brief History of Educational Change” (pp. 3–17)
• Chapter 2, “The Meaning of Educational Change” (pp. 18–38)

Gonzalez-Sancho, C., & Vincent-Lancrin, S. (2016). Transforming education by using a new generation of information systems. Policy Futures in Education, 14(6), 1-18. doi: 10.1177/1478210316649287

Mandinach, E. B., Parton, B., Gummer, E.S., & Anderson, R. (2015). Ethical and appropriate data use requires data literacy. Phi Delta Kappan, 96(5), 25-27. doi: 10.1177/0031721715569465

Hargreaves, A., & Fullan, M. (2013). The power of professional capital. Learning Forward, 34(3), 36–39. Retrieved from http://www.michaelfullan.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/JSD-Power-of-Professional-Capital.pdf

Walden University. (2017b). Who we are. Retrieved from https://www.waldenu.edu/about/who-we-are

Review this site for information on Walden University’s mission and vision and its focus on social change.

Walden University (n.d.). APA course paper template (APA 7th ed.). Retrieved February 2, 2016, from http://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/templates/general

Required Media

Grand City Community

Walden University has created a simulated community known as Grand City. This community is being used in various other courses, as well as this one. The community consists of several locations that will be useful in completing some of the assignments in this course. When you use a resource within the Grand City community in this course, instructions will be provided pertaining to which location and resource you are to view. The community may be viewed at the link provided in the citation.

Go to the Grand City Community and click into City Hall to view the following for this module

Optional Resources

Meyer-Looze, C. L. (2015). Creating a cycle of continuous improvement through instructional rounds. International Journal of Educational Leadership Preparation, 10(1), 29–45.

Roberts-Holmes, G., & Bradbury, A. (2016). The datafication of early years education and its impact upon pedagogy. Improving Schools, 1–10. doi:10.1177/1365480216651519