1.6 Step-up-to-excellence:a change navigation protocol for transforming

This article presents a protocol change leaders can use to navigate whole-system change in their schooldistricts. The information describing the protocol will help change leaders in school districts and policymakers interested inwhole-district change answer the question,“How do we transform our entire school system”? The protocol is called Step-Up-To-Excellence (SUTE; Duffy, 2002, 2003, 2004a, 2004b, 2004c).

Every time SUTE is presented to an audience there is at least one person who calls out some“yes, buts”—statements questioning whether the protocol is practical, do-able, or valid. Three“yes, buts”that are frequently heard and responses to them are found near the end of this article.

The Need for Whole-District Transformation

Rolling across America is a long train called“The School Improvement Express.”The triple societal engines of standards, assessment, and accountability are pulling it. The leadengine goes by the name“The No Child Left Behind Engine That Could.”The rolling stock is composed of school systems and a myriad of contemporary school improvement models, processes, anddesirable outcomes. The train has once again come to a stop at a broad and deep abyss that goes by the name“The Canyon of Systemic School Improvement.”On the far side of the abyss lies the“Land of High Performance.”The riders on the train want to go there. In fact, they have wanted to go there for years but have failed tomake the crossing, and so they keep returning here to the edge of the abyss to stare across with longing in their hearts wonderinghow they will ever traverse it.

Standing at the edge of this great abyss, some educators see a threat while others see an opportunity. Some see animpossible crossing, while others see just another puzzle to be solved. Meanwhile, the pressure in the three great“engines”for setting standards, assessing student learning, and holdingeducators accountable for results continues to build and shows no sign of dissipating. The“engineers”have their hands on the brakes but they can feel the pressure of the engine trying to edge thetrain forward, which feels like having one foot on the brake of a car while stepping on the gas with the other foot.