ABSTRACT
Adaptive problems are complicated and defy easy answers. The redesign of physical education (PE) qualifies an adaptive problem. Leaders need to frame and name it accurately and continuously, while avoiding the rush to ready-mix solutions that often cause more problems than they solve. Optimal practice thus begins with problem-setting, and it continues as teachers and other leaders engage in reflective and reflexive practice. This special practice facilitates individual, collective, and organizational learning as well as knowledge generation, especially so when theories of change provide structural and operational guidance. Theories of change function like outcomes-oriented territorial maps and compasses because they help leaders chart and monitor their journeys from “here” (today’s state of affairs) to “there” (a better future), and they compel teachers and other leaders to specify the mechanisms that mediate and moderate the relationship between antecedent conditions (at baseline) and outcomes. Nine generative questions help to launch theory of change development and continuous improvement, and their import is illuminated when an important connection is made. PE curricula and instruction are, in fact, theories of change. This easy, accurate translation opens avenues to two curricular innovations as theories of change in service of equitable outcomes: Digital learning systems and identity-based curriculum and instruction.
