ABSTRACT
Establishing the need for change comes from an analysis of school data and goals. Jeff Edwards, a professor at the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School, suggests that the need for change comes from a gap between where the organization is currently and where it should be. Gaps differ in terms of the content, size, importance, and urgency. A common starting point is to look at your school’s achievement levels for student subgroups and compare your school’s results with the results of other schools with similar demographics. Your fact pack and the tools that you applied with data driven decision making will come into play at this point. Other data sources may include informal and formal observations, teacher and community satisfaction surveys, reports from district and state education agencies, and data that you gather from informal observations.
