Collective Vision

This book follows one school district through ten years of transformation. The work began with a district-wide shared vision, mission and set of values, created through an appreciative inquiry process that involved every stakeholder in the district. That process gave people shared ownership of, and responsibility for, the results.

The book shows how a collective vision and collaborative inquiry across a whole system can build a culture of collective efficacy and lead to better outcomes. It starts from a common problem in education: promising practices are often dropped before any improvement can be seen, and schools are held responsible for improving without enough support or guidance from the district. Here, continuous inquiry and steady district backing for promising practices led to significant improvement.

As a practical guide, it offers lessons learned and questions for self-reflection throughout. It is meant to encourage educators at every level of the system to act on district and school improvement.