Theory of Action

The Charleston Education Network was founded in the belief that providing support and resources alone will not create sufficient improvement in public education in Charleston County ...  Fundamental changes are needed in the way we approach the task of educating our children.

School districts, like most organizations, generally are not designed to change. They are designed for stability gained through maintenance of the status quo.  Basic systems theory tells us that the primary function of a system is to maintain homeostasis, or balance. When something upsets that balance, the system responds immediately to restore the balance to its previous state.  If it cannot achieve the former balance, it  attempts to achieve a new state of balance as nearly like the old one as possible.  This happens almost automatically.

This systemic commitment to maintaining or restoring balance, makes change, even positive change, very difficult to manage and lead successfully.   It offers an explanation of why, in spite of all of the data, evidence, logic and reason that would support the massive overhaul or outright replacement of the current system of public education, we persist in maintaining it. 

The Charleston Education Network believes that incremental adjustments will not have the desired effect.  They do not sufficiently upset the balance.  Similarly, experience shows that providing resources and support alone is far more likely to reinforce the status quo than to bring about fundamental, foundational, systemic change. 

What is required is a persistent effort that looks for or creates pressure points and points of leverage that can be used strategically to “upset the balance” in such a way that positive change occurs.  John Murphy, former superintendent of the Charlotte Mecklenburg School District in North Carolina observed, “School systems, just like most large organizations, don’t change because they see the light. They change because they feel the heat.”