The Adaptive School: A Sourcebook for Developing Collaborative Groups

Rating:
Summary: Imperative of Facilitation
Review: Garmston and Wellman have written a book that belongs on the shelf of every administrator in the country. They outline practical strategies for creating action-oriented/outcomes-based collaborative groups in a school community. These strategies work in faculty meetings, parent meetings, classrooms, district meetings. In short, this is an excellent book that clearly delineates the best and proven practices from the fields of education, psychology, and business management for developing, motivating, guiding, and maintaining collaborative groups across the school community.

Rating:
Summary: The Adaptive Review
Review: In this book, the authors survey a broad range of organizational and educational literature and sourcebooks to present a useful guide for educational leaders of all stripes who wish to affect change. Chapter topics deal with communication, facilitation, organizing and managing meetings, group and institutional development, and conflict resolution and management. Drawing heavily from systems theory literature, this book is an essential tool for anyone who knows their school needs to adapt, but isn't sure where to start, and for school leaders in search of particular tools or approaches to help guide new practices. (Unfortunately, Garmston and Wellman's bibliography takes the form of an "Author Index", which, if I may be generous, seems inadequate.)

Garmston and Wellman have chosen carefully the word "Adaptive" to describe their vision of effective schools. Organizations, like individuals or species, must adapt or perish. And, as Darwin's theory teaches us, adaptation is not a static, one-time experience for those who survive the test of time. Garmston and Wellman assume that schools have an obligation to provide the best possible educational experience for every child in an era of increased public accountability and fast-paced social change. To accomplish this, they must be become adaptive - steeped in the modes, mindsets, and methods of change and improvement. This sourcebook provides anyone with similar views a rich array of theory, skills, and tools to help move schools from their historically atomized structures and cultures to become more integrated, collaborative, and responsive organizations.