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It is reasonable and right for educators to convey to the public the urgency of situations they confront and the pressing need for more resources, says school change expert Rick DuFour in his "Leading Edge" column (Journal of Staff Development, Summer 2004). But ultimately educators must choose between two school improvement strategies. DuFour calls the first strategy the "if only" approach, which bases hopes for school improvement on others: "if only the parents were more supportive, if only the students were better prepared and more motivated." The other strategy, DuFour explains, "is to focus on the conditions that lie within our sphere of influence. This can-do strategy shifts the focus inward as we begin to ask, 'What can we do to monitor each student's learning on a timely basis, to respond with more time and support when a student struggles, to create time within the school day to work collaboratively?' Schools that resort to the 'if only"' strategy spend their time looking out the window for the solutions to their problems. Schools that commit to the can-do strategy spend their time looking in the mirror."

Citation: DuFour, R. (2004). Leading edge: Are you looking out the window or in a mirror? Retrieved from the Journal of Staff Development on March 19, 2008. Website: http://www.nsdc.org/library/publications/jsd/dufour253.cfm

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