Defining the System to be Improved

Piecemeal change to improve schooling inside a school district is an approach that at its worst does more harm than good and at its best is limited to creating pockets of “good” within school districts. When it comes to improving schooling in a district, however, creating pockets of good isn’t good enough. Whole school systems need to be improved.

To transform an entire school system, change leaders in that system must know what a system is and how it functions and they must be skillful in using a set of systems thinking tools. This blog introduces you to both of these competency sets.

The concept of “systemic change” provides the context for the kind of change leadership described in this blog. Because the term has different meanings, I need to clarify exactly which meaning I will be using. Squire and Reigeluth (2000) identify four distinct meanings of the term:

Statewide policy systemic change. This meaning focuses on statewide changes in tests, curricular guidelines, teacher-certification requirements, textbook adoptions, funding policies, and so forth. These changes are supposed to be coordinated to support one another (Smith & O’Day, 1990). This meaning is frequently used by policymakers when they talk about systemic change.

Districtwide systemic change. Educators subscribing to this meaning see systemic change as any change, including new programming, intended to spread across an entire school district. This is the meaning often held by preK-12th grade educators.

Schoolwide systemic change. Using this meaning, educators see systemic change happening inside single school buildings and it typically involves “…a deeper (re)thinking of the purposes of schooling and the goals of education” (Squire & Reigeluth, 2000, p. 144). This is the meaning that seems to inform the work of such groups as the New American Schools, Inc. and the Coalition of Essential Schools.

Ecological systemic change. This meaning sees systems as rich networks of interrelationships and interdependencies within the system and between the system and its “systemic environment” (the larger system of which it is a part, its peer systems within that larger system, and other systems with which it interacts outside of its larger system). This perspective recognizes that a significant change in one part of a system requires changes in other parts of the system. It also recognizes the need for changes in three interconnected aspects of a system: its core and supporting work processes, its internal social architecture, and its relationships with its environment (Duffy, Rogerson, & Blick, 2000). This view of systemic change subsumes the other three meanings, and it is how “systems thinkers” view systemic change (e.g., Ackoff, 1981; Banathy, 1996; Checkland, 1984; Emery & Purser, 1996; Senge, 1990). This is the definition that I endorse.

Russell Ackoff (1999, pp 6-8) adds depth and breadth to our understanding of organizations as systems. He says a system is a whole entity consisting of several parts with the following properties, which were edited to fit school systems:

• The whole school system has one or more defining properties or functions; for example, the defining function of a school district is to educate children and teenagers.
• Each piece of a school system can affect the behavior or properties of the whole; for example, a couple of low performing schools in a district can drag a whole district into low performing status.
• There is a subset of school system components that are essential for carrying out the main purpose of the whole district but they cannot, by themselves, fulfill the main purpose of a school system; e.g., teachers and classrooms in a single school building are essential elements of a school system and they are necessary for helping a school system fulfill its core purpose, but these classrooms and schools cannot and never will be able to do what the whole school system does.
• There is also a subset of components that are nonessential for fulfilling a school system’s main purpose, but are necessary for other minor purposes; e.g., school public relations, secretarial work, and pupil personnel services.
• A school system depends on its environment for the importation of “energy” (i.e., human, technical and financial resources); therefore it is an “open system.” A school district’s external task environment (i.e., the environment it interacts with on a daily basis) consists of individuals and groups identified as customers, critics, competitors, suppliers, and stakeholders.
• The way in which an essential element of a school system affects the whole system depends on its interaction with at least one other element; e.g., the effect a single school’s performance has on the whole district depends on the interaction that the school has with at least one other school in the system.
• The effect that any subset of a school system has on the whole system depends on the behavior of at least one other subset of elements; for example, let’s say that a school district is organized preKindergarten-12th grade. This means the core work process for that district is 13 steps long (pre-K-12th grade).
  Now, let’s say that district leaders are concerned about the performance of their high school (which is a subset of the whole system). This high school contains grades 9-12. It would be a mistake to focus improvement efforts only on that high school because its performance is affected by at least two other subsets of schools (i.e., the elementary and middle schools that “feed” into the high school).
  Since all essential elements of a school system interact, it would be wise to examine and determine how the elementary and middle schools are affecting the performance of the high schools. Focusing improvement only on the high schools would be a non-systemic and, therefore, piecemeal approach to improvement.
  
• A school system is a whole entity that cannot be divided into individual components without losing its essential properties or functions. For example, the dominant approach to improving schooling in the United States is called school-based or site-based improvement. This approach divides a school system into its aggregate parts; i.e., individual schools. Then, it is assumed that improving these individual schools will somehow improve the whole system. When attempts are made to improve a school system in this way—by disaggregating it into its individual schools—its effectiveness as a system deteriorates rapidly.
• Because a school system derives its effectiveness from the interaction of its elements rather than from what the elements do independent of the system, when efforts are taken to improve the individual elements as if they were not part of a whole system (as in school-based improvement), the performance of the whole system, according to Ackoff (p. 9), deteriorates and the system involved will be significantly weakened.
  
  Strategies for Defining the System to Be Improved
  
  Some authors (Fullan, date unknown) are suggesting that systemic change in education must occur within a mega-system defined by three levels: the district system, the community system and the state department of education system. This tri-level solution, as Fullan calls it, seems reasonable and intuitively correct. I agree that all three systems must be engaged in any effort to transform a school system. Although I agree with this tri-level concept, I would like to tweak it using principles from systems theory, in particular principles from Ackoff (above) and Merrelyn Emery (described below).
  
  Let’s examine the tri-level solution keeping Ackoff’s systems principles (above) in mind.
  
  Each school district, community and state department of education interact with each other and to some degree depend on each other, but each also functions as an intact, self-managing system. When the three are combined into a mega-system for the purpose of systemic change, the complexity of that system countervails any effort to improve that mega-system.
  
  As a case in point, consider what a mega-system of education would look like in the state of Pennsylvania. That state has 99 school districts, each inside a community, thereby adding 99 additional systems to the mega-system. Finally, there is one state department of education. The total number of self-functioning, relatively autonomous sub-systems in that mega-system would therefore add up to 199 complex sub-systems (99 communities, 99 school districts and 1 state department of education), each with its own special characteristics.
  
  How would you go about changing that tri-level mega-system? Who would lead that transformation? How would the special characteristics, needs, and demands of each of the 199 sub-systems be addressed? How long would it take to transform a mega-system of this size if, indeed, it could be changed at all?
  
  I think it would be impossible to change a mega-system of that size and complexity.
  
  Merrelyn Emery (Emery & Purser, 1996) gave us a different strategy for identifying “the system to be improved.” She said that we should draw a circle around every unit, department, person, and so on that must collaborate to deliver a complete service or product. To identify a unit of change that would increase the likelihood of improving schooling, that circle would go around everything that we call a school system. Everything inside the circle—the entire school system—becomes the unit of change. Everything outside the circle is part of a school system’s external environment.
  
  The idea of involving three system levels in any effort to improve a school district is correct. How to involve those three systems is where there is disagreement. Instead of creating a single tri-level mega-system to involve a school district’s community and state department of education, if we used Emery’s principle for defining the system to be improved those two systems would be considered part of a school district’s external environment. Then, change leaders could follow three paths simultaneously that would lead to school district transformation.
  
  Three Paths Toward Improvement (Duffy, 2003, 2004)
  
  Principles of whole-system change suggest that three paths must be followed to change and entire system (where a system is defined using Merrelyn Emery’s advice). The three paths are: Path 1: improve a district’s relationships with its external environment; Path 2: improve a district’s core and supporting work processes; and Path 3: improve a district’s internal social environment.
  
  Using this three path approach (rather than a tri-level approach) change leaders in school systems would work with their colleagues to improve the relationship they have with their community and with their state department of education. Using this three-path approach in Pennsylvania, for example, each of the 99 school systems would be working to improve their unique relationship with their own community and each would be working to improve their unique relationship with their state department of education. Thus, systemwide change would be occurring with each school system by engaging that district in tri-level relationship (each district with its community and with its state department of education) thereby making the prospects of successful systemic change more likely than if this same kind of change process was attempted in a mega-system.
  
  It is clear that the community system and state department of education system must be part of any district’s effort to engage in whole-system change. Blending the three systems together to create a single mega-system creates an extraordinarily complex mega-system that may become notoriously impossible to change and would create significant resistance to future change.
  
  
  

References

Ackoff, R. L. (1981). Creating the corporate future. New York: John Wiley & Sons.

Ackoff, R. L. (1999). Re-creating the corporation: A design of organizations for the 21st century. New York: Oxford University Press.

Banathy, B. H. (1996). Designing social systems in a changing world. New York: Plenum Press.

Checkland, P. (1984). Systems thinking, systems practice (Reprinted with corrections February, 1984 ed.). Chichester Sussex. New York: Wiley & Sons.

Duffy, F. M. (2004). Courage, passion and vision: A guide to leading systemic school improvement. Lanham, MD: ScarecrowEducation and the American Association for School Administrators.

Duffy, F. M. (2003). Step-Up-T0-Excelllence: An innovative approach to managing and rewarding performance in school systems. Lanham, MD: ScarecrowEducation.

Duffy, F. M., Rogerson, L. G., & Blick, C. (2000). Redesigning America’s schools: A systems approach to improvement. Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon Publishers.

Emery, M. & Purser, R. E. (1996). The Search Conference: A powerful method for planning organizational change and community action. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Fullan, M. (date unknown). The tri-level solution: School/district/state synergy. Retrieved on May 7, 2005 at http://www.saee.ca/analyst/C_023.1_BII_LON.php.

Senge, P. M. (1990). The fifth discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization (1st ed.). New York: Doubleday.

Smith, M. S., & O’Day, J. (1990). Systemic school reform. In S. Fuhrman & B. Malen (Eds.). The politics of curriculum and testing (pp. 233-267). Philadelphia: Falmer Press.

Squire, K. D., & Reigeluth, C. M. (2000). The many faces of systemic change. Educational Horizons, 78(3), 145-154.

The Leading Systemic School Improvement Series

Dear Colleagues,

One of the pleasures in my life is serving as the founding editor of Rowman & Littlefield Education's new Leading Systemic School Improvement Series.

The vision for the series is that it provides change leaders in school systems with the knowledge and tools they need to create and sustain systemwide change in their districts.

The series has three broad categories of books:

Category 1: Why whole-system change is needed in school districts.
Category 2: What the desired outcomes of whole-system change should be.
Category 3: How to create and sustain whole-system change in school districts.

To date, we have several wonderful books in the series and more on the way.

You may visit the webpage for the series by visiting http://www.rowmaneducation.com/Series/. Once there, click the link for the Leading Systemic School Improvement Series.

Also, if you are an author and would like to write a book for the series, please call me at 301-854-9800 or E-mail me at duffy@thefmduffygroup.com to talk about your idea.

Political Support for Whole-System Change in School Districts

While writing my newest book, Power, politics and ethics: Dynamic leadership for systemic school improvement (which is in press by Rowman & Littlefield Education), I exchanged several E-mail notes with Peter Block. Peter is an internationally famous writer and thought-leader in the field of leadership and organization development.

In one note, Peter questioned my proposition that whole-system change must be explicitly supported by a superintendent of schools and a majority of his or her school board members prior to beginning that kind of change process. Peter said (which I paraphrase here), “I disagree. There is great change under the radar of the top leaders. What are educators supposed to do if they don’t have that kind of support; give up the idea of change?”

In reply I said,

“Yes, there is great change under the radar of the top; however, in many cases in school districts the great changes are rather frequent, piecemeal, disconnected efforts to make incremental improvements in individual schools and programs within a district. And when all is said and done, not much really changes--there's just a lot of activity in the name of change. Whole-system change requires a different approach to change; one that is systemic, systematic, and strategic.

Systemic, systematic and strategic change aimed at transforming an entire school system must have support from key school board members. In the absence of board support educators should not give up a change effort; however, nor should they charge full speed ahead without having support from key board members (not necessarily from all of them). Instead, change leaders need to spend time developing a critical mass of support among key internal and external stakeholders, including key school board members.”

The methodology I've created for transforming whole school systems, Step-Up-To-Excellence, begins with a "pre-launch preparation" phase. That phase is primarily focused on building political support (both inside and outside of a school district). During this phase change leaders engage community members, faculty, staff and school board members in structured large-group processes that are based on Harrison Owen's Open Space Technology and Marvin Weisbord's Future Search. The purpose of these engagements is to build political support for whole-system change. If the political support is not there, the change effort will almost certainly fail.

What change leaders will be left with after a failed whole-system change effort is anger, frustration and a hardened resolve to resist change in the future.

Bottom-line: Whole-system change requires political support from key internal and external stakeholders, including key school board members. In the absence of that support, change leaders need to spend time building it.

If they can't build a sufficient amount of political support, then they shouldn't try to engage their school districts in large-scale, whole-system change. Of course they can continue to engage in small, incremental changes (e.g., improving a curriculum, developing a new teacher evaluation plan, and so on); but large-scale system-wide change will fail in the absence of political support and if it is bound to fail it shouldn't be tried because the emotional, physical and financial costs of whole-system change are significant.”

Peter wrote back and said that he agreed with my assessment. It was quite a relief and an honor to have someone like Peter agree with my beliefs about political support for whole-system change.

What do you think? I invite you to post your opinions on this.

My contribution to the resurgence of interest in systemic change in school districts

Michael Fullan (2000) wrote about the return of systemic change in school districts (The return of large-scale reform. Journal of Educational Change, 1, 1-25).

As I reflected on his observation, I started to think about how my body of work as a professor, author, and consultant may have contributed to that resurgence of interest in systemic change. It is my hope that in some small way, the ideas I have shared about large-scale change in school districts have influenced this resurgence of interest in systemic change.

What I did to try to identify how I may have influenced the return of systemic change was to examine my experience and extract from my vita samples of my work from 1980-2000. Here’s what I found.

In 1980, Chris Argyris sponsored an honorary faculty position for me in the Harvard Graduate School of Education to study his and Donald Schön’s ideas about personal and organizational learning. That’s when I started thinking about organizational learning in school systems.

In 1985 and 1986, I published my first two articles on applying principles of organization development and systems theory to improving the practice of instructional supervision in school districts. In 1990, I continued writing about the application of systems change to the challenge of improving instructional supervision.

An article in 1992 expressed views that reflected a shift in my thinking away from how to improve the process of instructional supervision to improving whole school systems. Then, in 1995 I published three articles that continued to shift my thinking to a focus on using systems theory to improve entire school systems.

In 1995, I started publishing and distributing The F.M. Duffy Reports. These were free quarterly reports distributed through the U.S. mail to an international audience of practitioners, professors, consultants, school board members, and politicians. The theme of the reports was about how to create and sustain system-wide change in school districts. In 2005, I started distributing these Reports via E-mail. The theme remains the same.

My first book was published in 1996 with the title Designing high performance schools: A practical guide to organizational reengineering. This book described in detail how to apply principles of systemic change to improve schools and school systems. One of the chapters in that book was about Knowledge Work Supervision.

1997 saw another two articles published about applying principles of systemic change to improving school systems. Two more articles appeared in 1997 and 1998 about a reconceptualized model of supervision that shifted the focus of supervision off of individual teachers and onto the performance of an entire school system. That model was called Knowledge Work Supervision (which was first described in my first book).

I invited Lynda Rogerson and Charles Blick to co-author Redesigning America’s schools: A systems approach to improvement. That book was published in 2000 and provided a detailed description of how to redesign an entire school system using Knowledge Work Supervision. Charles Reigeluth of Indiana University, a noted expert on systemic change in education, characterized that book as the best one he has ever seen on applying principles of systems theory to the challenge of transforming school systems.

I stopped reviewing my vita at the year 2000 because that was the year that Fullan published his article on the return of large-scale reform.

Since 2000, I have published many more articles and several more books. The Knowledge Work Supervision methodology has been transformed into Step-Up-To-Excellence.

All tolled, I hope that my ideas as expressed in my writing, teaching and consulting have contributed in some small way to the return of large-scale reform in education as commented upon by Michael Fullan.

References

Books

Duffy, F. M. (2005, in press). Power, politics and ethics: Dynamic leadership for systemic school improvement. Leading Systemic School Improvement Series. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Education.

Duffy, F. M. (2004). Moving upward together: Creating strategic alignment to sustain change. Leading Systemic School Improvement Series, No.1. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Education.

Duffy, F. M. (2003). Courage, passion, and vision: A guide to leading systemic school improvement. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Education and the American Association of School Administrators.

Duffy, F. M. (2002). Step-Up-To-Excellence: An innovative approach to managing and rewarding performance in school systems. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Education.

Duffy, F. M. & Dale, J. (Eds.) (2001). Creating successful school systems: Voices from the university, the field, and the community. Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon Publishers.

Duffy, F. M., Rogerson, L. G., & Blick, C. (2000). Redesigning America’s schools: A systems approach to improvement. Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon Publishers.

Duffy, F. M. (1996). Designing high performance schools: A practical guide to organizational reengineering. Del Ray Beach, FL: St. Lucie Press.


Articles


___________(2000 Winter). Re-conceptualizing instructional supervision. Journal of Curriculum and Supervision, 15 (2), 123-145.

____________(1998). Knowledge Work Supervision: Transforming school systems into high performing learning organizations. ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Management, EA 029224.

___________ (1997 May). Supervise schooling, not teachers. Educational Leadership, 54 (8), 78 - 83.

___________ (1997 January). Knowledge Work Supervision: Transforming school systems into high-performing learning organizations. International Journal of Educational Management, 11 (1), 26 - 31.

__________ (1995). Supervising knowledge-work. NASSP Bulletin, 79 (573), 56-66.

__________ (1995). Supervising knowledge work. ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Management. EA026349.

__________ (1995). Designing high performance schools through instructional supervision. ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Management. EA026350.

__________ (April, 1992). Random thoughts, deeply felt. In the Chesapeake Bay Organization Development Network Newsletter, 6 (2)

____________(1990 Spring). Soil conditions, cornerstones, and other thoughts: A treatise for a school superintendent. Wingspan,5 (2).

__________ (1986). Improving the effectiveness of supervisory practice. Planning and Changing: A Journal for School Administrator, 16 (4), 195-205.

__________ (1985). Analyzing and evaluating supervisory practice. In ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Management (ED 458707).

What I Do

I specialize in helping change leaders create and sustain systemwide change in school districts. I've published 8 books on that topic. My website is www.thefmduffygroup.com.

I am also the founding editor of Rowman & Littlefield Education's Leading Systemic School Improvement Series. You can visit the website for that series at http://www.rowmaneducation.com/Series/. Once there, click the link for the series.

I have 30+ years experience in education, including service as a high school teacher. I am certified in Pennsylvania as a special education teacher, special education supervisor (K-12), supervisor of curriculum and instruction (K-12), and as an assistant executive director for intermediate units. My Bachelor of Science degree is in special education from Mansfield University in Pennsylvania. My Masters of Education and Doctor of Philosophy degrees are in curriculum and supervision from the University of Pittsburgh where I studied under Morris Cogan, one of the developers of Clinical Supervision. I have a second master’s degree in business management from The Johns Hopkins University. I also held an honorary faculty position at the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 1980 that was sponsored by Professor Chris Arygris where I studied Argyris’ ideas about personal and organizational learning.

I am a tenured Professor of Change Leadership in Education at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. where I teach a set of five doctoral-level courses on organization improvement: interpersonal and group behavior in organizations, organization development and the management of change, organization theory and design, organization diagnosis, and redesigning organizations.

I also served as a Faculty Associate at The Johns Hopkins University teaching a course on “Systemic Change in Schools” and he was a 2002-2003 Education Policy Fellow at the Institute for Educational Leadership in Washington, D.C.

I am a member and past president of the Council of Professors of Instructional Supervision (COPIS), which includes Professors Thomas Sergiovanni, Ben Harris, Robert Anderson, Ed Pajak, Ralph Fessler, Art Costa, Carl Glickman, and many others. I am also a former member of the board of directors for the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development and a former nominee for the ASCD office of president-elect. I am an active member of the National Council for Professors of Education Administration and Phi Delta Kappa.

Please visit my website for addtional information about my philosophy for and approach to improving whole school systems. The address for that site is www.thefmduffygroup.com.

I am the author of journal articles, chapters, and books on instructional supervision and systemic school improvement. Examples of my publications include:

Books


Duffy, F. M. & Chance, P. L. (2007, in press). Strategic communication during whole system change: Advice and guidance for school district leaders and PR specialists. Leading Systemic School Improvement Series. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Education.

Duffy, F. M. (2006). Power, politics and ethics in school districts: Dynamic leadership for systemic change. Leading Systemic School Improvement Series. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Education.

Duffy, F. M. (2004). Moving upward together: Creating strategic alignment to sustain systemic school improvement. No. 1, Leading Systemic School Improvement Series. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press

Duffy, F. M. (2003). Courage, passion, and vision: A superintendent’s guide to leading systemic school improvement. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press and the American Association of School Administrators.

Duffy, F. M. (2002). Step-up-to-excellence: An innovative approach to managing and rewarding performance in school systems. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press.

Duffy, F. M. & Dale, J. D. (2001). Creating successful school systems: Voices from the university, the field, and the community. Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon Publishers.

Duffy, F. M., Rogerson, L. G., & Blick, C. (2000). Redesigning America’s schools: A systems approach to improvement. Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon Publishers.

Duffy, F. M. (1996). Designing high-performance schools: A practical guide to organizational reengineering. Delray Beach, FL: St. Lucie Press.

Chapters

Duffy, F. M. (2007, in press). Systems thinking and systems dynamics: The pillars of transformational whole-system change in school districts. In B. Després (2005, under review). Systemic thinking in education. AERA annual.

Duffy, F. M. (1996). Should supervision be influenced by business management? Yes. In J. Glanz & R. Neville (Eds.). Educational Supervision: Perspectives, Issues, & Controversies. Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon Publishers.

Duffy, F. M. (1998). The ideology of supervision. In E. Pajak & G. Firth (Eds.). Handbook of research on school supervision. Indianapolis, IN: Macmillan General Reference.

Reigeluth, C.M., & Duffy, F.M. (2005). Trends and Issues in P-12 Educational Change. In R.A. Reiser & J.A. Dempsey (Eds.), Trends and Issues in Instructional Design and Technology (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice Hall.


Articles

Duffy, F. M. (2006). Step-Up-To-Excellence: A change navigation protocol for transforming school systems. Available at http://cnx.org/content/m13656/latest/.

Duffy, F. M. (2006, under review). Trust, commitment, and collaboration: Necessary conditions for leading whole-system change in school districts. School Leadership Review.

Duffy, F. M. (2005, summer). Navigating whole-system change in school districts: What school public relations specialists need to know to support the process. Journal of School Public Relations, 26(3).

Duffy, F. M. (2005, spring). Instructional supervisors as change leaders. AERA Instructional Supervision Special Interest Group Newsletter.

Duffy, F. M. (2004, summer). The destination of three paths: Improved student, faculty and staff, and system learning. The Educational Forum, 68 (4): 313-324.

Duffy, F. M. (2004). Step-Up-To-Excellence: Transforming school systems to
become knowledge-creating organizations. The Fourth International Conference on Knowledge, Culture and Change in Organisations. University of Greenwich London, UK 3-6 August 2004. On-line at http://managementconference.com/ProposalSystem/Presentations/P000531.

Duffy, F. M., Houlihan, G. T., & Horne, J. F. (2004, August). How to transform an entire school system: The future in the present tense. Proceedings of the World Future Society National Conference.

Duffy, F. M. (2004, January). Navigating whole district change: Eight principles for moving an organization upward in times of unpredictably. The School Administrator, 61 (1): 22 - 26.

___________. (2003, Fall) (guest editor). Communicating in times of great change. Special theme issue of the Journal of School Public Relations.

___________(2003, Winter). Dancing on ice: Navigating change to create whole-district school improvement. Organization Development Journal.

____________(2003, Winter). I think, therefore I resist change. Journal of Staff Development, 24 (1), 30-36.

____________(2002, Winter). Courage, passion, and vision: Leading systemic school improvement. International Journal of Educational Reform,11 (1): 63 -76.

Duffy, F. M. (2000 Winter). Reconceputalizing instructional supervision for 3rd millennium school systems. Journal of Curriculum and Supervision, 15 (2), 123-145.

Duffy, F. M. (1997 January). Knowledge work supervision: Transforming school systems into high performing learning organizations. International Journal of Educational Management, 11 (1), 26-31.

Duffy, F. M. (1997 May). Supervising teaching, not teachers. Educational Leadership, 54 (8), 78-83.