Organizational Change Project: Social Justice Audit

Running head: SOCIAL JUSTICE AUDIT PROPOSAL

Paper Format: APA 6th ed.

Organizational Change Project: Social Justice Audit Proposal

Heather Mahardy

Ph.D. in Leadership and Change Program – Antioch University

November 14, 2012

SOCIAL JUSTICE AUDIT PROPOSAL 2

Background

Lake Washington Girls Middle School, the first secular girls middle school in

Washington State, was founded in 1998 by a group of parents who sought a middle school

experience in which their daughters could thrive academically and would not face gender

discrimination. The school was intentionally kept small, with enrollment capped at 18 students

per grade, until the board voted to expand the school for the 2012-2013 school year, growing the

school population to 68 students. As part of the expansion, two additional teachers were hired

and two administrative positions created, increasing the staff to eight teachers and seven

administrators.

An organizational commitment to social justice is evident in Lake Washington Girls

Middle School’s mission, values, curriculum, and programs, represented in Figure 1.

Additionally, at the fall 2012 board retreat, the decision was made to formally reaffirm the

school’s social justice focus – one goal of the proposed social justice audit is to address this

timely and organizationally identified need.

MISSION: Lake Washington Girls Middle School prepares girls to be confident young women,

strong in mind, body, and voice. Our school values diversity and promotes personal and social

responsibility. Students, teachers, and families are active partners in creating a challenging

academic environment, fostering independent thinking, and instilling a life long love of learning.

SCHOOL VALUES

Curriculum:

• An engaging, integrated

curriculum – shaped

around the unique needs of

adolescent girls – that

focuses on high academic

achievement, community-

based service learning, life

skills components, and

Community:

• Diversity (racial, ethnic,

socioeconomic, family

composition) in its

students, families, and

faculty.

• Respect for differences

and recognizing families

as assets to the school.

Confidence:

• A small school that

supports girls’ social-

emotional learning.

• Strengthening a sense of

personal and social

responsibility.

• Honoring the

individuality and voice of


social justice.

• A culturally relevant

approach that presents

material and skills from

multiple perspectives.

• Collaboration with and

service to our local

community.

each girl.

Figure 1: Lake Washington Girls Middle School Mission and Values

Criterion 1: An understanding of the social system at work in the proposed change.

Four groups of stakeholders comprise the social system at Lake Washington Girls Middle

School: teachers and administrators, students, parents and guardians, and board members.

Within the teachers and administrators stakeholder group, there is a hierarchical

institutional leadership structure that has emerged as part of the recently expanded administrative

roles and additional teacher hires, illustrated in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Lake Washington Girls Middle School Institutional Leadership Structure

The degree of support from teachers and administrators for the upcoming social audit is

currently uncertain. As a precursor to this organizational change project, I conducted a case

study, investigating how teachers and administrators construct their understanding of cultural

Board of Directors

(Board)

Head of School

Assistant Head of

School

Director of Student

Services

Office Administrator Director of

Advancement

Director of

Communications

Advancement

Assistant

Grade-Level Lead

Teachers

Department Head

Teachers

Content Area

Teachers

Seattle University

Tutors

Business Manager


competence, soliciting data in two ways. First, a 20-item Intercultural Effectiveness Scale was

disseminated to all teachers and administrators, asking respondents to self-assess their cultural

competence across six factors: behavior flexibility, interaction relaxation, interactant respect,

message skills, identity maintenance, and interaction management (Portalla & Chen, 2009); and,

secondly, respondents were invited to participate in subsequent interviews. The teacher and

administrator response rate to the Intercultural Effectiveness Scale was at 53 percent. It is

unclear at this time if the response rate was affected by a lack of designated time during the

school day to complete the survey or if the response rate is indicative of resistance among some

teachers and administrators – both of these factors will be taken into account in the planning and

implementation of the upcoming social justice audit.

Within the school’s current governing structure, the board performs the following roles:

oversight of the school and its budget, hiring and evaluating the Head of School, and strategic

planning. Concurrently, the Head of School is responsible for the day-to-day school operations,

management of school staff and oversight of curriculum development (Lake Washington Girls

Middle School, 2009).

Lake Washington Girls Middle School is a non-profit organization and relies heavily on

family volunteer support for community events (potlucks, performances, open houses), school

programs (office help, chaperoning field trips), auction (planning, procurement, staffing),

athletics (coaching, carpooling), and facility maintenance (repairs, purchasing supplies). With

this significant volunteer need, families are actively involved in the life of the school. The

elevated level of family direct involvement can create tension with teachers and administrators:

on the one hand, the school solicits the support of parents and guardians, but conflicts emerge


when parents/guardians articulate desired changes to curriculum, pedagogy, or school programs,

as such requests are often negatively construed by the school as entitled or intrusive.

In the school’s mission statement, students are explicitly identified as active partners in

creating a challenging, academic environment, fostering independent thinking, and instilling a

life long love of learning (Lake Washington Girls Middle School, 2012). Students have a

number of forums to contribute to decision-making processes: class meetings, all-school

meetings, Respect & Responsibility Advisory groups, as well as formal and informal

conversations with teachers and administrators.

Engagement with the wider community is fostered through the school’s service learning

program, with the goal for students to recognize their own abilities to improve their

communities, nurturing a sense of responsibility and pride as students take action to benefit

others (Lake Washington Girls Middle School, 2011). Past service learning projects include:

Water 1st International’s Carry 5 Walk for Water, Washington Low Income Housing Alliance’s

Housing and Homelessness Advocacy Day, YWCA’s Thanksgiving Basket Drive, United

Nations Foundation’s GirlUp Rally, Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, Juvenile Diabetes

Research Foundation’s Beat the Bridge, American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life, Country

Doctor Community Health Center’s Spa Day Drive for domestic violence shelters, and

fundraising for the Maasai Girls Education Fund.

My role in the Lake Washington Girls Middle School social system, as Director of

Student Services, requires regular interactions across stakeholder groups, collaborating with

teachers, administrators, students, and families to promote student support and success:

designing and leading action plans for students; report card, progress report, and conference

management; administering and disseminating standardized assessments and data; managing the


academic support program; facilitating high school transition support; collaborating with

teachers and Assistant Head of School to update curriculum maps; collaborating with grade-level

lead teachers to plan Respect & Responsibility Advisory curriculum; supervising grief support

and crisis intervention policies and procedures; and supporting academic classes as needed.

Criterion 2: An understanding of the complexity of planned change.

The planned change of conducting an organizational social justice audit is a complex

endeavor, as all stakeholder groups must be involved in order for the audit to be accurate and

meaningful to the community (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs,

2007). As vital as the foundational research, stakeholder engagement throughout the planning

and execution of the social justice audit is integral to the success of this planned change.

As previously mentioned in the background information section, there is consensus

within the organizational leadership – on the part of the board and Head of School – that there is

a need to reassess how social justice manifests at Lake Washington Girls Middle School at the

policy and practical levels. Likewise, from the high level of family and student engagement in

the school community and past involvement in organizational social justice efforts (service

projects and diversity discussion groups), one can infer that those two stakeholder groups will be

willing participants in the social justice audit.

While there is articulated support from the board and Head of School and inferred

support from families and students, the current level of teacher and administrator support is

unknown. Additionally, the staff – specifically, teachers – have experienced a considerable

amount of flux with the recent expansion: changing roles and duties, more students, a new class

schedule, and unforeseen needs continue to emerge as the school year unfolds. Anxiety, fear,

and uncertainty with this time of change have been articulated by several teachers and


administrators. With the current organizational climate, the context for launching the proposed

social justice audit is more representative of chaotic change than just complex change: the

external and internal complexity and uncertainty is high, the future is under perpetual

construction, the past is continually reconstructed in relation to the present, and as leaders of

change, we are not in control, we cannot determine what happens (Karp & Helgø, 2009).

Criterion 3: A strong rationale for the proposed change based on identified and

substantiated need.

The capacity for schools to engage in social justice work is a personal passion and found

at place at Lake Washington Girls Middle School. In the 2011-2012 school year, I collaborated

with teachers to complete a curricular social justice audit, using the Giddens School’s Social

Justice Continuum (Katz, 2007) to identify social justice learning strands embedded within all

core and elective curricula (essential questions, content, skills, assessment, and activities),

validating the school’s curricular commitment to social justice. Figure 3 displays an excerpt of

the social justice learning strands embedded in the Lake Washington Girls Middle School sixth

grade Science curriculum.

SIXTH GRADE SCIENCE

Fall Term Winter Term Spring Term

• Attribute Awareness: Interprets data about

groups of things, of

people, etc., using graphic

mathematical

representation.

• Sustainability and

Stewardship: Develops

deeper understanding of

participation in systems

(family, classroom,

community, ecological);

• Attribute Awareness: Can describe different

ways of becoming a

family, including

adoption, in vitro

fertilization, and human

sexuality; can describe

gender differences;

understands ways in

which bodies change

during puberty.



Stewardship: Largely

responsible for classroom

stewardship; participates

in class recycling.

• Self and Community

Membership: Volunteers

with increasing frequency,

has opportunities to

volunteer as a member of

a group (class projects).

• Fairness and Justice:


demonstrates strategies for

re-using resources;

suggests or “invents”

devices/ strategies that

would make the world

better and solve problems;

largely responsible for

classroom stewardship;

participates in class

recycling.


Membership: Identifies

community needs;

volunteers with increasing

frequency, has

opportunities to volunteer

as a member of a group

(class projects).

Stewardship: Develops

deeper understanding of

participation in systems

(family, classroom,

community, ecological);

largely responsible for

classroom stewardship;

participates in class

recycling.


Membership: Volunteers

with increasing frequency,

has opportunities to

volunteer as a member of

a group (class projects);

growing understanding of

nature and of self as part

of nature.

• Fairness and Justice: Contributes to

identification and support

of classroom rules and

procedures.

Contributes to

identification and support

of classroom rules and

procedures.

Figure 3: Social Justice Learning Strands in Lake Washington Girls Middle School Science

Curriculum

The identified social justice learning strands were then incorporated into the Lake

Washington Girls Middle School Curriculum Guide, a policy document disseminated to families,

with further reiteration of the school’s social justice values: “At the heart of the curriculum is a

commitment to social justice. Through social justice learning goals that thread through each

subject and a focused, engaging service learning program, girls at LWGMS learn that each of

them has the power to effect change in the world” (Lake Washington Girls Middle School,

2011).

While the curricular social justice audit was an informative pedagogical exercise, the

process did not address how social justice principles and practices manifest in the school’s

policies, organizational structure, or in the interactions among stakeholder groups (teachers and


administrators, students, parents and guardians, and board members). One desired outcome of

the social justice audit is to expand reflective practice at an organizational level, including all

stakeholder groups in the planning, implementation, and evaluation processes in order to foster

the most inclusive, culturally responsive, and mission appropriate environment possible.

Criterion 4: Concrete, specific goals for leadership and change for the organization

and/or community.

In 1993, the Washington State Legislature established the Readiness to Learn Program

with the mission of creating a committed and continuing partnership among schools, families,

and communities that will provide opportunities for all young people to achieve at their highest

learning potential; live in a safe, healthy, civil environment; and grow into productive

community members (Einspruch, Deck, Grover & Hahn, 2001).

The Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction later adopted the Harvard Family

Research Project’s Supportive Learning Environment Logic Model as the framework for all

Operations and Support Programs, including the Readiness to Learn Program. This logic model

ensures that the program’s process is included in the evaluation and enhances the process of

learning through evaluation (Harvard Family Research Project, 1999).

The Supportive Learning Environment Logic Model provides an integrative,

collaborative, responsive, and outcomes-focused framework for leadership and change at the

individual, organizational, and community levels and this model will be applied to the social

justice audit process at Lake Washington Girls Middle School. Figure 4 provides a visual

representation of the Supportive Learning Environment Logic Model’s four phases: entering

characteristics, needs/strengths assessment, process (systems change: structural, operational,

cultural strategies), and outcomes/evaluation – these four phases will serve as concrete, specific


goals for leadership and change within the social justice audit at Lake Washington Girls Middle

School.

Figure 4: Supportive Learning Environment Logic Model

Goal 1: Entering Characteristics

The first phase of the Supportive Learning Environment Logic Model is Entering

Characteristics: students enter programs with individual demographic and social characteristics

(Einspruch, et al., 2001). Within the context of a social justice audit, this first phase can be

translated as recognizing and honoring the totality of a community member’s identity within the

social systems he or she occupies: individual, stakeholder group at Lake Washington Girls

Middle School (teachers and administrators, students, parents and guardians, and board

members), community, and societal. Establishing stakeholders’ entering characteristics is a

responsive, ethical, and necessary first step for the social justice audit, gathering information and

themes to inform the development of an organizational vision of social justice.

Entering

characteristics

Needs/strengths

assessment

Process

Outcomes/

evaluation

Improved student

success

(academic and

behavioral)

Improved

environments for

learning

Student • Student

• Family

• School

• Community

Systems change

(structural, operational, cultural

strategies)

• Student-

oriented

• School-oriented

• Family-

oriented

• Community-

oriented


Goal 2: Needs/Strengths Assessment

The second phase of the Supportive Learning Environment Logic Model is a

Needs/Strengths Assessment: from a student’s entering characteristics, staff determine the

strengths and needs of the families and children served, as well as the strengths and needs of the

schools and communities in which the program functions (Einspruch, et al., 2001). Each

stakeholder group actively contributes to the Lake Washington Girls Middle School community

and it is through this lens that the strengths and needs of each group will be identified, in an

effort to keep the assessment process as participatory and transparent as possible, looping data

back to stakeholder groups and the community at large. Data gathered from the needs/strengths

assessment phase may also inform the development of an organizational social justice vision.

An intercultural effectiveness survey was completed by faculty and administrators in

October 2012, from that self-assessment exercise, themes and an organizational spectrum of

cultural competence emerged from the survey’s qualitative and quantitative data. Figure 5

displays Lake Washington Girls Middle School faculty and administrators’ responses to the

open-ended survey item.

Q22: Please share your thoughts, feelings, and reaction to completing this

survey. What do you want the researcher to know about your understanding

of cultural competence?

Respondent 1: “I had second thoughts about some of my responses when I

considered the differences between cultures and how I might respond differently

based on my knowledge, in some cases quite limited, of that culture's norms.”

Respondent 2: “Some of these questions will have different answers depending

upon the person I am interacting with. Often times our comfort level and ability

to identify depends on the return interaction.”

Respondent 3: “I feel quite culturally competent, and have expressed this here.

However, I do think that my experience is somewhat limited, and if pressed by a

situation where language, culture and values were combined, I might be more

challenged.”

Respondent 4: “My answers to your questions vary depending on the individuals

with whom I am interacting. Sometimes I would strongly agree or disagree, but

on the whole, my responses are less strong.”


Respondent 5: “Respect and openness to learning about commonalities and

differences is key to cultural competence in my opinion.”

Respondent 6: “Perhaps I am naive in my understanding of cultural competence,

but I feel like as long as you are respectful, listen and remain genuine in

communication with people it is the best that one can do. When I do feel

uncomfortable it is usually a sign to me that I don't know enough about a certain

culture and I do my best to educate myself so that I may understand a an

interaction or different point of view better.”

Respondent 7: “I'd rate myself as ‘working on it’ in terms of cultural

competence.”

Respondent 8: “I always try to be myself and to be open to other's being their

selves as well. I am quite sure I will never know what it is like to walk in another

person's shoes, but I always try to be sensitive to the fact that we ALL wear

different shoes. My intentions are always good, and I try to learn what I can about

everyone I encounter, but I know I am never perfect … ever.”

Respondent 9: “Sometimes I feel a little awkward or unsure, but for the most

part I am completely comfortable!”

Figure 5: Qualitative Data from Intercultural Effectiveness Survey

The scope and sequence for the needs/strengths assessment phase will follow the first six

steps of the Upward Influence Change Process steps (Kusy, Isaacson, & Podolan, 1994), outlined

in Figure 6.

1. Management interviews

2. Development and dissemination of a survey

3. Survey given to first set of focus groups for feedback

4. Review of data and creation of vision statement by an interdisciplinary

team

5. Feedback of rough draft of vision with follow-up focus groups

6. Review of follow-up focus group responses with interdisciplinary

vision team

7. Action planning

Figure 6: Upward Influence Change Process

Goal 3: Process (Systems Change: Structural, Operational, Cultural Strategies)

The third phase of the Supportive Learning Environment Logic Model is the Process

(Systems Change): once areas of strength and need have been identified, staff will initiate

activities that are either student, school, family or community oriented in order to build on

strengths and overcome needs (Einspruch, et al., 2001). The first part of the process phase aligns


with action planning, the final step of the Upward Influence Change Process, demonstrated in

Figure 6: members of the vision team ask supervisors for their implementation suggestions to

inform the development of an implementation plan (Kusy, et al., 1994). Stakeholder group needs

and strengths will be used by an interdisciplinary group to solicit solution steps and

implementation strategies, continually looping information back to stakeholders, reinforcing

engagement in the change process.

Goal 4: Outcomes/Evaluation

The fourth phase of the Supportive Learning Environment Logic Model is

Outcomes/Evaluation: systems change activities (structural, operational, cultural strategies) lead

to outcomes related to student success and improved learning environments – evaluation results

are used to document program activities, examine outcomes, and provide information to support

program improvement (Einspruch, et al., 2001). As stated in the change project rationale section

(Criterion 3), one desired outcome of the social justice audit is to expand reflective practice at an

organizational level, including all stakeholder groups in the planning, implementation, and

evaluation processes and fostering the most inclusive, culturally responsive, and mission

appropriate environment possible. Additional desired outcomes will likely arise from

stakeholder input: surveys, focus groups, etc.

Criterion 5: Concrete, specific goals for the student as a leader of change that could

enhance the student’s own professional and personal leadership goals.

The professional and personal leadership goal I have is to engage all stakeholder groups

to achieve each of the Individual Change Success Factors (Adams, 2003) for the proposed social

justice audit.


Goal 1: Understanding and acceptance of the need for change

Members of all stakeholder groups (teachers and administrators, students, parents and

guardians, and board members) will have repeated opportunities to participate in meaning-

making exercises in order to construct their “understanding and acceptance of the need” (Adams,

2003) for this planned change. This inquiry-based approach includes the stakeholders’

understanding of the school’s mission, their role(s) in the community, personal understanding of

social justice, and how social justice tenets manifest at the school. Actively involving

stakeholder groups in the very conception of the social audit seeks to foster a sense of ownership,

understanding, and support for the proposed audit.

Goal 2: Belief that the change is both desirable and possible

A problematic paradigm of past cultural competency or diversity workshops was that a

trainer – from outside the school community – would come to the school for a single day, present

a new framework, gather some feedback from teachers and administrators (in an attempt to

ascertain how staff were or were not demonstrating mastery within the applied external

framework), offer some best practices, and then the individual would leave. Consequently, some

teachers’ feelings towards discussing social justice outside the context of their curriculum are

reticent at best.

Involving all stakeholder groups and a providing a venue to construct and share their

understanding of social justice is essential to changing the paradigm – foregoing the pitfalls of

previous professional development exercises that were not an authentic representation of the

community – and creating a social justice audit that the stakeholders perceive as necessary and

beneficial.


Goal 3: Sufficient passionate commitment – changing habits

In order to earn the full commitment of stakeholders, a clear distinction must be made

that the proposed social justice audit is a vehicle not only for organizational and individual

accountability, but also an opportunity to honor the identities, perspectives, and experiences of

the individuals (teachers and administrators, students, parents and guardians, and board

members) who comprise the social system at Lake Washington Girls Middle School. As

mentioned in the previous section, establishing a process with stakeholders to construct and share

their understanding of social justice is essential to changing not only the social justice discussion

paradigm, but stakeholders’ mental models of what a responsive, authentic social justice audit

can be.

Goal 4: Specific deliverable/goal and a few first steps

In October 2012, an Intercultural Effectiveness Survey was disseminated to teachers and

administrators in order to collect initial data to inform the social justice audit proposal. The

qualitative and quantitative data from the survey was analyzed and will be looped back to

teachers and administrators. The next, and final, step of the social justice audit planning phase is

that a Planning-to-Plan Team, representing all stakeholder groups (teachers and administrators,

students, parents and guardians, and board members) will be convened to identify the goals of

the audit, review the audit phases (Figure 4), and establish a plan to implement the next phase:

Entering Characteristics. The complete scope and sequence of proposed audit steps are outlined

in the project plan (Criterion 9).


Goal 5: Structures or mechanisms that require repetitions of the new pattern

The Supportive Learning Environment Logic Model (Harvard Family Research Project,

1999), the framework for the proposed social justice audit, requires constant interdisciplinary

communication and looping data back to stakeholders, establishing data validity and informing

further action. These participatory and highly inclusive behaviors, demonstrative of cultural

competence principles, are repeated throughout each phase of the social justice audit,

establishing a space for stakeholder groups to practice effective, solution-oriented

communication.

Goal 6: Feeling supported and safe

With the recent class expansion and subsequent changes to the organizational leadership

structure, several teachers and administrators have expressed feelings of uncertainty. The highly

inclusive and supportive framework of the proposed social justice audit – in which stakeholder

groups collaboratively identify stakeholder needs, create a social justice vision, develop

evaluative criteria and implementation strategies, and transparently loop data back to all

stakeholder groups throughout the process – is intended to mitigate fears that the focus of the

social justice audit is to find fault or deficiency, placing responsibility only with teachers and

administrators.

Goal 7: Versatility of mental models

As discussed in a previous section (Criterion 5, Goal 2), previous professional

development exercises involving social justice, cultural competence, and diversity have had

negative connotations for some teachers and administrators: all too often, teachers and

administrators were passive participants, having no role to play in the formation of a vision or


evaluative criteria. The result of the aforementioned professional development paradigm was

that some participants did not feel empowered and, likewise, did not see a need to internalize or

employ changes presented in the activity. Subsequently, extensive time and care was spent on

researching inclusive, participatory structures to engage and empower stakeholders throughout

all phases of the proposed social justice audit.

Goal 8: Patience and perseverance

Acknowledging and honoring that this planned change is occurring during a time of

uncertainty and flux within the school is not only responsive, but is essential to the success of the

proposed social justice audit. Establishing significant changes often takes a great deal of time

and effort; most frequently, there are steps of progress and there is backsliding (Adams, 2003).

Likewise, there are a number of outcomes and processes that I have to forego control of, as the

needs assessment data, development of a social justice vision, action planning, and

implementation strategies will be stakeholder generated. My role with this planned change is

that of facilitator, guiding the process but not seeking to control the data or outcomes.

Goal 9: Clear accountability

As previously discussed in the change project rationale section (Criterion 3), a desired

outcome of the social justice audit is to expand reflective practice at an organizational level,

including all stakeholder groups in the planning, implementation, and evaluation processes and

fostering the most inclusive, culturally responsive, transparent, and mission appropriate process

possible. When the sponsors and the stakeholders are truly engaged and accountable in ways

that organizational employees experience in no uncertain terms, then, there appears to be a

greater chance for success (Adams, 2003).


Goal 10: Explicit “boundary management” – the role of other people

Garnering the trust, support, and involvement of all stakeholder groups at each phase of

the social justice audit is integral not only to the successful implementation of the planned

change but, perhaps most importantly, necessary to ensure that the outcomes of the audit are an

authentic representation of social justice in the school community. For the purposes of the

proposed social justice audit, the participants are stakeholders from the immediate school

community: teachers and administrators, students, parents and guardians, and board members.

Goal 11: Critical mass in alignment

An initial phase of the proposed social justice audit, an intercultural effectiveness survey,

was disseminated to teachers and administrators in October 2012 and the response rate for this

exercise was at 53 percent. While the response rate was above the 25-30 percent aligned support

base endorsed by Adams (2003), it is possible that the response rate could have been higher if I

had explicitly identified the survey and proposed social justice audit as a significant departure

from previous professional development exercises addressing social justice.

Reflecting on the dissemination of the intercultural effectiveness activity, response rate,

and subsequent qualitative and quantitative data further informed the decision to establish

processes for all stakeholder groups to engage in the creation of an organizational vision of

social justice, as well as collectively defining what a responsive social justice audit at Lake

Washington Girls Middle School encompasses.

Goal 12: Rewarding the new behavior & withdrawal of rewards for the old behavior

One desired outcome of the social justice audit is to expand reflective practice at an

organizational level, including all stakeholder groups in the planning, implementation, and


evaluation processes in order to foster an inclusive, culturally responsive, and mission

appropriate dynamic across stakeholder groups. The specific steps of the proposed social justice

audit, outlined in the project plan (Criterion 9), require interdisciplinary and transparent

communication at each phase of the audit: in the formation of the Planning-to-Plan Team,

recognizing and honoring individual demographic and social characteristics of stakeholder

groups, focus group interviews to inform survey development, creation of a social justice vision

by an interdisciplinary team, action planning informed by identified stakeholder needs, soliciting

all stakeholder groups for implementation strategies, and looping all data and outcomes back to

each stakeholder group.

Criterion 6: A description of various learning strategies that the student will engage to

develop an effective project.

The proposed social justice audit, and the conception of an organizational change

initiative as whole, presents new theoretical and practical learning and a realization that I am

moving beyond the scope of my personal and professional experience to date. As such,

extensive educational policy, program evaluation, logic model, organization development,

strategic change, cultural competence, and social justice foundational research was conducted

prior to drafting this proposal in an effort to be as responsive, inclusive, and mission appropriate

as possible.

Likewise, the Supportive Learning Environment Logic Model (Figure 4) fosters an

inclusive, reflective overarching framework for the proposed social justice audit. Stakeholder

engagement is explicitly defined at each stage of the proposed change project, further informing

planning, entering characteristics, needs/strengths assessment, process (systems change:

structural, operational, cultural strategies), and outcomes/evaluation.


Correspondence with cultural competence experts, specifically faculty at the University

of Rhode Island’s Department of Communication Studies, has already occurred, granting

permission to use the intercultural effectiveness scale that was disseminated to Lake Washington

Girls Middle School faculty and administrators in October 2012. Additional correspondence

with authors of other cultural competence and social justice assessment tools will occur as part of

the planning process.

Criterion 7: A description of the range of change strategies that the student will engage to

develop an effective project that is of sufficient scope to provide:

Strategy 1: Scholarly and practical engagement with issues of ethical and participatory

leadership

One desired outcome of the proposed social justice audit is to expand reflective practice

at an organizational level, including all stakeholder groups in the planning, implementation, and

evaluation processes in order to foster the most inclusive, ethical, culturally responsive, and

mission appropriate environment possible. An extensive review of educational policy, program

evaluation, logic model, organization development, strategic change, cultural competence, and

social justice foundational research was conducted. From the review of literature, specific

change models and strategies were directly incorporated into the social justice audit proposal.

The Supportive Learning Environment Logic Model (Harvard Family Research Project,

1999), represented in Figure 4, was selected as the framework for the social justice audit because

of the model’s integrative, collaborative, responsive, and outcomes-focused format at the

individual, organizational, and community levels. Likewise, the first six steps of the Upward

Influence Change Process (Kusy, et al., 1994), outlined in Figure 6, were incorporated into the

needs/strengths assessment phase of the audit, further establishing a clear, concrete scope and

sequence and fostering stakeholder engagement. Furthermore, the Individual Change Success


Factors (Adams, 2003), concretely outlined in personal and professional leadership goals section

(Criterion 5), will be transparently disseminated to stakeholder groups at each phase of the social

justice audit in order to achieve my personal and professional leadership goal of successfully

engaging stakeholder groups as active partners in the change process.

Strategy 2: In-depth exploration and reflection on student’s own personal and professional

capabilities for leading a change initiative

During the past four years at Lake Washington Girls Middle School, my professional

responsibilities have changed in response to identified program and administrative needs. The

Student Services position quickly evolved from an initial separate academic support program to

an integrated institutional vehicle for mitigating barriers to student and family resource access

(educational, emotional/mental health).

As new needs come to light, my research skills as a former outcomes assessment

graduate assistant are sought by teachers, administrators, students, parents and guardians, and

board members to inform solution steps and, when appropriate, school-based support initiatives.

The curricular social justice audit completed last school year, which successfully engaged all

teachers and is now a requisite component of curriculum maps, is just one example of the

capacity to facilitate meaningful, lasting change at Lake Washington Girls Middle School.

Strategy 3: An understanding of how the strategies may privilege and/or marginalize

different groups and individuals

In the conception of the proposed social justice audit, two change strategies were

specifically selected on the basis of mitigating privilege and/or marginalization of any one

stakeholder group: the Supportive Learning Environment Logic Model (Harvard Family


Research Project, 1999), represented in Figure 4, and the Individual Change Success Factors

(Adams, 2003), outlined in the personal and professional leadership goals section (Criterion 5).

Criterion 8: Inclusion of appropriate documentation of support for the planned change

from key stakeholders as necessary.

The Head of School authorized me to conduct an organizational social justice audit in

August 2012 and a letter of authorization was drafted in October 2012, as part of the Institutional

Review Board application for my case study, the dissemination of the Intercultural Effectiveness

Scale (Portalla & Chen, 2009) and subsequent interviews at Lake Washington Girls Middle

School.

Criterion 9: Development and inclusion of viable time frames and deadlines for the project.

Note: some proposed activities may run concurrently.

PROJECT PLAN FOR PROPOSED SOCIAL JUSTICE AUDIT

Phase Name Start End Duration

Phase 1 – Planning

Initial project proposal submitted to Lake Washington

Girls Middle School administration and approved

August

2012

August

2012

1 week

Initial data collection to inform social justice audit

proposal: Intercultural Effectiveness Survey disseminated

to faculty and administrators; quantitative and qualitative

data collected

October

2012

October

2012

1 week

Complete Organizational Change Project Proposal draft

and submit

October

2012

October

2012

1 week

Intercultural Effectiveness Survey data analyzed and

looped back to faculty and administrators

November

2012

November

2012

1 week

Necessary revisions to Organizational Change Project

Proposal made and final draft submitted

November

2012

November

2012

2 weeks

Planning-to-Plan Team, representing all stakeholder

groups (teachers and administrators, students, parents and

guardians, and board members), convened

November

2012

November

2012

1 week

Phase 2 – Entering Characteristics

Creating context: recognizing and honoring individual

demographic and social characteristics of stakeholder

December

2012

December

2012

1 week


groups

Phase 3 – Needs/Strengths Assessment

Focus group (representing all stakeholder groups)

interviews

December

2012

December

2012

1 week

Development and dissemination of a survey December

2012

December

2012

2 weeks

Survey given to first set of focus groups for feedback December

2012

December

2012

1 week

Review of data and creation of social justice vision

statement by an interdisciplinary team

December

2012

December

2012

1 week

Feedback of rough draft of social justice vision with

follow-up focus groups

January

2013

January

2013

1 week

Review of follow-up focus group responses with

interdisciplinary vision team

January

2013

January

2013

1 week

Phase 4 – Process (Systems Change)

Action planning: identified stakeholder group needs and

strengths will be used by an interdisciplinary group to

solicit solution steps and implementation strategies

January

2013

January

2013

1 week

Loop implementation strategies back to stakeholder

groups, revising from feedback

January

2013

January

2013

1 week

Solution steps implemented February

2013

February

2013

2 weeks

Phase 5 – Outcomes/Evaluation

Evaluation results are used to document program

activities, examine outcomes, and provide information to

support program improvement

February

2013

February

2012

2 weeks

Evaluation data disseminated to stakeholder groups;

solicit feedback/recommendations from stakeholders

February

2013

February

2013

1 week


References

Adams, J. (2003). Successful change: Paying attention to the intangibles. OD Practitioner, 35(4),

3-7.

Einspruch, E., Deck, D., Grover, J., & Hahn, K. (2001). Readiness to learn: School-linked

models for integrated family services. 1999-2000 evaluation update. Olympia: WA: Office of

Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Harvard Family Research Project. (1999). Learning from logic models: An example of a

family/school partnerships program. Cambridge, MA: Author.

Karp, T., & Helgø, T. (2009). Reality revisited: Leading people in chaotic change. Journal of

Management Development, 28(2), 81-93.

Katz, D. (2007). Social justice continuum. Seattle, WA: Giddens School.

Kusy, M., Isaacson, L., & Podolan, J. (1994). Encouraging upward influence through employee

involvement. Organization Development Journal, 12(1), 47-53.

Lake Washington Girls Middle School. (2011). Curriculum guide. Seattle, WA: Author.

Lake Washington Girls Middle School. (2012). Family handbook. Seattle, WA: Author.

Lake Washington Girls Middle School. (2009). Pacific Northwest Association of Independent

Schools accreditation self-study. Seattle, WA: Author.

Manderscheid, S., & Kusy, M. (2005). How to design strategy with no dust – Just results!

Organization Development Journal, 23(2), 62-70.

Portalla, T., & Chen, G. (2009). The development and validation of the intercultural effectiveness

scale. Kingston, RI: University of Rhode Island, Department of Communication Studies.

United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. (2007). Auditing for social change:

A strategy for citizen engagement in public sector accountability (DESA Publication No.

ST/ESA/PAD/SSER.E/75). New York, NY: Author.