Theory of Constraints Handbook - James Cox Iii [535]
“Successful change is accelerated when the training is application specific so that the user can easily implement the new methodology.
Regardless of the content of the change methodology, the faster the results in the classroom, the faster the dispersion of the new methodology.”
Therefore, as TOCfE strives to improve, a “what to change” has been to refocus resources on a new generation of workbooks and seminars. Written in 2009 and entitled, Thinking Across the Curriculum, they teach the generic tools specifically through curriculum applications and are written to meet standard professional development criteria with detailed, measurable learning objectives. These materials are being translated into Polish in support of a comprehensive training program beginning in December 2009 and sponsored by MSCDN, a Polish professional teacher training center,41 and the Polish National Institute of Psychological Support.
The focus on curriculum is also the catalyst for an international action-based research project that involves exchanging TOCfE-based curriculum lessons and student work through collaboration on the Internet. Initially the project will include schools in Israel, Mexico, and the Philippines where teachers are using the TOC tools in science, language arts, and mathematics. The project is being organized by schools that are using the TOC tools in counseling and management as well as in curriculum. This holistic approach to school improvement models the ideal to teach by example in every function of the school.
FIGURE 26-15 Ambitious Target of a wedding plan. (Source: Linda Trapnell, used with permission.)
Another identified tactic to bring strategic, ongoing improvement in TOCfE is to focus current fundraising efforts in support of creating and maintaining a cutting edge e-library that will house the global bank of examples, research, and other work that TOCfE practitioners wish to share. While protecting intellectual properties of those sharing work, it will provide opportunities for readers to learn from—and improve—ideas in a win-win way that tracks their contributions as well. Through these means, TOCfE can foster innovation and collaboration of all education stakeholders who want to make a meaningful difference by allowing others to use their work in a way that not only, as Jesse Hansen envisioned, “pays in kind” but also “pays it forward.”
The TOC tools work without regard to age, culture, or political system as reflected in the wealth of work and vision of all those who have so graciously shared it with TOCfE. The extraordinary scope of TOCfE applications are well characterized in the words of former LASD42 School- and District-Based Administrator Denise Meyer: “The TOC tools are simple enough to be used by kindergartners and profound enough to be used by CEOs.”43Figure 26-15 and Fig. 26-16 illustrate this claim through an Ambitious Target of a United Kingdom nursery school student44 and the Ambitious Target of (then) National Capital Regional Director of Philippine Department of Education, Sports and Culture (DECS), Dr. Cora Santiago, who supervised 17 school superintendents responsible for educating 8 million children.45 Using the strategies identified through the Ambitious Target tool, Dr. Santiago wrote a TOC tactical logic branch entitled “ZERO NON-READER” and submitted it to the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) which accepted her as a scholar. After graduating, Dr. Santiago conferred with McDonalds which was interested in the proposal as a corporate responsibility project. The project, called “BRIGHT MINDS READ,” was initially implemented in the National Capital Region and is now one of the flagship programs in the country.
FIGURE 26-16 Ambitious Target of Philippines DECS. (Source: TOCfE, used with permission.)
The reason for this breadth and depth of application is a common denominator that has roots deep enough to encompass all education stakeholders. The Socratic