The Story of the Positive Change Corps’ Conversation on
the Future of Education
A Leap of Faith:
Rediscovering the Wonder-full
World of Education
November 6-7, 2003
Weatherhead School of Management
Case Western Reserve University (CASE)
Cleveland, Ohio
U.S.A.
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A Note From Positive Change Corps
Executive Director
Out of the ashes of the 9-11 disaster in the U.S.A, a group called the
Positive Change Corps (PCC) was created from the question, “What if
there were a group of committed change agents, ready to contribute
their knowledge of strength-based innovation and change to school
systems and youth programs around the world?” PCC worked with CASE
Weatherhead School of Management and many others to convene a
global Appreciative Inquiry (AI) called “A Leap of Faith: Rediscovering
the Wonder-full World of Education.”
What brought over 120 of us together was the irresistible invitation to
identify what’s working within our schools and education systems and to
discover, dream, and design the best kind of schools and youth programs.
We wanted to locate, explore, and learn from those seeds of innovation
and excellence that are pointing the way to a transformational approach
to education -- education for a global village where schools and youth are
recognized agents of world and community benefit.
– Marjorie Schiller, Ph.D
Margeschiller@yahoo.com
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Introduction
This is a story about a diverse group of people interested and
involved with youth and the educational community. Students,
teachers, administrators, parents, and consultants from across
the United States and England, Canada, Brazil, and Australia
came together at CASE Weatherhead School of Management
to share, dream, and dialogue about what’s best, what’s
possible, and what’s next for education and youth across the
globe.
The following drawings capture the spirit and energy of the two
days participants spent together discovering the positive core
of education and our youth, dreaming of the most preferred
future, designing the best systems, structures, and programs,
and extending and elevating this conversation to help move
education and youth toward a wonder-full destiny.
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Day 1
After a welcome from Dr. Charleyse Pratt, Executive Director of
Appreciative Leadership in Education Systems Change (ALESC) and coconvener of the conversation, our first speaker was Dr. Mohsen
Anvari, the Dean of CASE Weatherhead School of Management. He
noted that business schools don’t normally enter into the education
equation, but that his university’s belief is that the future of business
is in becoming an agent of world benefit. He welcomed us in that
spirit.
Next, the Deputy Chief of the Cleveland Municipal School District,
Rasool Jackson, welcomed us on behalf of Dr. Barbara Bennett,
Superintendent of Cleveland Public Schools.
Dr. Marge Schiller, Executive Director of the PCC and conversation
co-convener, spoke about how so much of what we read about
education is problem-focused. Our job here was to lift the positive
core of education and youth to the light. She encouraged us to live in
the questions, identify new possibilities for using strength-based
methods for change, and make new connections with each other.
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Discovery
In the spirit of learning by doing, the framework of our two
days together was the “4-D” process of Appreciative Inquiry:
Discovery, Dream, Design, and Destiny. Dr. Jackie Stavros,
Professor at Lawrence Technological University and Dawn Dole,
Executive Director, TAOS Institute, launched the collective
conversation by pairing up the group to interview one another.
The inquiry began with conversations about peak moments in
our experiences of education and youth and our hopes for the
future.
When had we found the most joy in learning?
When had we been part of a change effort that made a difference?
What did we most value about our roles in working with schools and youth?
And what were our wishes for how education could be even better in the
future?
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Mapping the Positive Core
After the interviews, we gathered in small groups to share our
stories and meet each other. Through our stories we created
“maps” of the positive core of education. What is present in
peak moments when we are most alive and effective as
learners?
A community can help ignite and sustain the spark
Education that works for all to create a world that works for all
Respect
Students active in their own change
Learning as lifelong and community-wide
Relationships
The power of one
Trust
Safety
Diversity Valued
Diana Arsenian, a graphic recorder from Boston, Massachusetts, captured the
conversation highlights and was assisted by Christopher Lee, a Canton, Ohio,
high school student trained in graphic recording.
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Dream: The Heathside School
Story
A team of people from the Heathside School in England shared
how they used Appreciative Inquiry with 1350 students and
staff to strengthen their school. The school had doubled in
size and they needed to rethink many things.
Their stories and a video of their journey, filmed by their own
students, inspired us all to do our own imagining of a possible
future for global education.
“I’d forgotten how much I wanted to be here.”
“The idea of having 300 students with no structure – it was quite frightening!”
“When we started I thought this was about money. But I realize now it’s about
what’s in our heads and hearts.”
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Our Dreams
In the afternoon of Day 1, we returned to our small groups and
talked about our dreams for the future of education and our
youth. What would things look like by the year 2013 if the
positive core of education and youth were present?
Each group prepared a short creative expression of the dream
they had developed. Each had important and inspiring ideas
about what’s possible.
What is inside of you that wants to come out?
Stepping to your own beat, walking in cultural harmony
From the school of hard knocks to soft schools out of the box.
The day ended with the inspirational Cleveland Boy Choir
singing songs that began to make our dreams feel real.
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Design at Shaw High School
On the morning of Day 2, Dr. Charleyse Pratt and a group of students
from Shaw High School in Cleveland illustrated how Appreciative Inquiry
(AI) helped their school invent a program called Global Leadership and
Excellence in Academics, Mathematics and Science (GLEAMS).
The GLEAMS program created a new vision at Shaw: to empower,
enlighten and enrich for excellence in education. AI was used to help
prepare a proposal for a Knowledge Works grant from General Electric.
The program has been extraordinarily successful in helping scholars pass
their state proficiency exams, go on to bigger and better dreams and
move deeper into their learnings.
Her core message included a key lesson learned about the Design phase of
Appreciative Inquiry. In Design, it’s important to be authentic about
creating our vision of the future and the steps to get there. This is
where we can trip over those things we want to hang on to. Remember
that it’s the things that trip me, not the people.
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Our Design Step
The small groups were invited to come up with “possibility statements
(PS).” These statements describe in words, the future we imagined in
pictures, dance, and music in the Dream phase. Here is a sampling …
PS1: The learning process shimmers and vibrates with adventure, fun and excitement and
generates energy, exploration, and risk taking. There is a chain of teachers and
learners sharing their wealth of resources. Relationships are fostered and
celebrated as the center of learning. Conversation of self-respect and mutual
respect with meaningful dialog are actively encouraged amongst all. We are having
fun!
PS2: Our school has no walls … the community is a resource for the school and the school
is a resource for the community.
q We are open 24/7 as a community center.
q We mine the resources of the community to provide the best learning experiences for
each individual student.
q Teachers are released one day per month to design cross-curricular activities, make
community contacts, and build relationships.
q School dollars are allocated to encourage the use of community resources and our
school actively pursues alternative funding sources.
q Students are involved in planning, learning, and teaching.
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Several More Possibilities …
PS3: Our learning spaces are centers in communities that draw individuals and families
into collaborative relationships. In these centers you see scholars and lead learners
of all ages engaging in lively learning and spontaneous and creative interactions.
Laughter, fun and joy are evident in faces and voices of everyone in the learning
community. As a result everyone knows where they are, where they want to go, and
what they need to get there.
PS4: Our schools are characterized by courage. Every single person in the community is
100% at choice and holds themselves fully accountable for their choices. They speak
from their hearts unafraid to take chances and to speak their truths respectfully.
Underpinning it all is self-awareness and heart.
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Several More Possibilities …
PS 5: The learning process is composed of the flow of energy exchange between and
among individuals, groups, and systems, embracing the whole person/whole system
perspective.
Patterns of ENERGY MOVEMENT that promote the learning process as Positive and
Affirmative …
q
q
q
q
q
q
q
q
Freedom and autonomy
World as a classroom
Learning is directed by individual, groups & systems (collaborative)
Persistence and determination
Supports a culture that accepts mistakes
Redesign our perception of time usage
Promotes an experience of renewal
Views crisis as opportunity
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Several More Possibilities …
PS6: As our environment continues to be resource rich, physically and
emotionally, it fosters this type of setting:
q
Positive atmosphere where everyone has a sense of belonging
q
Learning is safe, respectful, and encouraged
q
Learning facilities built in places surrounded by less distractions; peaceful
q
Mutual trust and respect
q
Diversity is accepted and celebrated
q
All students are scholars – who want to go deeper
q
Teachers adjust to students needs, beliefs, values and how they need to
be taught
q
Schools are known as places where scholars want to go and are welcomed
A complete list of the possibility statements are available on the AI commons
http://ai.cwru.edu/practice/organizationDetail.cfm?coid=4210&sector=25
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Destiny
We realized that taking this step is very challenging. We
shared stories and reflections on how possibility statements
can be used back in our homes, schools and programs to enrich
our individual work.
“Sometimes people just want to create plans for OTHERS to do, not
themselves!”
“This reminded me of the importance of owning and remembering the vision.”
“The experience of dissonance is important. It tells us something is not clicking
so we need to work on it.”
“It’s all about bringing all the stakeholder voices in and drawing on strengths,
wherever they emerge.”
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Transforming the Destiny
Dr. David Cooperrider, Professor at CASE Weatherhead School
of Management and lead learner in Appreciative Inquiry, shared
his thoughts about how as humans we thrive under conditions of
love, in a setting where people take the time to know us at a
deep level. In living systems, the fundamental dynamic is
conservation. As humans, we can act knowing whether what we
do conserves or destroys the loving biosphere around us.
In Destiny we talk about co-construction of an evolving future.
Illuminating the positive core of the past, present, and future
creates a trajectory and opens up new choices.
We then met in small specific interest groups to develop
practical steps we could take to move projects forward, using
what we had learned and the connections we made at this Leap
of Faith conversation.
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Sustaining Our Destiny
Appreciative Inquiry teaches us that we discover the seeds of success
in the past. Then the sun shines on the seeds as we Dream together.
We create possibility statements about how we want our aspirations to
look once they’re grown. The Destiny phase is how we bring intent into
the world.
The specific interest groups came together to develop next steps and
commitments to transform school and youth programs cultures,
systems and processes by amplifying strengths and aligning actions
with missions, visions, and values.
To read more information about the Leap of Faith Conversation, The
Positive Change Corps and other school & youth AI initiatives visit the
AI Commons at
http://appreciativeinquiry.cwru.edu/
and the PCC List Serve at
http://mailman.business.utah.edu:8080/mailman/listinfo/pcc-l
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New Beginnings
Alyse Smith Cooper, a minister, story teller, and staff member
of the Black Alliance for Health Care, wove our closing story,
giving us time to reflect and deepen our experience of the
collective conversation.
Having gathered your attention, the story must come forth.
You are right on the edge of changes you can’t even imagine.
Conversations lead to relationships. You reach out. You can’t stay inside
yourself.
To take that leap of faith, you can’t take excess baggage with you. You have to
be light.
People were invited to address the group in parting. We
delighted in the sense of connection and healing that we all
experienced over the two days together. One of the student
participants had the last word:
“I didn’t know so many adults cared about us.”
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Heartfelt Thank You
To all of those who worked on bringing this conversation to life through
this special gathering and booklet, we thank you for
your time, words, and images …
• Everyone who
participated in Leap of
Faith
•The Canton Public
Schools
•The Utah Teachers
Association
•Everyone who has
contributed
time, talent and tithe to the
Positive Change Corps
Foundation
• Diana Arsenian
• Dr. David Cooperrider
• Dawn Dole
• Leslie Evers
• Dr. Gina Hinrichs
• Christopher Lee
• Joyce Lemke
• Debbie Morris
• Dr. Charleyse Pratt
• Dr. Marge Schiller
• Jane Seiling
• Alyse Smith Cooper
• Dr. Jackie Stavros
• Kathy Hazelton
• Sara Mierke
• Cleveland Boy Choir
• Cleveland Public Schools
• McDonalds Corporation
• The Positive Change
Corps
• Weatherhead School of
Management, CASE
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