Change Forces With A Vengeance

Book excerpt: Change Forces With a Vengeance is the third in the chaos theory trilogy (now called complexity theory). The first two books focused on understanding the real complexity of educational reform in action. This book pushes even deeper by providing new insights and lessons of change concerning moral purpose, and what is called tri-level reform - the school and community, the local district and the state. It draws on reform initiatives across many levels and countries so that the ideas are grounded in the reality of actual projects and findings. Change Forces With a Vengeance is different from the previous two books in one major respect. Instead of being content with understanding complex system dynamics, it takes up the more daunting question of how systems can be changed for the better. How can we achieve large-scale reform and do it in a way that the conditions for sustainability are enhanced? What policy levers are needed, and what is the smallest number of sets of policies that will maximise impact? What is the role of new leadership in accomplishing sustainable, comprehensive reform? These questions and more are addressed in ways that are both deeply theoretical, and powerfully practical.