organizational change project: social justice audit
TRANSCRIPT
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 AUDIT PROPOSAL 3
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
SOCIAL JUSTICE AUDIT PROPOSAL 4
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
SOCIAL JUSTICE AUDIT PROPOSAL 5
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
SOCIAL JUSTICE AUDIT PROPOSAL 6
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
SOCIAL JUSTICE AUDIT PROPOSAL 7
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.
• Sustainability and
• Sustainability and
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:
SOCIAL JUSTICE AUDIT PROPOSAL 8
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.
• Self and Community
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.
• Self and Community
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
SOCIAL JUSTICE AUDIT PROPOSAL 9
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
SOCIAL JUSTICE AUDIT PROPOSAL 10
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
SOCIAL JUSTICE AUDIT PROPOSAL 11
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.”
SOCIAL JUSTICE AUDIT PROPOSAL 12
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
SOCIAL JUSTICE AUDIT PROPOSAL 13
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.
SOCIAL JUSTICE AUDIT PROPOSAL 14
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.
SOCIAL JUSTICE AUDIT PROPOSAL 15
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).
SOCIAL JUSTICE AUDIT PROPOSAL 16
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
SOCIAL JUSTICE AUDIT PROPOSAL 17
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).
SOCIAL JUSTICE AUDIT PROPOSAL 18
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
SOCIAL JUSTICE AUDIT PROPOSAL 19
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.
SOCIAL JUSTICE AUDIT PROPOSAL 20
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
SOCIAL JUSTICE AUDIT PROPOSAL 21
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
SOCIAL JUSTICE AUDIT PROPOSAL 22
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
SOCIAL JUSTICE AUDIT PROPOSAL 23
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
SOCIAL JUSTICE AUDIT PROPOSAL 24
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.