What You Can Do to Improve Your School Author: William G. Ouchi

This issue of Policy Perspectives presents seven “rules of change” that were developed by noted author and UCLA professor William G. Ouchi in his new book, Making Schools Work: A Revolutionary Plan to Get Your Children the Education They Need (Simon & Schuster). In the chapter excerpted here, Ouchi details those rules that he argues lead most often to successful school change: (1) People don't fear change — unless they're kept in the dark; (2) revolutionary change requires the perception that there's a crisis; (3) structure must change before culture can change; (4) change must be top-down; (5) change must be bottom-up; (6) follow the money! and (7) school reform isn't partly politics — it's all politics!