School Change And the Microsociety Program

"A school′s MicroSociety program is not a gimmick, as Professor Cherniss carefully describes and discusses. It is a process that gives students responsibilities and obligations. They experience the benefits of collaboration and the problems of group cohesion, and they learn how and why the bottom line of their economic enterprise requires foresight, decision-making, flexibility, creativity, and more. Are there problems in creating and maintaining such an enterprise? Yes, but Professor Cherniss candidly, critically, sympathetically, and constructively explains why readers will have no doubt that the MicroSociety′s educational potential is indeed great. It is the opposite of a transient fad, of which there has been a surfeit."
-Seymour B. Sarason, Professor Emeritus
Psychology & Education, Yale University

See meaningful whole-school reform strategies through the lenses of the MicroSociety^® program!

The steady stream of quick-fix educational reforms du jour has drowned out the optimism and drive of many school leaders. To buoy the hopes and success of change agents, this guide offers a real look into school reform, with its trials and triumphs, and pinpoints specific strategies for overcoming the former and achieving the latter.

Looking closely at the MicroSociety^® whole-school reform model, the text empowers leaders with a systemic approach to implementation and sustainability of meaningful change. Along with the history and basics of MicroSociety^®, it highlights research-based tactics, enabling administrators, teachers, parents, and students to fully invest in and affect positive, enduring reform. The book features:

• Actual challenges and proven solutions for everything from dealing with "problem" students and time constraints, to attaining genuine teacher buy-in and seamless curriculum
• 16 straightforward guidelines for before, during, and after implementation
• In-depth case studies illustrating the gamut of outcomes, from failure to success, and why they resulted
• Insights on how "emotional intelligence" influences the change process
• Implications for educational policy

Cary Cherniss currently is Professor of Applied Psychology and Director of the Organizational Psycho­logy Program in the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology at Rutgers University. He also has taught at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, the University of Illinois in Chicago, the Chicago Medical School, and the Illinois Institute of Technol­ogy. He received his PhD in psychology from Yale University in 1972. Dr. Cherniss specializes in the areas of emotional intelligence, profes­sional burnout, management training and development, and planned organizational change. He has published more than 50 scholarly articles and book chapters on these topics, as well as six books: The Emotionally Intelligent Workplace (with Daniel Goleman); Promoting Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace: Guidelines for Practitioners (with Mitchel Adler); The Human Side of Corporate Competitiveness (with Daniel Fishman); Professional Burnout in Human Service Organizations; Staff Burnout; and Beyond Burnout: Helping Teachers, Nurses, Therapists, and Lawyers Recover From Stress and Disillusionment. In addition to his research and writing, Dr. Cherniss has consulted with many schools and school districts. He also has consulted with other kinds of organizations in both the public and private sectors, including American Express Financial Advisors, Johnson & Johnson, the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, Honeywell, and PSEG Power. He currently is the director and cochair (with Daniel Goleman) of the Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations. He is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and past president of its Division 27 (Society for Community Research and Action), and he is a member of the Academy of Management.