The implementation of planned change model for school development

In this study, the findings were presented about; how can entering, diagnosing, planning and implementing, evaluating and institutionalizing activities of planned change model jointly be carried out in school development; the problems that will emerge during the implementation and how to overcome these problems. The study was designed as a qualitative research which was conducted by the use of action research. The implementation of the study was done in a private primary school in Eskişehir in the spring term of 2006-2007 teaching semester.The data of this research was collected from scientific resources, focus groups, researcher notes, semi structured interviews, written reports of the meetings, the documents of the school and a questionnaire entitled ?The Opinions of Teachers about the Change in Their Performance Evaluation System? which was developed by the researcher. The qualitative data was analyzed by the use of descriptive analysis and analytic induction, and the quantitative data was analyzed by using frequencies and percentages which were attained by using ?SPSS 15.0 for Windows? software programme.For the trustworthiness of the study, the researcher spent at least two days in a week in the research environment and could make any kinds of observations during this time. The observations and judgements made were tested through peer debriefing. For data corroboration, the data was collected from multiple resources by using different methods to enable data crosscheck. For the analysis and interpretations of all sorts of data collected, an outside referee was used. For the structural credibility, all the resources used during the study were chosen by consulting specialists. Besides, all kinds of descriptive data were collected about all the processes of the school and they were all presented to the reader except the ones that would reveal the identity of the school. To be able to make the study independent from researcher?s potential biases and predispositions, the researcher made a record of them on her diary on a regular basis.According to the findings of the research it was concluded that a headmaster who decides to use planned change for school development should start the process by taking the full support of the top management of the school if there is. In the entering phase of the planned change model, the analysis of the school processes should be made with the help of an organization development specialist. In the diagnosis phase, the organization development specialist makes their own analysis about these processes. After collecting the diagnostic data, if the current situation of the problem areas of the school requires engaging planned change, the planning and implementing phase can be started. The resistance that the employees show during the implementation phase can be managed by involving them in the design of intervention processes or other decision making processes, providing better communication by the use of meetings and/or debates and facilitating in service training activities about the change that is taking place. In the implementation process, the benefits that the employees will gain related to the change should be clearly identified and revealed. The data that is collected during the evaluating phase are used to determine the modifications needed about the change process. The awarding system, which will be set up for the institutionalising of change, should be determined in the planning phase of the model and announced to the employees before starting the implementation. In this study, according to the evaluations made about the 360 degree feedback model which was used as an intervention in teachers? performance appraisal system at a private school, it was concluded that teachers generally have positive opinions about the new system. It was also concluded that the change implemented in teachers? performance appraisal system might cause the teachers perceive a threat about their job security. For this reason, the processes that will enable the teachers focus on the benefits of their performance feedbacks should be built carefully.