What Skills Do Educational “Change Agents” Need? An Empin.cal View

Abstract

Though “change agents” are widely used to help with current school improvement programs, little is known empirically about the skills they need to function effectively. This article reports findings from a twoyear study of 17 change agents working in three New York City improvement programs. Interview, observation, and ranking data were collected from the change agents, their managers, and their school clients. Qualitative and quantitative data analysis occurred along six major lines: review of skills appearing in specific critical incidents, comparison of “outstand ing” vs. “average” change agents, tabulation of frequency of skills mentioned, tabulation of skills mentioned as strengths, tabulation of skills ranked as “typi cal” by managers and change agents, and skills they recommended for training attention. A synthesis of findings resulted in a list of 18 key skills for educational change agents. These included 6 general skills: interpersonal ease, group func tioning, training/doing workshops, master teacher, educational content, and administrative/organizational ability. © 1988, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.