Revitalizing schools through generative learning: an appreciative approach to school reform

Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is an innovative approach to discovering, understanding and fostering innovations in organizational development. At its core AI is based on the gathering of positive stories and images of the organization's past, which are then used to design possibilities for the future. AI seeks out the very best in an organization to help ignite a collective imagination of what could be realized in the future. The aim is to generate new knowledge, which expands the "realm of the possible", and to help members of an organization envision a collectively desired future. The process carries forth that vision in generative ways, which successfully translate images of possibility into reality, and beliefs into practice. This project is comprised of two components, a background paper and the curriculum outline for a one-day workshop. The paper provides a rationale for the use of Appreciative Inquiry as a school reform initiative. In providing this rationale, the major trends in educational reform are presented along with the parallel shifts in the theoretical models from which each reform initiative was founded. The argument is made that, should educational reform continue to develop parallel to theoretic models in the social sciences, the next reform initiatives will likely be based on social constructionist theory. Appreciative Inquiry is presented as a practical application of social constructionist theory as it relates to organizational development. It is presented here as a potential social constructionist approach to school reform. In addition to this paper, the project includes the curriculum outline for a one-day workshop for school administrators on the application of Appreciative Inquiry in schools.