To help schools implement successful programs of integrated student support, Bekah Harris says, you have to help schools manage change.
It’s creative work that involves strengthening schools’ approaches to student support.
That’s why Harris has taken on a new role at the Mary E. Walsh Center for Thriving Children, the home of City Connects, as the Senior Coach for Change Management. She’s helping schools by enhancing and building on the services they already offer.
Harris comes to this role with years of experience. She grew up in Oklahoma, where, she says, “I didn’t have a choice about education. I was born into a family of educators. My mom was a high school math teacher. My aunt taught kindergarten. My cousin and I taught elementary school. We actually taught in classrooms down the hall from each other for a couple of years. It was predestined.”
Teaching gave her a clear view of students’ lives.
“I realized early on,” she says, “that there were so many things affecting kids that it didn’t feel fair or right to focus on academics all the time, because the kids had so many needs,” including food, clothing, housing, and emotional support.
Harris went on to become a literacy specialist providing support for students, then shifting to administrative roles, including one as the Reading Excellence and Academies Development (READ) Grant Manager for the Texas Education Agency, where she provided literacy professional development to more than 1,800 educators.
“Two things stood out to me,” Harris recalls. “One is that it didn’t matter how much high-quality literacy instruction we provided, if the kids weren’t being well taken care of. Without that, we were not going to see the outcomes we wanted.
“And two, I saw that in education, we have a tendency to say, We’re in a crisis, and we have to fix this problem right now. Then we come up with a policy, roll it out too quickly, and it fails because we didn’t plan well. Then we’re back at square one, which leads to teacher burnout and inhibits student outcomes.”
Looking for more insights on how implementation could go better, Harris earned a doctorate at the University of Southern California in Organizational Change and Leadership.
“The way I think about change management is that it’s a partner to project management. Project management is the logistics and the outcome, and change management is the people work.”
One of the strengths of City Connects’ model, Harris says, is that change management is built in. Coordinators engage in a practice that capitalizes on the strengths of a school and a community that helps make change possible.
“It’s great to be back in schools,” Harris says of her coaching work. “I’m getting to see how educators set up a student support program in real time, so we can make adjustments, like adding more structure or adding more change management principles.”
An essential component of this work, Harris notes, is City Connects’ commitment to quality.
“We’re looking to make a difference and see improved outcomes for students. It’s a goal that allows me to look at change management in an in-depth way. And that is very exciting.”
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