Is it systems vs innovation or is it systems and innovation?

This blog post is written to reflect and, perhaps, receive feedback from the audience.  I do not have the answers for this, but rather am writing to help my own thinking.

I recently had a short, but great, conversation with my colleague while we were on day two of an Positive Behavior Interventions & Supports (PBIS) conference.  We discussed how different the feel of this conference was from the conference we hosted when George Couros came to our school a couple of weeks ago.  At the conference we hosted, it was all about innovation (of course) and failing forward.  There was tons of energy in the different rooms and a wide variety of topics over the course of the two days (full disclosure:  I was a groupie following George for nearly all sessions over the course of the two days).  The vision for how we were to treat and frame up our students was all about treating them with dignity and respect.  We do not want our kids to be compliant, but rather to be problem hunters and solvers.  We want them to think for themselves.  I thoroughly enjoyed the conference and regularly read and consider Mr. Curous’ posts.

These last couple of days I attended another conference and it was nearly the opposite in several ways.  It was my first attendance at an PBIS conference and it was the first hosted by Lincoln Public School, Lincoln, NE.  To be honest, I loved the conference and learned some important things to apply to our school.  Here, it was all about pre teaching behaviors, and having systems in place to support our students.  There were four keynotes that were primarily research oriented and factual rather than motivational.  I have to admit, it was not what I was expecting from the keynote speakers.  The topics varied and there were many great sessions to attend.  Most of these sessions included helping kids improve their transitions and routines in a way that can help increase classroom engagement or educational time at some level or another.  Another way to say this:  PBIS is all about increasing the compliance of students within the walls of our schools.

You see the conundrum here, right?  I have attended two separate conferences hosted by incredibly well respected resources, but the two platforms are on entirely different planets of philosophy.  Both are movements that have the best interest of kids in mind.  One is research-based and the other is, in some ways, anti research-based.  If this were an isolated incident, it may be more navigable; it is not an isolated incident.  Part of why education spins its wheels in and out of pendulum swings is because we have so much turnover, change, and most of all, because there is still way more art than science happening within the school walls.  I will leave that soapbox for another blog and another time.  I consider myself to be an innovative type of leader who is willing to try new things; some might say too willing.  I am also a data-driven, research-based, believer in systems.  Am I a bipolar educator?

Is it possible to wear a systems and a chief of innovation hat at the same time? or do we have to pick a side?