Does SUTE suit you?

A response to Chapter 21 application question #1:

The Step-Up-To-Excellence (SUTE) methodology for successful whole-district change lists five essential factors that need to be present before launching any attempt at whole district improvement:

• Leaders who act on the basis of personal courage, passion, and vision.

• Leaders who view of their districts as whole systems and not a collection of individual schools.

• Leaders who understand the benefits of systemic redesign.

• Leaders and team members who have the professional knowledge, change-minded attitudes, and change-management skills.

• Districts who have the necessary human, financial, and technical resources to conduct systematic change.

The SUTE model requires that any district with designs on whole-district change should have a comprehensive mission statement in place that is up-to-date and tailored to meet the specific needs of the learning community. Since the arrival of our new superintendent in 2006, the Sweetwater Union High School District (SUHSD) has focused much of its attention on modernization of school facilities (especially for the older schools in the district) and the implementation of professional learning communities. While these two focus areas cannot in itself be construed as “whole-district” change, it does represent an effort by the district to improve one key area described in the SUTE model, namely, having sufficient technical resources.


The upcoming school year will provide a unique test to SUHSD’s ability to maintain a common purpose and vision. This coming July marks the beginning of SUHSD new common calendar system. The common calendar at SUHSD is part of a larger effort to align the academic year calendars of high schools, middle schools, and elementary schools in the South Bay area of San Diego County. In fact, it could be stated that the common calendar is one aspect of a systemic redesign itself. Before the implementation of the common calendar high schools and middle schools of SUHSD operated on two separate calendar systems; traditional and year-round. It was hoped that the common calendar would help organizationally and financially. A constant challenge presented by the previously conflicting calendar systems was that there were two separate “Welcome Back” meetings to kick of the school year. These welcome back meetings gave SUHSD leadership a chance to remind its employees of the SUHSD mission statement as well as any unique initiatives or programs that the district wanted to focus on for the academic year. It was hoped that a common calendar would create a situation in which only one “Welcome Back” meeting was needed. However, due to state and district budget cuts, it was determined that these annual “Welcome Back” meetings would be one of the casualties of the districts directive to cut back on spending.

The common calendar should not have any effect on the leadership’s drive and vision for improving performance or systemic redesign, should the district deem redesign appropriate. However, it remains to be seen if the common calendar will either hurt or hinder SUHSD’s ability to meet the prerequisite conditions presented by the SUTE model.