title: Speech-language pathologists and the Common Core Standards initiative: an opportunity for leadership and organizational change.
abstract: The Common Core State Standards initiative within public school education is designed to provide uniform guidelines for academic standards, including more explicit language targets. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are highly qualified language experts who may find new leadership roles within their clinical practice using the Common Core Standards. However, determining its usage by SLPs in clinical practice needs to be examined. This article seeks to discover the social context of organizations and organizational change in relation to clinical practice. Specifically, this article presents the diffusion of innovations theory to explain how initiatives move from ideas to institutionalization and the importance of social context in which these initiatives are introduced. Next, the values of both SLPs and organizations will be discussed. Finally, this article provides information on how to affect organizational change through the value of an affirmative, socially based theoretical perspective and methodology, appreciative inquiry.
authors.affiliation: The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA. dunkle.96@buckeyemail.osu.edu
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dunkle
authors.forename: Perry
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Flynn
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D004059:Diffusion of Innovation; D004493:Education / Q000592:standards* / Q000639:trends*; D004496:Education, Continuing; D006801:Humans; D007857:Leadership; D017145:Models, Educational; D017146:Models, Organizational; D013066:Speech-Language Pathology / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000639:trends*; D014481:United States