Extreme Apprenticeship: Instructional Change as a Gateway to Systemic Improvement

In this article we describe a long-term departmental change effort in one mathematics department. The change began with one instructor adopting the Extreme Apprenticeship instructional model. This modest shift served as the catalyst for a series of subsequent, systemic improvements. We believe that this innovation and the resultant change demonstrate how instructional change can serve as a catalyst for broader change, rather than a change that focuses solely on instruction. We use four frames from the literature on organizational development to characterize the changes that have occurred in this department. This in-depth case study describes the department's current culture and how it developed, and we suggest that this explanation could serve as a guide for other departments seeking change.