FN 2: Requirements Reveal Opportunities

Early in my career, a new state law required schools to identify struggling readers much earlier than we had in the past.

The message felt clear.

Schools needed better systems for identifying students who required reading support.

At the time, I was working as an instructional support specialist. I didn’t have the authority to make organizational decisions, but I spent countless hours studying the new requirements and thinking about what they meant for our district.

There was no shortage of work to do.

We debated assessments.

Created timelines.

Designed parent communication.

Developed identification procedures.

Every decision felt urgent.

Looking back, I understand why.

The requirements were visible.

The consequences felt immediate.

What I didn’t fully appreciate at the time was what we weren’t talking about.

We weren’t redesigning Tier 1 instruction.

We weren’t strengthening intervention systems.

We weren’t building leadership teams.

We weren’t creating a shared vision for literacy.

We weren’t investing deeply in professional learning.

In our urgency to meet the requirement, we overlooked the opportunity.

Years later, I realized the law wasn’t simply asking us to identify struggling readers.

It was inviting us to rethink how we supported every reader.

We satisfied the requirement long before we built the system.

The visible requirement is rarely the deepest work.

Now, whenever a new mandate, initiative, or policy arrives, I find myself asking a different question.

Not:

“What does this require us to do?”

But:

“What opportunity is this giving us to become?”

Question for leaders: When the next requirement arrives, what opportunity might it be giving your organization to become something better?