In Schools, On Schools
SPI's blog is named to emphasize that our best ideas come from observations in our own schools as well as at high-performing schools across the United States. We are proximate to the work going on in high-poverty schools that get results for students, and we are working to share these bright spots with others. Through generous sharing of best practices, our mission is to increase access to high-quality schools for all students, regardless of zip code.
Why are we getting the outcomes that we currently do? In my last post, I implored organizational leaders to slow down and take the time to deeply understand this question before moving ahead with solutions.
The only way to understand current outcomes is to step back and see the system - the people, the policies, the attitudes, and the physical environment - in which a problem resides.
Read MoreThe methods of improvement science are often counterintuitive at first glance (which is probably why I love the approach!). Take the title of this blog post for instance - Slow Down to Speed Up. When we launch an improvement project with a school, very early on in the project I display this quote from Albert Einstein on a slide -"If I only had one hour to save the world, I would spend 55 minutes defining the problem and only five minutes finding the solution." - and ask participants what they think it means. To me, what Einstein is getting at is that it is well worth the time investment to deeply understand a problem before diving headlong into solutions.
Read MoreThere’s a large gap between the current state of education sector R & D and our aspirations for this research. As sectors, education and medicine have lots in common and analogies are often drawn between the disciplines. However, when it comes to evidence-based practices, there are stark differences between the two fields.
Read MoreTo be clear, I am in favor of building a strong education R & D sector. However, it’s important to acknowledge the serious shortcomings of the current system. It is because of this current state that I am arguing that evidence-based practices don’t work.
I’m making two claims.
Claim #1: The current evidence-base in education research is extremely thin at best and completely misleading at worse.
Claim #2: By their very design, studies that result in evidence-based practices discount externalities instead of solving for them.
On its face, probably wrong, definitely incomplete doesn’t inspire confidence. However, we put this phrase in the footer of almost all of the documents we create at School Performance Institute (SPI) to remind us of its value as a core ethos of our improvement work. When people first see this phrase they typically have a reaction something like, “Wow, that doesn’t inspire confidence!”
We disagree.
Read MoreWe’ve spent the last year learning how to use improvement science to increase the high school readiness rates of our 8th graders. Currently, we're gearing up to spread this improvement work from one middle school improvement team to a second middle school team at United Schools Network. During our upcoming launch day, we'll spend time creating team norms, studying improvement science, and digging into each school's on-track indicator system data. Thoughtful planning and a strong start to this work makes it much more likely that we’ll achieve our ambitious goals this school year.
Read MoreEarlier this year, I kicked off our Learning to Improve blog series by discussing seven early lessons from our improvement science work at United Schools Network. The good thing is that I think that all of those lessons were on point. But, we’ve also learned a great deal about using improvement science methodology through our 8th Grade On-Track project this school year. In this post, I will expand on those early lessons and present some of our new learning.
Read MoreJames’ reading grade dropped from a B in 7th grade to a D during the first trimester of his 8th grade year. The rest of his grades were a C or higher, his attendance rate was above 96%, and he had never been in serious trouble. Most people would look at James’ academic, attendance, and behavior stats and not see a student that is in need of intervention. We disagree. At the very moment that his reading grade dropped, James was in need of extra support.
Read MoreThis school year, School Performance Institute (SPI), the learning and improvement arm of United Schools Network, served as a partner with Columbus Collegiate Academy (CCA) to work on a tough-to-solve problem. SPI fills a number of critical roles including project management, strategic communication, human capital management, improvement research & advising, and data analytics. At our core is a commitment to continuous learning and improvement and a focus on using data to predict students’ learning, progress, and ultimately their success.
Read MoreIn my last post, I provided an analysis for the educational funding strategy shift at the Gates Foundation.
The gist of the shift is that Gates is funding organizations that are marrying on-track indicator systems with improvement science in order to improve important student outcomes. I know this because I went after a Gates Grant last year and didn’t get it. But, I’m glad I did it because of the learning that came out of the process. In fact, it led to the current 8th Grade On-Track project I’m running at Columbus Collegiate Academy this school year.
Read MoreThe marrying of on-track indicator systems with improvement science has caught the attention of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Over the next five years, Gates plans to direct 60 percent of its $1.7 billion in education funding towards networks of schools working together to identify solutions to local problems and using data to drive improvement.
Read MoreGoals for accountability and goals for improvement are two very different things.
I’m not sure if I should be embarrassed or if most of the folks reading this are right there with me. Either way, this was an important revelation as I’ve worked to bring improvement science methodology to my work as a school leader at United Schools Network. Far too often, these two types of goals get conflated during school improvement projects and this can have unintended consequences.
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