LessonsLearnedinDevelopingandImplementing

aContinuousImprovementModel

ChrisHarrison/ChrisRedding/StephanieBrown

ThisresearchwasconductedwithfundingfromtheInstituteofEducationSciences(R305C10023).TheopinionsexpressedarethoseoftheauthorsanddonotnecessarilyrepresenttheviewsoftheinstitutionswithwhichtheyareaffiliatedortheU.S.DepartmentofEducation.

TheNCSUPartnership• FiveResearchUniversities– VanderbiltUniversity,UniversityofNorthCarolina,FloridaStateUniversity,UniversityofWisconsin,GeorgiaStateUniversity

• Developer– EducationDevelopmentCenter(EDC)

• Twolargeurbandistricts– BrowardCountyPublicSchools(FL)– FortWorthIndependentSchoolDistrict(TX)

TheNCSU’sModelforImprovement

ASystematicStudyofOurProcess• BCPSandFWISDNCSUteamsengageinextensivedatacollection

throughoutprocess

• Dataanalyzedusinganalyticframeworkleveragingbothaprioricodesandconstructsemergingfromthedata– Text/photographsanalyzedusingNVivo 10– Audio“transcribed”usingreflectionformspromptingresearchersto

captureexcerptsandsynthesizeinformationrelatedtoanalyticframework.

• Analysiswasmulti-staged,proceedingroughlyinlinewiththe“phases”outlinedinthemodel.– Findingsfromeachphaseinformedtheanalysisofdatafrom

subsequentphases.

Overviewof“ProcessData”DataType BCPS FWISD Total

Meetingaudio 498hours 172hours 670hours

Feedbacksurveys 260 294 554

Fieldnotelogs 46 63 109

Artifacts 291 509 800

ReflectionForms 7 15 22

InterviewTranscripts

110 47 157

ChronologyoftheProcess

BuildingPASL

Phase1(Research)•Fall2011–Spring2012

Phase2(Design&Development)•Fall2012– Spring2014

Phase3(Implementation)• Fall2014– Spring

2015

Phase4(Scale)Fall2015- future

BuildingSOAR

Phase1(Research)•Fall2011–Spring2012

Phase2(Design&Development)•Spring2013–Summer2013

Phase3(PhasedImplementation)

• Fall2013– Spring2015

Phase4(Scale)Fall2015- future

ACloserLook:FindingsfromtheProcessinBCPS– Participantsintheprocessfounditdifficulttograpplewithquestionsofdesignanddevelopmentintheabsenceofclearinformationregardingcapacity,resources,andsupport.

– NegotiatingtheprocessofbringingthePASLinnovationtoan“implementable”statenecessitatedasystematicmethodfor“testing”ideas:PDSA• While"planning"and"doing"appearedtobesuccessfulaspectsofthePDSAprocess,significantquestionssurroundedtheprocessof"studying"and"acting”

ACloserLook:FindingsfromtheProcessinBCPS

• Shiftsinthedistrictenvironment,andlackofclarityregardingthebalancebetween“topdown”and“bottomup”natureofthework,requiredtheteamtore-thinktheroleandmembershipoftheDIDT.

EarlyLessonsfromImplementingtheProcessinBCPS

• Development,likedesign,mustoccurwithimplementationinmind

• Utilizingaframeworkforimplementationandscale-- likePDSA/ContinuousImprovement--requirescarefulplanningforandintegrationofthatframeworkfromthebeginningoftheprocess

ACloserLook:FindingsfromtheProcessinFWISD– AdaptationsfromtheBCPSProcess

• SIDTmemberswereintegratedearlierintheprocessforthedevelopmentworkwiththeinnovationschools.

• PDSAwasintroducedatthebeginningofthedevelopmentprocessenablingitsintegrationwithotherelementsofthedevelopmentprocess.

– Despitethefocusonacommondistrictteam,membersfromtheinnovationschoolsconsistentlythoughtaboutcreatingadesignthatwouldbeimplementedattheirschool.

– Initially,"planning"and"doing"weresuccessfulaspectsofthePDSAprocess,whileSIDTswerelesslikelytoengagein"studying"and"acting.”Overtime,thefocusofPDSAshiftedtotheimplementationofpracticesratherthanthetestingofpractices.

LessonsLearnedfromtheProcessinFWISD

• Theopennesstoconsensusinthedesignanddevelopmentprocesshelpedbuildcommitmenttotheinnovationdesign.Atthesametime,theinvolvementofmultipleschoolanddistrictstakeholderslimitedtheabilitytocreateaspecific,actionableinnovation.

• Allowingteamstofocusontheirschoolcontexthelpedtomovetowardsactionablepracticesbutdiminishedcommonalitiesacrosstheschools.

LessonsLearnedfromtheProcessinFWISD

• WhenintegratingPDSAintothedesignprocess,itisvitaltodistinguishbetweendataforimprovementandaccountability.– Implementationteamsrecognizedtheimportanceofoutcomedataindemonstratingtheeffectivenessoftheinnovationtosecuredistrictsupportforscaleup.

– Teamsweremorelikelytouseperceptualdataforimprovements.

OverarchingLessons

• Developmentinthecontextofpartnershiprequirescareful(andlikelycontinual)identification,management,andacquisitionofcapacityovertime.

• Withoutprocessesfacilitatinginter-organizationallearningandcommunication,theremaybetensionbetweenadaptinginnovationsindividualcontextsandscalingthemtonewcontexts.

OverarchingLessons

• Whilea"bottomup"emphasismayfacilitatebuy-in,depthofimplementation,andshiftinownership,"topdown"supportisimportantforsustainingimplementationandscale.

ConcludingThoughts• ImplementationoftheCenter’smodelforimprovementrequiredadaptationandlearningovertime.– Eachpartnerhadtoacquirenewcapacitiesastheprocessmovedfromphasetophase.

– Roleflexibilitybecameadefiningcharacteristicofthework.

• Whilethiskindofprocesshassignificantpromise,itmayrequireustore-conceptualizeinstitutionalboundariesinsometimesuncomfortableways.

QuestionsfortheFuture

• Aseachinnovationshiftstoward“scale”:– Howdotherolesofpractitionerpartners,developers,andresearcherschangeasweshiftfromtesting anddoing tosustainingandspreading?

– HowwillthepartnershipadaptastheformalstructureoftheCenterchanges?