The Case for an Improvement-Oriented School Year
This blog post is the first in a series of 4 to be released over the next couple weeks focused on ways DC schools can reboot strong throughout this year and beyond by utilizing the strength of strategic collaboration and intentional data collection to power the continuous improvement of District students’ educational engagement no matter the hybrid learning context.
Schools spent the first part of the summer planning for a hybrid school year mixed with in-person and distance learning. However, the pandemic continued to rage across the US and cases ticked back up across the DMV. We now know the first quarter of learning will be conducted primarily from a distance with a small number of students receiving limited in-person support. This time-around, schools are more prepared for distance learning than the abrupt shift back in March, but the fall represents an unprecedented start to a new school year, requiring grace, resilience, and commitment to a growth mindset for both adults and students.
A quick reminder of the pandemic's impact this spring:
In March, educators quickly shifted all teaching to some form of distance learning as the pandemic gripped the city and nation. Some schools were better positioned with technology to deliver lessons over the internet while others relied on phone calls and paper packets to continue the school year. Nationally, the abrupt unplanned change in learning resulted in academic regression, particularly for low-income students and those with disabilities. In DC, our April COVID slide study estimated that PARCC proficiency rates have likely already dropped more than 10% in reading and math.
What does research say about education improvement strategies that can apply to hybrid/distance learning?
To reverse the pandemic academic slide and ensure student success this year and beyond, schools must quickly learn from their own experiences and from each other; in other words, the entire education sector must rely on a collaborative continuous improvement orientation. Strong education research supports such an orientation to identify strategies that promote student growth, especially when the challenges are substantial and without clear, research-proven solutions. Improvements in student outcomes in places like Baltimore where the Baltimore ERC supports the local school system to employ an Improvement Science process have been positive. Research also demonstrates that school-to-school collaboration promotes further improvement.
Academic and social-emotional learning losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic likely have been substantial and require a multi-year strategy to reverse. Yet, we must maintain high expectations for learning in 2020-21 because having high expectations frequently leads to better outcomes but, more importantly, because we must do well. Our students are counting on us adults to deliver.
What are the tenets of Continuous Improvement and how do they apply to the present situation?
Continuous improvement (sometimes referred to as Improvement Science depending on the field), a practice thoroughly embedded in the medical field, has been increasingly adopted by schools as a framework for bending learning curves of staff and students alike to new heights. In fact, most of the EmpowerK12 Bold Schools closing achievement gaps fast utilize many Improvement Science best practices without knowing it.
Generate an overall aim that is problem-specific and user-centered: Start with a single question, “What is the specific problem we are trying to solve?” to create a common aim. Enliven a co-development orientation by engaging key participants early and often with conversations grounded in equity from the start.
Understand the system that produces the current outcomes: A robust examination of the local conditions that shape educator workflow is necessary to form hypotheses and improve. Make your hypotheses about the levers (also known as “drivers” in Improvement Science language) for change public and clear.
We can improve at scale only what we can measure: To ensure all primary and secondary drivers of success are identified, embed measures of key outcomes and processes to track improvement into the daily workflow. Anticipate unintended consequences and measure these, too.
Anchor improvement in rapid, disciplined inquiry: Engage in rapid cycles of Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA) to learn fast and quickly improve. Even with strong planning, some failure is inevitable, and we must learn from it and adjust.
Variation in performance is the core problem to address: A critical concern is not what works, but rather what works for whom and under what set of conditions. The collective goal is to advance efficacy reliably at scale and fully address all drivers of common aim success by identifying positive deviation and replicating best practice.
Accelerate improvements through networked communities: Embrace the wisdom of our education community. We can accomplish more together than even the best of us can accomplish alone by testing more ideas under a variety of conditions.
The tenets of continuous improvement apply at both the city and school levels. Sector, governmental, and support organization leaders can establish frameworks for local continuous improvement success, share improvement data and stories cross-sector, and identify appropriate professional development and innovation opportunities for all schools. School leaders in collaboration with teachers can track progress on student-specific aims at the instructional level, utilizing community partner support as appropriate.
We offer our thoughts on how the first Continuous Improvement tenet applies to the school year below. In future posts in this blog series, we will explore all of the tenets so stay tuned.
Tenet #1: Generate an Overall Aim
Citywide and school-based overall aims for the education recovery period in 2020-21 and beyond
When EmpowerK12 starts a continuous improvement network engagement, we typically begin by addressing the first tenet, generating a collective aim. We collaborate with educators and utilize available data to determine all possible drivers that lead to success. Given the current pandemic state and decision to start the school year with distance learning, we suggest the following aggressive citywide aim for the education sector's recovery:
By fall 2022, schools will reverse the COVID-19 slide, and 85% of returning students will be promoted and ready in August on day one for grade-level content regardless of race, socioeconomic status, disability, and English language proficiency. By fall 2023, 95% of returning students are on grade for their age. Educators accomplish this by embracing a rigorous whole child approach and continuous improvement mentality regardless of the hybrid learning context.
At the school level, we recommend leaders invest in constructive all-staff conversations about the challenges ahead and ultimately arrive at a similar set of common aims and drivers that are equity-focused and mission-aligned. Given their prior performance and the likely inequitable impact of the pandemic, we suggest prioritizing aims specifically for students with disabilities, English language learners, and at-risk students. Here are a couple example aims schools could adopt for this year and beyond:
Increase five-year high school graduation rates by 5%. Historical crises have correlated with more high school dropouts, so there is real urgency here.
100% of students feel connected to school and a sense of belonging. Positive peer and adult interactions are especially challenging when we are not together in-person.
90% of at-risk and students with disabilities (SwDs) exceed annual growth targets. SwDs and at-risk students were inequitably impacted by the abrupt pandemic shift, so we must set ambitious goals for them.
The next part in this series will land after the first day of school for most, so to our educators and students: We wish you the best, safe start to the new school year. We believe in you and your ability to demonstrate that even in the most challenging of times DC can rise together in what will be our educational system's finest hour! Take care and hang in there!