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This blog post summarizes five areas of activity for an initiation team launching an improvement effort. Synthesizing ideas presented in “A Framework for the Initiation of Networked Improvement Communities” (Russell et al, 2017), it describes each of the five areas and offers a related example.
This blog post discusses the challenge of bringing empirically-warranted solutions into new settings in ways that are sensitive to local conditions and contexts. Contrasting integrity of implementation with fidelity of implementation, author Paul LeMahieu offers considerations for designing for implementation with integrity.
This 2015 blog post introduces the distinctive features of Networked Improvement Communities (NICs) and identifies some of their advantages for accelerating learning about high-leverage educational problems.
This site offers definitions, guidance, examples, and technical briefs related to leveraging practical measures for continuous improvement. Designed to help the user get started with practical measurement, the site includes a path from getting started through identifying and testing a measure as well as a resource library.
The Six Improvement Principles are core organizing ideas for improvement science. They speak to how problems are unpacked and understood and to how learning towards improvement is undertaken.
Read or watch this keynote delivered by past Carnegie President Anthony S. Bryk at the 2017 Summit on Improvement in Education. In it, Bryk discusses the promise of networked communities to address educational inequities.
This casebook and discussion guide is designed for improvement coaches, individually and in groups, to learn through reflecting on and analyzing instances of coaching practice. The guide includes categories of coaching dilemmas, a discussion protocol, and coaching considerations. Watch the related video for an introduction to the categories and the…
Improving America’s Schools Together: How District-University Partnerships and Continuous Improvement Can Transform Education includes stories, examples, and tools from 11 district-university partnerships using improvement science as a shared method to advance local priorities for students and educators.
How a City Learned to Improve Its Schools offers comprehensive analysis of the astonishing changes that elevated the Chicago public school system from one of the worst in the nation to one of the most improved.
The Developmental Progressions Framework describes aspects of a partnership between a school district and university that can be used to set goals and identify next actions to deepen and strengthen the collaborative relationship.
Network hub teams can use this self-assessment tool to identify strengths and areas for growth as they support the development of a NIC as a scientific-professional learning community. The tool describes seven domains of effort that are essential for operating a developing networked improvement community through its first 1-3 years…
Hub leadership teams support the development of a NIC and its ability to function as a scientific, professional learning community that is continuously learning from its efforts. These resources include a framework for understanding the different processes that hub leaders manage as well as tools for a hub team to…
This facilitator’s handbook and related teaching materials prepare an experienced improver to lead a group through a case-based simulation of an extended improvement effort. Participants experience an improvement journey from initial problem identification through to seeing measurable improvement and sharing effective changes through simulation activities.
These resources focus on how coaches can help teams build efficient and effective inquiry routines using PDSA cycles. Materials include a tool to help a coach to reflect on a PDSA artifact as well as short video clips.
Improvement coaches encounter common kinds of challenges as they work with teams towards different improvement aims. Four categories of challenges, drawn from interviews with improvement coaches about their practice, can be used to understand the specific needs of an improvement team in order to help that team move forward. Resources…
This self-assessment tool enables network initiation or hub teams to assess their readiness to launch a networked improvement community. It can help teams to identify strengths as well as opportunities to build capability and internal capacity, or where external support may be needed in order to successfully launch a NIC.