Carnegie presents, Living Improvement: Resources from the 2021 Summit, a series of releases with selected material from the 2021 Carnegie Foundation Summit on Improvement in Education. In this post, we present resources focusing on the role of coaching in continuous improvement.
This post is made possible by a generous grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to advance the work of improvement in education.
When told with the perspective of hindsight, many improvement stories can seem relatively clear and straightforward– a team isolates a problem, does some tests, learns some things, and a few iterations later, they’ve made progress. In practice, however, applying improvement science principles, tools, and methods to solve a problem in an educational context can be an incredibly nuanced undertaking, calling on leaders, teams, and networks to decide what to work on first, interpret messy data, adjust a change idea that maybe isn’t getting results, and shift mindsets and behaviors (their own and those of others). It can be a lot to navigate. Every context is different, and there is no singular path that each improvement team will follow. The only way that transformative change can take place is when all involved are committed to continuous learning, and coaching is absolutely essential to fostering a safe and productive space to ideate, discuss challenges, engage in healthy thought partnership, and provide support and encouragement. The practitioners and leaders featured in this release understand coaching to be a foundational practice in their work and offer guidance based on their experiences and network goals.
Whether you are coaching an improvement team, facilitating learning within your network, or looking for guidance during the first stages of an improvement project, the resources below can help you set conditions for adult learning, guide your processes, and empower agents for change. Explore common challenges improvers face when coaching for improvement, and leveragethe power of networks and collective learning in order to “fail fast and learn quickly”. Hear from coaches in well-established networks offering concrete practices for creating student-centered, equity-driven spaces for adult learning. Finally, learn how to use and teach the essential tools that can be applied across a network to create a common language for testing improvement ideas. We invite you to dig into these resources with the understanding that we must develop our coaching skillsets to create truly transformative learning experiences for practitioners, districts, networks and the students they serve.
The resources below introduce improvers to tools for spurring conversations about identity and strategies for embedding equity throughout their improvement efforts. These resources were included in the “Meeting School Teams Where They Are: Responsive Continuous Improvement Coaching for Equity” session at the 2021 Summit.
Presenters:
Ami Patel Song, Mathematics Specialist, Yonkers Public Schools Network for School Improvement
Tracy Fray-Oliver, Vice President, Bank Street Education Center
Erin Hellman Ashoka, Associate Director of NSI Implementation and Data, Bank Street Education Center
Matty Lau, Director of Strategy and Implementation, Bank Street Education Center
WATCH Developing a Strengths-based Practice
Learn about key practices of equity centered coaching and strategies Bank Street Education Center coaches use to engage teachers and learning teams in identity-focused learning experiences. These practices help to ensure that their continuous improvement work is rooted in a deep understanding of the students they serve.
Watch Video »
(Watch from 18.50–23.24)
ACTIVITY The Paseo or Circles of Identity
This activity serves as a reflective and discussion based tool for groups to begin conversations about how identity, diversity, beliefs and values impact lived experiences.
ACTIVITY Identity Charts
This strategy, adapted from Facing History and Ourselves, outlines a process for creating identity charts as a community building tool to understand the many factors that shape who we are as individuals and communities. While structured as an activity with students, the activity is powerful for any individual or group.
WATCH Prioritizing Equity Mindedness
In this clip, presenters detail tangible ways Improvement teams teams can prioritize an equity lens to disrupt harmful institutional patterns of racism and exclusion to build team capacity to advocate for focus students in their improvement work.
Watch Video »
(Watch from 26.28–33.34)
WATCH Opportunities for Reflection
Learn best practices for leveraging various kinds of qualitative and quantitative student data to foster opportunities for inquiry and reflection, question biases and challenge assumptions with the ultimate goal of centering focus students in the improvement journey.
Watch Video »
(Watch from 33.47–37.07)
The resources below introduce improvers to tools for spurring conversations about identity and strategies for embedding equity throughout their improvement efforts. These resources were included in the “Meeting School Teams Where They Are: Responsive Continuous Improvement Coaching for Equity” session at the 2021 Summit.
Presenters:
Ami Patel Song, Mathematics Specialist, Yonkers Public Schools Network for School Improvement
Tracy Fray-Oliver, Vice President, Bank Street Education Center
Erin Hellman Ashoka, Associate Director of NSI Implementation and Data, Bank Street Education Center
Matty Lau, Director of Strategy and Implementation, Bank Street Education Center
WATCH Developing a Strengths-based Practice
Learn about key practices of equity centered coaching and strategies Bank Street Education Center coaches use to engage teachers and learning teams in identity-focused learning experiences. These practices help to ensure that their continuous improvement work is rooted in a deep understanding of the students they serve.
Watch Video »
(Watch from 18.50–23.24)
ACTIVITY The Paseo or Circles of Identity
This activity serves as a reflective and discussion based tool for groups to begin conversations about how identity, diversity, beliefs and values impact lived experiences.
ACTIVITY Identity Charts
This strategy, adapted from Facing History and Ourselves, outlines a process for creating identity charts as a community building tool to understand the many factors that shape who we are as individuals and communities. While structured as an activity with students, the activity is powerful for any individual or group.
WATCH Prioritizing Equity Mindedness
In this clip, presenters detail tangible ways Improvement teams teams can prioritize an equity lens to disrupt harmful institutional patterns of racism and exclusion to build team capacity to advocate for focus students in their improvement work.
Watch Video »
(Watch from 26.28–33.34)
WATCH Opportunities for Reflection
Learn best practices for leveraging various kinds of qualitative and quantitative student data to foster opportunities for inquiry and reflection, question biases and challenge assumptions with the ultimate goal of centering focus students in the improvement journey.
Watch Video »
(Watch from 33.47–37.07)
Learn about the partnership between the Bank Street Education Center and Yonker Public Schools, and their journey to use continuous improvement to guide adult learning at every level of the district with the ultimate goal of improving educational experiences and outcomes for Black and Latinx Students and students experiencing poverty.
These resources were included in the “Creating the Conditions for Continuous Improvement in Yonkers Public Schools” session at the 2021 Summit.
Presenters:
Karlenys De Los Santos, 6th Grade Math & Science Teacher, Eugenio Maria De Hostos MicroSociety School, Yonkers Public Schools
Tracy Fray-Oliver, Vice President, Bank Street Education Center
Christopher Macaluso, Assistant Superintendent, Division of Equity and Access – Curriculum, Instruction, School Supervision, Yonkers Public Schools
Elda Perez-Mejia, Principal, Eugenio Maria de Hostos MicroSociety School, Yonkers Public Schools
Edwin Quezada, Superintendent, Yonkers Public Schools
WATCH Introduction to Bank Street and Yonkers Public Schools Partnership
In this clip, presenters introduce Bank Street Education Center’s “throughline” approach to continuous improvement in the context of their partnership with Yonkers Public Schools. Watch to learn more about the district and how the network organized around continuous adult learning to create a culture shift within the district with the ultimate goal of supporting Black and Latinx students and students experiencing poverty.
Watch Video »
(Watch from 13:32- 25:48)
WATCH Panel of Learners: Yonkers Public Schools
Hear from a panel of educators at different levels of the school district about how they work intentionally and consider support for adult learning as they engage in continuous improvement in their roles, while creating connections across the network. In this clip, panelists highlight strategies for building a learning culture towards continuous improvement.
Watch Video »
(Watch from 25:59–55:37)
READ Becoming a System of Professional Learning
This whitepaper, referenced in the video clips above, details the “throughline approach” taken by Bank Street to help partners recognize how systems of learning interact across levels of the district.
Learn about models and approaches to improvement coaching, with a focus on how coaches can help teams build efficient and effective inquiry routines using PDSA Cycles. These resources were included in the “ The Engine for Improvement: Coaching PDSA Cycles” session at the 2021 Summit.
Presenters:
Camila Velasquez, Improvement Analyst, Networked Improvement Science, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
Alicia Grunow, Co-Founder and Improvement Specialist, Improvement Collective; National Faculty, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching
Emma Parkerson, Co-Founder, Systems Design Lab
WATCH Inquiry in PDSA Cycles
In this segment, presenters describe inquiry skills that coaches might focus on as they help network teams accelerate learning while implementing PDSA Cycles. Watch for suggestions on identifying key learnings and successes while running PDSAs.
Watch Video »
(Watch from 29:28–32:07)
READ PDSA Checklist
Use this checklist as a tool to reflect on a PDSA cycle and, as a coach, to identify and prioritize areas to focus with an improver or improvement team. The clip above highlights key elements identified in this checklist and provides context for using the tool in a coaching context.
WATCH Coaching Perspectives During PDSA Cycles
Improvement coaches often focus on supporting teams to learn together. In this clip, hear the presenter describe two lenses coaches may hold to help a team learn about a change through running a PDSA.
Watch Video »
(Watch from 16:25–18:05)
WATCH What is a PDSA?
Watch this clip to learn more about PDSAs and theory-based learning in improvement efforts. In this clip, presenters explain how PDSA cycles can be used as tools to make small changes, collect data and study the impact that these changes have on a system. Watch to learn more about facilitating theory based learning and coaching PDSA cycles.
Watch Video »
(Watch from 7:30–9:44)
