Ask Why And Anticipate Challenges

IDEAS

Ask why and anticipate challenges

By Kathleen M.W. Cunningham and Erin Anderson

October 2022

Education professionals face myriad problems of practice, especially in the face of current trauma, injustice, and other stressors. To address those challenges, educators should work collaboratively to target the sources, not just the symptoms, of the problems. Asking why can begin to surface root causes, which may be related to systems, structures, and processes. Getting at the actual problem and confronting the reality of the situation invites the opportunity for effective, lasting change (Langley et al., 2009). We encourage educators to tackle pressing problems of practice using improvement science, a process for solving complex, persistent challenges by learning deeply about a problem and the systems that produce it, and then designing steps to address it (Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, 2020). Improvement science

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Related resource: What Matters Now Network

Learning Forward’s What Matters Now Network, which ran from 2016 to 2021, offers an example of improvement science in practice. The network brought together three state coalitions, composed of educators at multiple levels in Ohio, Maryland, and Rhode Island, to improve instruction and make progress toward achieving content standards.

Learning Forward supported the state coalitions to learn about improvement science practices, create driver diagrams, and engage in multiple plan-do-study-act cycles aimed at their unique goals: increasing teacher capacity to identify and implement Next Generation Science Standards-aligned professional learning and instructional resources in Maryland; using collaborative learning teams to strengthen teacher practices for pre-K-3 literacy outcomes in Ohio; and increasing teacher engagement in examining student data and reflective instructional practice to meet identified student needs in Rhode Island.

An evaluation by WestEd found that the network’s improvement cycles improved teachers’ knowledge and skills, increased the effectiveness of professional learning, improved classroom practices, and increased student learning.

You can read more about the network’s improvement science approach at lf.wphlab.com/journal/february-2019-vol-40-no-1/network-uses-improvement-science-to-scale-up-change/ and about the evaluation findings at lf.wphlab.com/journal/building-community-in-a-divided-world/evaluation-shows-the-impact-of-a-professional-learning-network/.

References

Bryk, A.S., Gomez, L.M., Grunow, A., & LeMahieu, P.G. (2015). Learning to improve. Harvard Education Press.

Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. (2020). The six core principles of improvement. www.carnegiefoundation.org

Grunow, A. (2012). Improvement research: The Carnegie way. Carnegie Commons Blog. www.carnegiefoundation.org/blog/improvement-research-the-carnegie-way/

Hinnant-Crawford, B.N. (2020). Improvement science in education: A primer. Myers Press.

Langley, G.J., Moen, R.D., Nolan, K.M., Nolan, T.W., Norman, C.L., & Provost, L.P. (2009). The improvement guide (2nd ed.). Jossey-Bass.

Perry, J.A., Zambo, D., & Crow, R. (2020). The improvement science dissertation in practice: A guide for faculty, committee members, and their students. Myers Education Press.

Spaulding, D.T. & Hinnant-Crawford, B.N. (2019). Tools for today’s educational leaders. In R. Crow, B.N. Hinnant-Crawford, & D.T. Spaulding (Eds.), The educational leader (pp. 13-41). Meyers Education Press.