Monitoring Progress
Once implementation is underway, a continuing process of monitoring should be undertaken. This involves two related activities: (1) tracking whether prescribed actions are being implemented as planned or whether and how they are being modified, and (2) formatively assessing the effects of the program on students.
Tracking Actions Required
Continuing Formative Evaluation of Student Learning
To determine whether the new initiative is “working” the school gathers evidence on student performance, particularly around those aspects the school had framed as problematic. This evidence can take many forms including locally developed tests, examination of student work, and peer observation of student engagement, among others. At this point in the process, the school considers several hypotheses about the results. If improvements are not forthcoming, then three possibilities exist. One is that the school framed the problem(s) incorrectly. Another is that the school identified the right problem(s) but adopted the wrong initiative. And a third is that the school correctly identified the problem(s) and the solution(s), but implemented the intervention imperfectly or adapted it inadequately to the particular circumstances of the school. In practice, the results might be due to some mix of these hypotheses. So the school must engage in inquiry to determine next steps—reframe the problem(s); engage in solution search; or problem solve around implementation difficulties that have emerged. But the bottom line is pragmatic—has the improvement effort had a positive effect on student learning?
When the continuous improvement model is used well, by definition, efforts to enhance student learning will be successful. But even successful improvements need to be continually examined with an eye toward even better results. Always there is a return to the evidence of student learning.
Continuing Professional Development
It is almost certain that the implementation of a new initiative will identify needs for additional professional development. In the process of examining student work, teachers will discover that some parts of the program are working better than others and some students are learning more than others. The first place to look for improvement is to strengthening professional expertise. And differences in student performance from classroom to classroom identify opportunities for collaborative problem solving and learning.
The Importance of Strategic and Flexible Leadership
Managing the implementation process calls for great skill on the part of leadership. Problems of various kinds need to be anticipated. For example, change can mean overload so that teachers burn out and lose confidence and commitment. If reform is not carefully managed and well supported, it can turn into more work for teachers without evidence of corresponding rewards. Schools might adopt new initiatives in nominal fashion without really digging in to understand what they mean for instruction. In such cases, the tendency is to adopt procedural aspects of reform without understanding their deep intent, thereby weakening their influence on teaching and learning. When deep understanding is lacking or is not widely shared, teachers and administrators may genuinely believe that they are engaged in improvement when little change is actually taking place. Finding no effect of the “change”, educators may abandon promising practices. Those promoting improvements often underestimate the resources—time, money, technical assistance—required for deep change. And, they underestimate the importance of continuing attention to implementation by school leaders. When improvements are hurried, educators may not be provided the ongoing support they need to make changes and improvements are short-circuited.
Conditions in schools often work against steady, problem-focused learning on the part of teachers. The school may not be organized to provide common planning time for teachers to collaborate. Scale is another consideration. Large schools and secondary and middle schools face a more complex task in mobilizing teacher learning around improvements than smaller schools and elementary schools. School culture again comes into play—for example, norms and taken-for-granted assumptions that support risk taking and mutual trust, help seeking and giving, and related social processes. And, community support and understanding is another factor influencing the prospects for learning-oriented improvements.
Tracking Actions Required
Tracking actions laid out in the plan involves securing answers to the following questions:
Are timelines being met?
Are the actions prescribed being implemented as planned or are being modified?
If timelines are not being met and/or the plan is being modified in practice, why is this happening?
Do those who are not implementing the plan as proposed understand what is intended?
Have those implementing the program discovered better ways to achieve the goals than the strategies specified in the plan?
Are more resources or additional professional development needed?
Does the plan need to be changed formally?
Continuing Formative Evaluation of Student Learning
To determine whether the new initiative is “working” the school gathers evidence on student performance, particularly around those aspects the school had framed as problematic. This evidence can take many forms including locally developed tests, examination of student work, and peer observation of student engagement, among others. At this point in the process, the school considers several hypotheses about the results. If improvements are not forthcoming, then three possibilities exist. One is that the school framed the problem(s) incorrectly. Another is that the school identified the right problem(s) but adopted the wrong initiative. And a third is that the school correctly identified the problem(s) and the solution(s), but implemented the intervention imperfectly or adapted it inadequately to the particular circumstances of the school. In practice, the results might be due to some mix of these hypotheses. So the school must engage in inquiry to determine next steps—reframe the problem(s); engage in solution search; or problem solve around implementation difficulties that have emerged. But the bottom line is pragmatic—has the improvement effort had a positive effect on student learning?
When the continuous improvement model is used well, by definition, efforts to enhance student learning will be successful. But even successful improvements need to be continually examined with an eye toward even better results. Always there is a return to the evidence of student learning.
Continuing Professional Development
It is almost certain that the implementation of a new initiative will identify needs for additional professional development. In the process of examining student work, teachers will discover that some parts of the program are working better than others and some students are learning more than others. The first place to look for improvement is to strengthening professional expertise. And differences in student performance from classroom to classroom identify opportunities for collaborative problem solving and learning.
The Importance of Strategic and Flexible Leadership
Managing the implementation process calls for great skill on the part of leadership. Problems of various kinds need to be anticipated. For example, change can mean overload so that teachers burn out and lose confidence and commitment. If reform is not carefully managed and well supported, it can turn into more work for teachers without evidence of corresponding rewards. Schools might adopt new initiatives in nominal fashion without really digging in to understand what they mean for instruction. In such cases, the tendency is to adopt procedural aspects of reform without understanding their deep intent, thereby weakening their influence on teaching and learning. When deep understanding is lacking or is not widely shared, teachers and administrators may genuinely believe that they are engaged in improvement when little change is actually taking place. Finding no effect of the “change”, educators may abandon promising practices. Those promoting improvements often underestimate the resources—time, money, technical assistance—required for deep change. And, they underestimate the importance of continuing attention to implementation by school leaders. When improvements are hurried, educators may not be provided the ongoing support they need to make changes and improvements are short-circuited.
Conditions in schools often work against steady, problem-focused learning on the part of teachers. The school may not be organized to provide common planning time for teachers to collaborate. Scale is another consideration. Large schools and secondary and middle schools face a more complex task in mobilizing teacher learning around improvements than smaller schools and elementary schools. School culture again comes into play—for example, norms and taken-for-granted assumptions that support risk taking and mutual trust, help seeking and giving, and related social processes. And, community support and understanding is another factor influencing the prospects for learning-oriented improvements.