Continuous Improvement in Action: Educators' Evidence Use for School Improvement

• In Event: Continuous Improvement Reforms for Student Achievement: Implementation and Impacts

Abstract

Continuous improvement approaches to school reform involve the use of data to understand a problem and test and refine potential solutions. In this paper, we describe how educators come to understand and use data for continuous improvement within a large, urban district. We find evidence that teachers are likely to draw on a mix of evidence as well as evidence substitutes when refining the innovation at the school-level. While implementation teams considered outcome data, they gravitated towards perceptual data. They used this data to make small improvements to the innovation but also to gauge the level of teacher buy-in and make modifications that would better meet teachers’ needs.

Authors

• Marisa A. Cannata, Vanderbilt University

• Christopher Redding, Vanderbilt University - Peabody College

• Mollie Rubin, Vanderbilt University