Friday, November 07, 2008

Continuous Improvement: PLAN, Do, Study, Act


Plan, Do, Study, and ACT (PDSA) is a structured process of continuous improvement. This article describes a planning process commonly used by Instructional Coaches. During the PLAN phase the coach together with the New Educator discuss and identify the characteristics of an effective, competent teacher. These characteristics represent the goals (Desired State) that teachers work toward to improve their practice.

The coach begins the planning process by collecting baseline data. This baseline data is use to clarify the new teacher’s Current Reality. Current Reality is written in concrete measurable terms, such as, “class started on time”, “13 questions were knowledge level and 4 were application level”, or “teacher ignored two student talking off task during warm up activity”.

After baseline data is collected the coach and the new teacher discuss the meaning and possible impact of the information. During the discussion the new teacher and coach select a Goal or area that the new teacher could improve. Once the Goal is established the Desired State can be refined or brought into focus. Then the new teacher and coach can select possible Interventions. Interventions are actions that could lead to a change in teacher behavior that will have a positive effect on student achievement. The reason I said, "could lead" is that we will not know the effect of the interventions until we measure Impact.

Tips for the Planning Process:
• Align actions towards the Desired State
• Fix process not blame
• Use data and data narrowing tools to identify Current Reality
• Build a professional relationship based on commitment, not compliance.

This article focused on the steps to Plan. There will be follow-up articles on Do, Study, and Act.
Source: Doug Miller

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