Assignments

CUR 566 Principles of Continuous Improvement The School Improvement Process
 * Assignments **

Answer these questions about your school’s data:
 * //Assignment 1. Examining the Data 20 points//**
 * MSA/HAS
 * Scantron
 * County Unit Tests
 * Graduation/Dropout Rate
 * Behavioral Data/PBIS
 * Attendance

__Use the questions below as a guide to help you summarize your school’s data.__
 * What question are we trying to answer?
 * What do the data seem to tell us?
 * What doesn’t it seem to tell us? What else would we need to know?
 * What patterns or trends can we see in the data?
 * What surprises were revealed by the data?
 * What does the information from the data seem to suggest?
 * What else might we want to know?
 * What good news is here for us to celebrate?
 * What opportunities for improvement are suggested by these data?

Clarifying why your data results are what they are will increase the odds that the strategies you select to improve student performance will produce the results you want. To lead your school through this process, you need to work with the entire staff to address the following questions. Answer these questions for your school’s MSA/HSA data and one other form of data. (I’m not going to collect your answers)
 * //Assignment 2. Identify the Problem (hypothesis) and Root Causes 20 points//**
 * What is the problem?
 * What evidence do you have that this is the problem?
 * Which of these problems do we have control over?
 * Which of the remaining problems have the greatest impact on our performance?

__Based on your data choose 1 problem. Keep in mind that you must have control over the problem you choose and you want to choose a problem that has the greatest impact on student performance.__

//Identify Root Causes// Too often we analyze data, identify problems and choose strategies without looking at the root causes. Taking the time to identify the root causes, why our data looks the way it does, is an extremely important step. Use one of the tools (affinity diagram, 5 Whys, Fishbone) to identify the root causes that are producing the results we’re getting. __Complete one of the tools and summarize the findings.__

Once you have identified a problem and its root causes you are ready to begin writing your plan. The goals, objectives, strategies and activities must be aligned, address the problem and be research based.
 * //Assignment 3. Identify a Goal, Objective, Strategy, Activities and Evidence of Implementation 20 points//**

3 points per response; 1 point per reaction to other’s postings
 * //Assignment 4. Online Postings and Responses 20 Points//**


 * //Assignment 5. Class Presentation of Improvement Project 10 Points//**


 * //Assignment 6. Regular Attendance and Participation in Class 10 Points//**