"Data Vision Board" for the New Year

2022 holds much promise for a focus on our increased interconnectedness, well-being, and determined vision.  As we seek to address disparities and increase opportunities many individuals and organizations take time to reset and address clear goals with the launch of a new calendar and academic year.  

With a focus on well-being, at the individual level, many create a vision board for personal and professional goals. There are many strategies for this work from following intuitive intentions to data-driven insights. But what might this look like at the system level in education?

Start with your data – both formal and informal. Consider utilizing a data protocol to ask the questions that support what we need to learn and what we have learned.  For many this is a plan, do, study, and act process from the Improvement Sciences. While much of this practice was established in the medical field, it has been incredibly powerful in the education field. In fact, we have seen an even stronger set of examples emerge as we learn more about learning in a pandemic environment.

With further exploration, we amplify our learning through key partnership work taking place at the Regional Educational Lab (REL) .  REL engages in research and develops evidence that can inform decisions about policy, programs, and practice.  They share the following:

Improvement science is a problem-solving approach centered on continuous inquiry and learning. Change ideas are tested in rapid cycles, resulting in efficient and useful feedback to inform system improvements.

A core principle of improvement science is that a system’s performance is a result of its design and operation, not simply a result of individuals’ efforts within the system. Building from this foundation, improvement science helps organizations build a shared understanding about how their systems work, where breakdowns occur, and what actions can be taken to improve overall performance.

One of the primary skill sets in the Improvement Sciences is the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) inquiry cycle practice. This cycle creates opportunities for educators to set a goal, determine results and engage in short cycles of improvement. Lessons learned from this process add to a district’s own action research and impacts achievement towards vision and goal attainment.

To engage in this process teams need access to data, opportunities to align resources, and ways to report and share findings.  A personalized and user-friendly dashboard, and portal supports, can serve to organize a “data vision board” so users can see the thinking of the organization.

Perhaps your vision board for 2022 will be enhanced with an opportunity to see more interconnected patterns in your own data?  Let’s use our big data sets to see our goals attained, improve the acceleration of learning, and enhance the overall well-being of our learning communities.

Innive K12 360° is a trusted partner in helping you actualize this vision. Connect to learn more about improving and accelerating how you enact your vision.  

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