The Educational Leader’s Guide to Improvement Science: Data, Design and Cases for Reflection is a collection illustrating applied organizational problem-solving using methods of improvement science in educational leadership. Early chapters introduce improvement science and then the reader is led through a logical sequence of inquiry, presented with cases of educational dilemma matched with principles of improvement science and provided examples of research methodology applied in context. Because improvement science research is so quickly becoming a signature pedagogy and core subject area of inquiry in the field of educational leadership, the literature is still scant in its coverage of improvement science models; it is the purpose of this publication to fill the void by providing concrete examples, through case studies, of instances where improvement research methods and analyses can be embedded to enhance and strengthen efforts at organizational improvement. This text concentrates on the elements faculty, students, and administrators need; specific models where improvement science frameworks enhance the reliability and validity of improvement or quality enhancement efforts.
Foreword
SECTION ONE – The Science of Improvement Science
Chapter 1 – Considering Improvement Science in Educational Leadership by Robert Crow
Chapter 2 – Tools for Today’s Educational Leaders: The Basic Tool Box by Dean T. Spaulding & Brandi Nicole Hinnant-Crawford
Chapter 3 - Practical Measurement in Improvement Science –by Brandi Nicole Hinnant-Crawford
SECTION TWO – Contextualizing Improvement Science in Higher Education
Chapter 4 - Crossing the Streams: Improvement Science, Educational Development and Systems Theory in Higher Education by Amy B. Chan Hilton & Laura Cruz
Chapter 5 - Navigating the Improvement Journey with an Equity Compass by Manuelito Biag
Chapter 6 – The UCEA’s Program Design Network: Roles and Opportunities for Professional Learning Using Improvement Science by Kathleen M.W. Cunningham, Michelle D. Young, David Eddy Spicer
Chapter 7 - Developing Stewards of the Practice: Understanding the Role of Improvement Science in EdD Programs by Jill A. Perry & Debbie Zambo
Chapter 8 - Preparing School Leaders to Effectively Lead School Improvement Efforts: Improvement Science by Deborah S. Peterson & Susan P. Carlile
Chapter 9 – Leveraging Improvement Science to Include Culture Shift by Richard J. Corman
Chapter 10 - Redesign of the Licensure Field-Based Experience Using Improvement Science by Susan P. Carlile & Deborah S. Peterson
Chapter 11- Unravelling Gateway Course Complexity by Brandon Smith
Chapter 12 – Learning to Improve While Improving Assessment of Family Medicine Residents on an OB/GYN Rotation by Brook Hubner, Cecil Robinson & Michael Lawson
SECTION THREE - Contextualizing Improvement Science in K-12 Education
Chapter 13 - Growth and Grading: Overcoming “Grades Don’t Matter” in Middle School by Cassandra Thonstad
Chapter 14 - Using Improvement Science in Professional Learning Communities: From Theory to Practice by Ryan Carpenter & Deborah S. Peterson
Chapter 15 - Implementing Professional Learning Communities: Improvement Required by Jacqueline Hawkins, Gary Henry, Kristi Santi & Keith Butcher
Chapter 16 – Applying the Plan-Do-Study-Act Framework to Building a Social-Emotional Student Support Framework by Ken Facin & Patrick Dailey
Chapter 17 - Conclusion – Dean T. Spaulding & Brandi Nicole Hinnant-Crawford