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Tackle one narrow area of inquiry at a time rather than trying to fix all issues that might exist at once. Focusing on one area at a time will allow you to dive deeply into the related data, identify root causes, and propose strategic solutions to improve performance in that area. Once you achieve results in that specific area, you can build on that success when launching the next inquiry cycle.
Let the six core improvement principles and the following six improvement questions guide your improvement journey:
Why is your district getting the outcomes it is currently getting?
What specifically are you trying to accomplish?
What changes might you introduce and why?
How will you know if a change is an improvement?
Where can your test your change ideas?
How can you facilitate the spread of an effective change idea?
View a sample Improvement Project Charter Template to guide your work, which was developed by a team from the University of Michigan and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. Learn more about other tools and techniques related to these guiding questions in the team’s Improvement Science in Education course.