1. Continuous Improvement For Cedar Rapids Community Schools Support Services Action Research Teams Susan Leddick, Jay Marino November 1, 2005

2. Purposes of the Workshop To help administrators in support services to Choose and use data critical to department decisions; Use simple and powerful tools for data analysis, problem analysis, and department planning. To establish a common language and approach to improvement in both the instructional and support sides of the districtand at all levels. This includes, especially, the action research process.

3. Key Questions 1.Why data? 2.How do you decide what to measure? 3.How much data and how often? 4.Whats the purpose of data analysis and how do you do it? 5.What are some simple graphs that are effective? 6.What do we need to know about interpreting graphs?

4. Connecting to the Instructional Side Action Research (Plan-Do-Study-Act Cycle) Data-driven decision making Quality tools for group processes Impact? Implications?

5. Choosing What To Measure Customer System Variation Knowledge Planned Change People

6. Definitions… A customer is someone who depends on your work in order to do his or her work. A supplier is someone who provides a product or service used by a customer. All of us are both at different times.

7. Application 1 Choose two products or services you receive Who is the supplier for each? Choose two products or services you produce Who is the customer for each?

8. For which of the products or services you listed in either column do you currently keep and use data on a regular basis? Why did you make that choice? If you keep no data on any of these, why not?

9. Measurement Framework Processes Results Common Database Decisions on WHAT to do Periodic results data Real-time process data Decisions on HOW to do Query, Interpret, Compare Inform Stakeholders Align, Improve, Redesign Work in the next system to change what is done. Work inside the system to change how work is done. Copyright Leddick, 2004; used with permission

10. Application 2 Complete the diagram on page 6.

11. What Customers Care About Function Cost Safety Delivery Morale/Satisfaction Your Customer Example?

12. Stop and Think What ideas so far today have suggested a change to how you are using data in your work group? How would things be different if you made such changes?

13. How Much Data Is Enough? … how fast your process changes and how quickly you want to make changes to it. …never enough data to tell you what to do…just whether you should do something. …less data can be more useful. Sampling allows good judgments to be made from small groupings of the data.

14. Examples of Sampling The director of custodial services learns about the square root… Percentage of failed repairs in the bus garage… Use the square root if you are making frequent measures and want to save time while preserving information quality. Every tenth invoice… Square root of the teachers observed… Every fifth SPED referral…

15. Use the square root if you are making frequent measures and want to save time while preserving information quality. Remember…

16. When Not to Sample …there are not a lot of potential data …the process changes very rapidly …you have never taken data on this process before …it is easy to get all the data

17. Application 3 Where might sampling save you and your work group time and give you better information, to boot?

18. Using Data to Make Better Decisions The purpose of analysis is insight.

20. Application 4 Suppose that you are the director of transportation. You have the graphs on page 10, as well as others for several months, all showing the same pattern. What questions would you ask? Of whom?

21. Leddicks Three Principles of Data Analysis 1.Graph the data. 2.Graph the data. 3.Graph the data.

22. Application 5 High SchoolsMiddle SchoolsElementary Schools 17, 01218, 55814, 016 18, 76819, 85914, 318 21, 38922,23214, 845 27, 62523,75115, 876 18, 022 18, 854

23. The Pareto Diagram

24. Wrapping Up Select data you would like to collect and bring along next time. Consider Related to a customer issue Something we need to analyze, anyway Something we need to improve Something that cycles pretty fast (plenty of data) Reflects repeated measures over time

25. Our Next Session Help with data analysis. Introduce the action research process. Select a learning project.