SCHOOLS OF INNOVATION: LEARNING FAST TO IMPLEMENT WELL Office of Innovation for Education December 9, 2014 Denise T. Airola

Improving teaching and learning Accountability for outcomes Change— innovation efforts Schools of Innovation: Balancing Tension with Opportunity

Mission of the Office of Innovation for Education Change requires individuals and groups to trust and to risk. Our mission is to be partners with you in the process—to help minimize the risk and maximize the benefits to students, educators, and communities.

It’s natural to be attached to memories of simpler times in education…even as we expect that change must come.

Often, what is not expected are the pace, magnitude and multi-dimensionality of change.

Innovation doesn’t mean you abandon what is working or what fits your community!

Where do you start? Logistics: timing and requirements. Commissioner’s Memo posted Technical Assistance PPT services/schools-of-innovation January 30, 2015 submit to ADE for review and feedback March 16, 2015 final applications due. Don’t forget course approval deadlines!

Form Your Council of Innovation: Don’t try to go it alone! Generate innovative ideas and proposals of its own; Determine a method for requesting innovative ideas and proposals from school employees, community members, and other stakeholders to be submitted to the council; Survey, focus groups, informal interviews (one-legged)  Receive innovative ideas and proposals from school employees, community members, and other stakeholders; Consider all innovative ideas and proposals submitted by community members and other stakeholders; and Determine the content and format of the plan that will be voted on by the eligible employees. Act 601

Establish a Shared Definition of “Innovation” Means leveraging new or unproven methods or tools to improve practice or solve persistent Problems; Includes identifying tools or practices from another field to be applied in a new context; Often represents an entirely new way of Thinking; Has no rules: There is no “right” or “wrong” way to innovate; and, Always forces important choices and trade-offs. Focus Beyond Compliance Duty & Kern, 2014, So You Think You Want to Innovate?

Duty & Kern, 2014, So You Think You Want to Innovate?

Seven Factors Driving Innovation Duty & Kern, 2014, So You Think You Want to Innovate?

Duty & Kern, 2014, So You Think You Want to Innovate?

Getting the Right Fit is Key to Success Early innovators’ lessons learned: 1. Figure out what, or whose, needs you are trying to meet with the innovation. 2. Figure out your innovative learning solution before you select your technology. 3. Consider student fit, teacher fit and leader fit—one size does not fit all! 4. Monitor and measure your efforts and results. For more details go to: innovation/

How do you feel about the opportunity? Schools of Innovation Dream?Design?Dread? Source: 2revolutions Future of Learning available at

Innovative Design Parameters: Anchor Design in Core Principles Source: 2revolutions Future of Learning available at

Levers for Building: Key categories for innovating learning models Source: 2revolutions Future of Learning available at

How might you innovate to allow for more overlap among these program sectors to expand learning opportunities? Source: 2revolutions Future of Learning available at

*Ackoff on Improving Systems Performance of the system depends on how the parts fit in the system, not on the parts individually. Improve the parts only to improve the whole. Improvement must be directed at what you want—not at what you don’t want. “What could you do right now if you could do whatever you want?” The constraints are introduced later! What are the parts of your system and how well are they working together? What could you do to improve the system? *Shared in training ADE training PPT for SOI

Where should you focus your innovation? Start by understanding your system. Use your data to understand what is working and not working well in your current system. Achievement data: strengths, concerns, gaps, opportunities Perceptual data: students, staff, parents, community Satisfaction with opportunities, choices, responsiveness Perceived support and resources Perceived engagement Behavioral data: engagement, attendance, tardiness, management and discipline, health, etc.

HOW DO YOU DECIDE ON SCOPE AND SCALE? Learning Fast to Implement Well

Improving: Joining improvement science to networked communities Anthony S. Bryk, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching Education—We move fast and learn slow Need a shift—Learning fast to implement well Engage in disciplined inquiry Learn fast, fail fast, improve fast

Learning to Improve Current Situation CapacityResistantIndifferentReady Low Confidence: Good idea, but how do we make it work? Limited Capacity Very Small Scale Test Very Small Scale Test Small Scale Test Good Base Capacity Very Small Scale Test Small Scale Test Modest Scale Test High Confidence: Good Idea, we can make it work! Limited Capacity Small Scale Test Modest Scale Test Large Scale Test Good Base Capacity Modest Scale Test Large Scale Test Implement Wide- Spread

Office of Innovation’s Role Resource for exploring, investigating, and designing ideas and opportunities for innovation. Connecting you to others doing/pursuing similar opportunities. Facilitating your design process. Researching and sharing conditions that support successful innovative solutions for students.

What we’re investigating:  Blended Learning Opportunities & Challenges  Personalizing instruction (pace, path, preference options)  Digital content & learning management systems  Competency-Based Education: Who is doing what and with what kind of results?  Reimagining college and career readiness and connecting to relevance.

QUESTIONS

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