In education, challenges are complex, often chronic and sometimes seem insurmountable. But what if we tackled these challenges with a \u201cHow Might We\u201d approach?<\/p>\n

As IDEO\u2019s CEO, Tim Brown, explains in his blog, The Secret Phrase that Sparks Creative Solutions<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cHow<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0assumes that solutions exist and provides the creative confidence needed to identify and solve for unmet needs.<\/em><\/p>\n

Might<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0says that we can put ideas out there that might work or might not \u2014 either way, we\u2019ll learn something useful.<\/em><\/p>\n

We<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0signals that we\u2019re going to collaborate and build on each other\u2019s ideas to find creative solutions together.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Over the next 12 months, five communities across the U.S. will ask \u201cHow might we decrease chronic absenteeism in our school districts?\u201d They\u2019re part of StriveTogether\u2019s second Impact and Improvement Network<\/a>, which will focus on improving academic outcomes along the kindergarten to 12^{th<\/sup> grade continuum. And they will work together to understand the causes of chronic absence in their schools and to develop and test interventions to reduce the number of days students miss.<\/p>\n}

Learning + Action in the K-12 Impact and Improvement Network<\/strong><\/p>\n

Participants in StriveTogether\u2019s Impact and Improvement Networks receive professional development in continuous improvement, equity, and the Annie E. Casey Foundation\u2019s results-based leadership<\/a>. This Impact and Improvement Network will\u00a0incorporate aspects of design thinking (also known as human-centered design) to enable communities to better understand the needs of those they serve and involve students and families in the design of creative interventions. \u201cHow Might We\u201d is one of many design thinking techniques used to spur innovative solutions.<\/p>\n

The training is not conducted in a vacuum. Research indicates, and intuition confirms, that adult learning is most effective when it is applicable and connected to one\u2019s day-to-day work. And at StriveTogether, we have a bias toward actions that are connected to the result you aim to achieve. That\u2019s why the Impact and Improvement Networks pair learning with action.<\/p>\n

Each community team has selected a K-12 outcome to apply their learnings toward. San Antonio, Texas (P16 Plus<\/a>), and Waterbury, Conn. (Bridge to Success<\/a>), will focus on early grade reading. Albuquerque, N.M. (Mission: Graduate<\/a>); Austin, Texas (E3 Alliance<\/a>); and Thornton, Colo. (Adams County Youth Initiative<\/a>), will hone in on high school graduation. All five communities will work to improve a common factor that contributes to academic success \u2014\u00a0attendance at school.<\/p>\n

Why attendance? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Attendance is a predictive indicator<\/a>, which means it is an early signal to educators if a student is at-risk of falling behind. Research shows<\/a> that missing as few as two days of school per month for any reason\u00a0negatively impacts a student\u2019s academic performance. The five communities in the K-12 Impact & Improvement Network have identified chronic absenteeism as a priority and key driver of student success, particularly for certain subsets of their student population (e.g., special education, low income, pre-K, grade 12, Native American or African American students).<\/p>\n

In addition, attendance is an advantageous data point for this kind of national learning network. It is a common metric collected across states, which allows communities to share what they\u2019ve learned and tackle challenges together regardless of geography. More importantly, however, attendance data is available regularly. Schools collect it daily, and it is available for analysis weekly. This allows for \u201crapid-cycle continuous improvement<\/a>.\u201d Because you get fresh data often, you can try out an intervention \u2014 what we call a small test of change \u2014\u00a0and see, within a week or two, if that strategy had an impact. You then decide if you want to adopt, adapt or abandon that strategy depending on its effectiveness.<\/p>\n

About the K-12 Impact and Improvement Network <\/strong><\/p>\n

The K-12 Impact and Improvement Network launches this week and runs through September 2017.<\/p>\n

We are excited to partner with Attendance Works<\/a>, which will serve as a content expert and coach for our communities, and with Design Impact<\/a>, who is our thought partner on the integration of design thinking strategies into our continuous improvement process. This work is made possible by the Lumina Foundation<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In education, challenges are complex, often chronic and sometimes seem insurmountable. But what if we tackled these challenges with a \u201cHow Might We\u201d approach? As IDEO\u2019s CEO, Tim Brown, explains in his blog, The Secret Phrase that Sparks Creative Solutions: \u201cHow\u00a0assumes that solutions exist and provides the creative confidence needed to identify and solve for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":8622,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":""},"categories":[218],"tags":[81],"class_list":["post-8224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-capabilitiy-building","tag-blog","category-218","description-off"],"yoast_head":"\n