Introduction to Improvement Science
Online / Live, Online / Asynchronous, Face-to-Face, Assignments, Practical
September 2024 (additional start in January 2025)
18 weeks
SEA Certificate of Completion
English
1,525
The Carnegie Foundation’s Introduction to Improvement Science course stands out for its unique integration of real-world educational challenges and systematic improvement methods. It leverages innovative teaching techniques, including case studies and collaborative projects, to equip a team of educators and educational leaders within a school with the practical skills of identifying and solving problems. Expert faculty guide participants through a hands-on approach to continuous improvement, supported by access to exclusive resources and a network of professionals. By completing this course, schools will clearly demonstrate their commitment to taking ownership of their quality, exceeding current school quality standards, and proactively steering the direction of their improvement efforts.
The purpose of this school-based course is to develop a conceptual understanding of improvement science and to support a school team on its journey to realize self-improvement as a key element of school quality. The course provides all the tools necessary for a school team to implement an improvement methodology and develop a model of self-improvement, such that the school will internalize a data-driven organizational culture and can showcase its effort toward self-improvement through a portfolio and/or a demonstrated model of change. Going through this process will demonstrate that the school can exceed most school quality standards.
(1) All members of the team will be able to utilize the principles and practices of improvement science within their specific school-based roles.​
(2) The team will draw upon an understanding of a problem, unique to the team's school, develop a study of the system in which the problem exists, utilize a theory of practice improvement, and engage relevant research to prototype high leverage improvements.
​(3) The team will collectively design school-based tests of change, as well as execute and refine those changes.
(4) Members of the team will be able to inform future testing cycles (adopt, adapt, again, abandon) for additional problems of practice for which the school wishes to solve.
Introduction to Improvement Science familiarizes participants with key concepts, strategies, and tools of improvement science. Learners, within school-based teams spanning all elements of a school's operation, develop joint conceptual understandings of the principles and practices of improvement science and build their skills to apply improvement methods to real problems of practice. The course is intended to start schools on the journey from being focused on external quality standards to being owners and mediators of their own quality.
3 hours per week (requires 2 90-minute sessions per week, in a combination of face-to-face and live online instruction; at times, group activities will be required outside the 3 weekly hours in support of the school's improvement processes)
Should be a school-based team of 20-30, with particular focus on school leadership and highly influential middle leaders and/or teachers.
University City, Sharjah
United Arab Emirates
