Transcript Ohio Leadership Collaborative

Instructional Rounds
Training
Simpson County Schools
January-February 2010
The Book
Instructional Rounds in Education:
A Network Approach to Improving Teaching
and Learning
City, Elmore, Fiarman, and Teitel
(Harvard Press, 2009)
Inspired by the Medical Profession
 Based
on the model of medical
rounds
 Good practice is highly
contextualized
 Education is a “profession in search
of a practice”
A Key Idea
“The idea behind instructional rounds
is that everyone involved is working
on their practice, everyone is obliged
to be knowledgeable about the
common task of instructional
improvement, and everyone’s practice
should be subject to scrutiny,
critique, and improvement.”
INSTRUCTIONAL ROUNDS ARE
NOT…

Evaluative

For Administrators Only

Checklists or Walkthroughs

Implementation Checks

A New Initiative
The Instructional Core
STUDENT
TASK
TEACHER
CONTENT
The Difference We Make
PROPORTION OF VARIANCE IN STUDENT GAIN SCORES-- READING,
MATH-- EXPLAINED BY LEVEL--PROSPECTS STUDY
STUDENTS
28% R
19% M
CLASS
60%
READING
52-72%
MATH
SCHOOLS
12% R
10-30 M
ROWAN, ET AL., “. . .PROSPECTS. . .”
TEACHERS COLLEGE RECORD (
2005).
STEPS IN ROUNDS PROCESS

Identifying a Problem of Practice based on a
Theory of Action

Using the Ladder of Inference:

Collect descriptive evidence

Conduct analysis

Make predictions

Discuss next level of work
INSTRUCTIONAL ROUNDS
THINGS TO REMEMBER

We have not had really systemic powerful ways
for schools leaders to learn

You have to do the work to learn the work

Learning will degrade quickly if you don’t use it

Leaders don’t have to have the answers, but they
need to ask good questions




Rounds require separation of the practice from
the person
To experience deep learning, people need to
experience some discomfort
Changes in performance will lag behind changes
in practice
There will not be an end point to finding a shared
understanding
Learning about…
District
and School
Improvement
Theory
Strategy
of Action
Problem
of Practice with
Guiding Questions
CLASSROOM OBSERVATIONS
 Reminders:
Describe what you see
Be specific (fine-grained)
Pay attention to the instructional core
(teacher, student, content)
 Evidence related to the problem of practice



VIDEO
OBSERVATIONS
DESCRIPTIVE DEBRIEF
On your own:



Read through your notes.
Star data that seems relevant to the problem
of practice and/or data that seems important.
Select 5-10 pieces of data and write each one
an individual sticky note.
Share with your group:

Help each other stay in the descriptive (not
evaluative) voice.
•

“What did you see/hear that makes you think
that?”
Everyone speak once before anyone speaks
twice
ANALYSIS
Analyze the descriptive evidence, in your
small group, placing sticky notes on chart
paper, grouping them, and labeling
groups.

[A sticky note can stand alone. A sticky note
can be duplicated.]
What patterns do you see? Don’t forget
to account for variation as well as
similarities.
 What groupings help you make sense of
what you saw?

SHARING ANALYSIS
 Chart
the patterns that you identified
across classes and link the analysis to
your data collected during observations
 Did
we see the same thing? What do you
notice?
PREDICTIONS
Predict what students are
learning.
If you were a student in this school
and you did everything the teacher
told you to do, what would you know
and be able to do?
NEXT LEVEL OF WORK
Review descriptive evidence, analysis, and
prediction in light of the Problem of Practice
Brainstorm and chart recommendations for next
moves for school: Write 3 to 4 actions to be
completed by next week, by the end of the year,
this time next year, etc.