Getting to the how

Back to Dr. Howard's presentation: How do we achieve the goal of proficiency for all students? There wasn't time during the half-day forum for questions or for figuring out the nitty-gritty of what we have to do. According to my notes, we need to 'provide a framework that all can use to realign resources, policies and practices to achieve outcome, use data to drive improvement and to align entire city's structures and systems with the requirements of achieving proficiency.' Sounds great, but it's a tall order.

The model developed by Dr. Howard's group (the Efficacy Institute) is called SDIS (self-directed improvement system) and requires a constant recycling of data from assessment to strategy to execution to new data. Thus, data from what is actually happening in children's lives fuels 'effective effort' which requires a tenacious engagement even and especially after failure, a powerful focus on feedback and ongoing strategy formulation.

What is needed is the aligned efforts of adults to:
*Establish and take responsibility for specific, targeted proficiency outcomes
*Educate community on mission and why it is essential
*Establish data stream and disseminate throughout community
*Establish a structure of operation and responsibilities - hold ourselves responsible