Cycles of Continuous Improvement

CYCLES OF CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

With its foci at the forefront - Instructional Leadership, Equity, Acceleration & Innovation, and Transformation - Local District Central recognizes the improvement adage that “Every system is perfectly designed to achieve exactly the results it gets.” Our Community of Schools aims address the pillar of Acceleration of Learning to build the capacity in our twenty schools in order to implement the use of practical measures, including instructional assessments, for continuous improvement. We aim to evaluate data with fidelity to assess  whether changes and calculated actions are leading to improvements, targeting attention to specific students at risk of failure, and setting priorities for improvement work. We believe that practical measurements must be informative so as to guide decisions and actions in improvement efforts, specifically around LAUSD’s Board of Education LCAP Goals and Accountability Plan. Our COS aims to support our school site instructional leaders in the improvement of classroom practices that build student agency, including the mindsets and strategies to persist in the face of serious learning challenges and ultimately make gains in student achievement and to meet the Board’s LCAP Goals:  

• Post-Secondary (A-G C or Better)

• Literacy

• Math

• Social Emotional Learning

Across the nation, thousands of educators at the classroom, school, and district levels are expending significant energy trying to improve—searching and trying new ideas in hopes of making things better. But what if we could move from trying to get better to getting good at getting better? (Carnegie Foundation) Getting good at getting better necessitates shifting from thinking of improvement as an intention to investing in formal methods to actually achieve it. 

Our Community of Schools intends to invest in the process of improvement science, providing professional development and support to principals and instructional leaders from each school site to build strategic systems and structures for the successful implementation of Cycles of Continuous Improvement.

WARM DEMANDER SPACES

One of our thematic focuses for Local District Central is Transformation. Transformation seeks to decolonize classroom ecology, subtract deep structures of schooling, and provide representation as well as restoration. In doing so, our Community of School desires to create Warm Demander spaces for students to be seen and heard. These classrooms will become spaces of windows and mirrors that validate and affirm our diverse student population. Evidence of culturally responsive learning environments include: learning centers, culturally colorful, optimally arranged, multiple libraries, digital and media resources, relevant bulletin boards, and student work (Hollie, 2018). In joyfully disrupting traditional classroom spaces, we will also encourage affirmations, freedom dreaming, accessible materials (hygiene products, pencils), BIPOC+ (Black, Indigenous, People o of Color) excellence images, and student selected work samples in efforts to give students a sense of belonging and make the classroom feel like an extension of home (Bermudez & Hatkoff, 2021). With these elements, schools will provide a welcoming environment that has evidence of students’ perspectives and lives. Implementing restorative and culturally responsive practices, like Warm Demander spaces, create inclusive classrooms that better support learning (Hernández, Darling-Hammond, Adams, & Bradley, 2019). 

In addition to the creation of these Warm Demander spaces, ongoing professional development around being a Warm Demander teacher, Classroom Ecology, and Culturally Responsive Teaching will be facilitated by the SoLA Community of School’s Instructional Support team.

In other words, a Warm Demander is an educator who is caring and authentically believes in the potential of each learner they serve. More important, warm demanders have high expectations for all students and create multiple opportunities for students to achieve them. Across SoLA, teachers are setting up students for success with inviting classroom environments, encouraging posters that reflect who them, rigorous high standards, and clear expectations.