The improvement cycle is the entry point for a group, team, program, or organization(s) to move forward within the Data Ladder of Inference, especially, when a rung is dependent on more than one person’s perspective. This is critical for the Data Collaborative because it drives quality insights, organization buy-in & awareness, and consensus throughout an organization.

The multiple perspectives -teacher assistants, teachers, site coordinators, directors, data managers, etc- help create clarity, generate alternative ideas, and craft new solutions within the Data Ladder of Inference process when individual data analysis and personal experience are not sufficient to move forward within the ladder. The Improvement Cycle allows for a targeted area within the Data Ladder of Inference to be done with quality, when quality data and/or secondary resources are not sufficient to move through the Data Ladder of Inference.

Improvement Cycles and Meetings, while are similar in some ways, have two major differences:

1. Data Ladder of Inference: Improvement Cycles focus on going through the Data Ladder of Inference. Traditional meetings may be missing one or more of the rungs and may be intended to only inform and or update staff, whereas Improvement Cycles will always go through the Data Ladder of Inference.
2. Inclusiveness: Improvement Cycles focus on capturing multiple voices and perspectives from different tiers in an organization. Meetings may be top-down, intended only to inform lower tiers in the organization of decisions that leadership have made, whereas Improvement Cycles will always be inclusive.
3. Consensus: Improvement Cycles focus on creating consensus and alignment throughout an organization. It does this by not forcing 100% agreement, but voicing over the direction the organization is going, where it is not going and name that the alternatives will be reviewed if this decision this time didn’t work.

Plan, Meet, Follow-up

1. Plan is when you map out the what, when and how needed to facilitate the change in your practices and strategies for improvement in outcomes.
2. Meet is when you include various stakeholders to discover, analyze, ideate and create using data, experience and intuition to change practices and/or strategies for improvement in outcomes.
3. Follow-up is when you confirm consensus on decisions made, create accountability and execute the change(s) in practices and/or strategies for improvement in outcomes.