PDSA Cycle

The core of the improvement process, is the PDSA cycle. It provides a structure for moving through four steps:

• Using one of the change ideas you developed in your driver diagram to create a small test and make predictions.

• Gathering embedded data by using existing daily or weekly classroom measures or structures to look for evidence of change.

• Evaluating how the results compare to your initial predictions

• Using that information to make adjustments to the change idea

One PDSA cycle typically lasts only 1–2 weeks, and the emphasis is on cycling quickly.

*Downloadable PDSA form

Just as each individual PDSA cycle creates time for action balanced by reflection, scheduling cycles of PDSAs into “bursts”—6 to 12 weeks of more frequent meetings for team members—allows for several rapid iterations of the PDSA cycle.

This creates conditions that best nurture both the experimentation required during testing and the reflection and refinement needed when scaling up.