A theory of improvement is a tool that guides improvement work by specifying the practices and parts of the system that we’ll be working to improve.
The “Driver Diagram” on the right represents our theory of improvement.
Driver diagrams are a key organizing tool for improvement work because they articulate our working theory for how to reach our aim.
Driver diagrams represent our current understanding of what changes will lead to an improvement.
(This theory is regularly updated according to what we learn along the way)
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How Did We Create This Theory of Improvement?
In October of 2022, school and district leaders met with a goal of developing a theory of improvement to guide schools’ work toward our network aim and aligning the work of the NIC with the work of Academics and Schools teams, and with the priorities of network schools.
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How Did We Decide on our Change Areas?
After creating a grounding theory of improvement, the network schools, along with other stakeholders came together in December of 202 to narrow the focus to 3 change areas that we believe will help us reach our aim. These change areas set the stage for specific classroom practices (called change ideas) that we as a network believe will foster a culture of risk-taking, allow students to provide one another useable feedback, and facilitate student discussion.