Title:
PROFESSIONAL LEARNING TRANSFORMATION BY DESIGN: Implementing a District-Wide, Multi-Tiered Instructional Improvement System to Address Persistent Student Learning Performance Gaps through Developing Teachers’ Authentic Data Teaming Capacities

Authors:
Joseph G. Claudet, Ph.D.

Abstract:
Instructional improvement leaders in many school districts across the United States have become stymied in how to properly address the substantial learning performance deficiencies demonstrated by the growing numbers of diverse, at-risk learners entering their districts and populating their campuses and classrooms. This article examines how one assistant superintendent and her instructional improvement task force colleagues working in a high diversity urban school district employed design research investigative thinking and innovative professional development strategies derived from the education improvement science literature to implement a comprehensive intervention program for educators in elementary and secondary schools throughout the district to revitalize classroom teachers’ and their campus-based instructional supervisors’ instructional data teaming practices to better serve the academic learning support needs of the district’s large numbers of diverse, at-risk students. Key features of the design-based approach to turnaround instructional improvement presented and discussed in this case study report include: 1) leveraging the power of immersive professional learning to provide educators with multiple opportunities to critically examine their own, often ingrained, deficit thinking pedagogical mindsets regarding the motivation levels and learning potentials of at-risk students; and 2) assisting educators in learning how to engage together in authentic data teaming and data analysis–informed differentiated instructional planning to craft high-engagement classroom teaching and learning environments for all diverse learners. A set of design principles derived from the case study is also presented that may be of practical use to instructional improvement leaders working in a variety of school district settings interested in exploring the potential of design-based intervention methods for addressing the learning development and support needs of diverse, at-risk learners.

Keywords:
high diversity school districts; closing the achievement gap; education design research; instructional data teaming

DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37500/IJESSR.2023.6528