Situation
Baltimore City Public Schools is engaged in a comprehensive research and development initiative aimed at improving the academic outcomes of 9th-grade students, with the ultimate goal of improving their overall success in high school. This ambitious project involves the collaboration of 13 schools within the district, forming a network that collectively designs and tests routines, processes, and tools to support educators in their mission to promote student success. The leadership team overseeing this effort recognized the importance of rapidly learning alongside participating schools, as they anticipated the possibility of quick expansion. The team desired an approach centered around the firsthand experiences of the schools within the network, enabling them to capture the wide array of variations and unique challenges present in each context.
Systems Design Lab was hired to support analytics and learning for the improvement effort while building capability in the leadership team to sustain theory-based learning on their own.
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Approach
We provided support to the leadership team to create and refine their learning strategy, ensuring it could evolve through an adaptive process of learning by doing. We worked to co-create and continually improve a robust data collection system, enabling us to gather comprehensive information from schools. By actively participating in events and activities at the participating schools, we captured relevant data while the leadership team facilitated. These data - both quantitative and qualitative - underwent close analysis to identify patterns and extract meaningful conclusions. We consolidated these valuable learnings into actionable recommendations and strategies.
We also facilitated quarterly collective sense-making among a Learning Team comprising the day-to-day leadership team, researchers, district leaders, and other support providers. Through collaborative discussions and knowledge sharing, we surfaced insights that informed decision-making and propelled the success of the endeavor.
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Impact
The leadership team now has a learning routine they can continue to manage independently.
One leader shared: “[SDL has] analyzed our network data and put together intentional and reflective learning team meetings. They built an infrastructure of routines for our team, beginning with a process for developing a strategy, straight through to the meeting routines needed to keep the work flowing. As a result, we have developed a strong cadence of meetings and routines between those meetings.
We have become a high-functioning team. Our team has learned how to be thoughtful when designing events and experiences for school-based staff. This has come from SDL’s ability to be human-centered, as well as intentional and empathetic in their approach to working with clients.”
