Most School Improvement Plans do not guide staff efforts to tackle the root causes that prevent significant performance improvement¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · design r1 · q1
Currency · newest study 2010 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q1 i? Most SIPs fail to guide staff toward root causes, so student achievement is unlikely to improve while root causes remain. → Andrew Hegedus 2010

q1 i? Surface-level root-cause discussion in SIPs produces symptom-addressing plans. → Andrew Hegedus 2010

Evidence¶

Andrew Hegedus 2010¶

Andrew Hegedus. (2010). Finding root causes effectively: A powerful way to improve schools. NWEA Research white paper. https://www.nwea.org/research/publication/finding-root-causes-effectively-a-powerful-way-to-improve-schools/

q1 · i? · design · r1

The white paper's framing statement, based on the author's review of education research and facilitation experience, asserts that "Most School Improvement Plans (SIPs) in education do not guide staff efforts" toward root causes. No empirical data or effect size is reported for this assertion.

"Most School Improvement Plans (SIPs) in education do not guide staff efforts to tackle the root causes that prevent significant performance improvement. It is unlikely student achievement will improve should these root causes remain."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Education research urges cultures of inquiry and root-cause determination but provides almost no detailed methodology for finding root causes — related
• In bottom-quartile schools the School Improvement Plan is largely not implemented, with most teachers negative or mixed — related
• Most schools laid CI groundwork (72 percent root cause analysis), but fewer than two-thirds tied change ideas to their theory of practice improvement, and equity attention centered on achievement rather than access, identity, or agency — related
• Most LSCs are active in School Improvement Plan development, but fewer than a quarter are highly involved in the budget process — related
• Individual biases and narratives influence how systems are investigated in continuous improvement, potentially leading projects to address symptoms rather than root causes — related
• Education leaders believe continuous improvement, when done well, can unearth issues of equity and reveal root causes of inequities in education systems — related