Strengthening Student Success Systems with Improvement Science
Strengthening Student Success Systems with Improvement Science is an online course that engages educators, leaders, and support providers in practical and conceptual learning about the role continuous improvement can play in integrating student success systems into secondary schools and improving these systems’ effectiveness in local contexts.
Creating school conditions that ensure students are on-track to graduate on time and prepared for post-secondary success requires that schools develop unified systems of support. Student success systems provide schools with this kind of unified system, by integrating and increasing the capacity of existing student support efforts, including early warning, on-track, and multi-tiered support systems. By focusing on relationships, actionable data, and evidence-based practices, student success systems help educators and communities build a sense of belonging and school connection among students, address school-wide achievement patterns, and meet individual student needs.
Through adaptive learning modules and performance tasks based on real-life examples relevant to implementing student success systems, participants will be equipped with tools, methods and mindsets to support students in their context to reach their full academic potential. This course is ideal for individuals working on creating school conditions that better support academic progress, college and career transitions, and the well-being of all students and educators.
This course was developed by the Carnegie Foundation as part of its contribution in the GRAD Partnership for Student Success, a collaborative effort involving non-profits, community organizations, school districts, and schools which seeks to co-create effective student success systems with school leaders, teachers, students, parents, and community members.
Course Outcomes
Anchored on the text Continuous Improvement in High Schools: Helping More Students Succeed (MacIver & Balfanz), this course unpacks the six core principles of improvement science and presents specific strategies or tools related to improving high school graduation and post-secondary success. The course also offers several examples of how different school systems have leveraged these methods and prepares participants to apply these practices in their own contexts.
In this course, participants will:
- Discover the six core principles of improvement science and the four components of high-quality student success systems
- Learn how improvement methods and skills can strengthen student success systems
- Plan to embed improvement methods in their local efforts with student success systems (on-track, early warning systems, etc.).
Intended Audience
This self-paced course is intended for school-level staff who are working on student success systems (principals, teacher leaders, counselors, etc.).
District administrators or other system leaders may also find the course useful in considering the conditions and resources needed to ensure that schools are empowered to improve and support the educational success of all students. Prior knowledge of improvement science is not required, but a basic understanding of early warning, on-track, or student success systems is recommended.
Course Details
Structure
This fully asynchronous course consists of seven competency-based units which include adaptive learning modules with brief videos, readings, knowledge checks, and interactive elements. Each unit also includes a performance task that supports reflection and enables learners to engage in specific improvement processes that they can leverage in their own contexts. Additionally, learners will have access to downloadable resources and tools to deepen their understanding of student success systems and improvement methods.
Time Required
Learners can progress through the course content and activities at their own pace. They should expect to spend approximately three to four hours on each of the competency-based units as well as additional time applying their learning by completing performance tasks.
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