Mapping Innovation & Success: Measuring Inquiry Impact in BC Districts

1. Mapping Innovation & Success: A Tool for Measuring the Impact of Inquiry in BC School Districts

2. Territorial Acknowledgements

3. School District Inquiry Network Professional Inquiry What works? How do we know? 16 districts How do we know?

4. Who we are • Comox Burnaby • Delta Vancouver Island North • Richmond Gulf Islands • West Vancouver Coast Mountain • Boundary Okanagan-Similkameen • Okanagan-Skaha Sooke • Fraser Cascade Nechako Lakes • Central Okanagan Arrow Lakes • Partners: Drs. Linda Kaser, Judy Halbert& Catherine McGregor

5. Innovation, Professional Inquiry and student learning are enhanced by District Leadership • What teachers know and are able to do is one of the most important factors influencing student learning • Teachers learn best in processes of investigation that are linked to their own contexts • Districts can support this learning– directly in activities that enable deeper and focused professional learning • They also create conditions where commitments to learning are enabled and accelerated

6. Leadership for Learning is at the heart of this work

7. Can webroaden impact and accelerate changeby working and learning together?

8. We created an Inquiry for Ourselves • In what ways do district strategic initiatives in inquiry-based professional learning act as catalysts for moving learning forward and enhancing student success?

9. We mapped our Approach • Each district documented its approach (case study) • Explored seminal research in inquiry, leadership & professional learning • We shared our experiences in a conference like setting (met & talked) • Mapped the patterns that emerged • Now we want to test out our thinking with our colleagues– you– and share with you our learning

10. Key Questions To Explore • How is professional inquiry practiced in your school district? What are its primary features? What makes it effective? • How does your district support innovation through inquiry? What are the key attributes? Who are the key actors who lead this innovation in your district? • If you had to list and rank the conditions that enable innovative cultures to flourish, what would you include? Which are most important? Why?

11. Table Talk: 3 Questions

12. Benchmarking Guide

13. Structures • Formal mechanisms (programs, structures, committees, calendars, etc.) that have been designed to support inquiry activity at the district level. This means a deliberate structure or program has been developed through which inquiry is supported.

14. Examples of Structures • Inquiry teams formed and supported at the district level • Grants and/or financial incentives designed to support schools/district/teams using inquiry • Scheduled inquiry network meetings sponsored at the district level

15. Strategies • Formally developed strategies– these can be processes, policies, or practices-- that are being used to support inquiry-based activities at the district level.

16. Examples of Strategies • Recruitment strategies designed to hire new leaders focused on inquiry • Mission and vision statement for district reference inquiry and inquiry based practices • District policy requires the use of inquiry for school level annual plans

17. Accelerants • By accelerants we are identifying specific conditions or contexts that enable inquiry to be more quickly taken up by diverse individuals, teams and leaders. When we think about accelerants, we are thinking about how a particular condition removes barriers or how removing assumptions no longer hold us back. • Its about building a culture of trust.

18. Example of Accelerants • Alignment between policy, practice, language used and vision/mission: a common purpose communicated consistently and persistently • High levels of trust between district staff, leaders, and teachers • Collaboration that includes teachers as key members of professional learning teams

19. The Spiral is Essential • The Spiral of Inquiry (Kaser & Halbert) is the primary means through which the districts in our group engage in professional inquiry. • With its focus on comprehensive and thorough scanning– including a strong focus on student’s stories and experiences of learning-- our inquiry model ensures that learning is at the center of all efforts to improve teachers’ practice • The spiral provides a flexible, yet predictable process that can respond to diverse needs and diverse, unique contexts • A central principal is that inquiry is professional activity dependent upon active, engaged professionals • What we have learned in the 15+ years that the Network of Innovation and Inquiry have been in place is that when districts take up this model of engagement with inquiry, innovation and transformation of learning environments are accelerated.

20. How to use the Guide • 1. Review your own district’s practices against those listed in the guide. • Additional detail is provided to enhance the meaning of what is included as a possible practice, process, structure or accelerating condition • Consider these as potential entry points rather than a prescription • 2. Assess your strengths on a continuum ___________________________________ Not yet……1.......2……..3……….4……..5……got it!

21. How to Use the Guide • Add your own assessment of the measure; descriptions or exemplars will help you to map your own efforts more fully. • Document new measures that don’t appear in the guide. • Consider setting a target: an area to grow, to consider adding to existing district protocols/practices, or set a priority for action. • Assess evidence in each category as a whole; what does it tell you about your progress as a district? Does it help you to set new priorities for action?

22. Your Turn We want you to consider this guide based on your experience as leaders and innovators. Our team will join you in a conversation and provide you with a complete copy of the guide to consider, read and critique. Each table will have a copy of the guide, and will have statements from only 1 section: structures, strategies or accelerants. Pick the table you would like to visit and spend some time examining the exemplars from the guide.

23. Some Questions you could also consider: In light of our earlier conversation about inquiry practice, supports and conditions, is the guide useful? What is helpful? Missing? How do the components of the guide assist you in assessing inquiry? Which measures seem to fit best? Are any measures in the wrong place? Are there duplicates?

24. Summary points • We are hoping to get feedback that will help us refine the guide. • Please take and use the guide with a variety of groups within your district to see its potential & identify necessary improvements • Feel free to share widely with others • Let us know how it works & how it might be improved • Next steps include launching a website for sharing this guide and other ideas across districts