In an effort to improve services to our partners, AEA 267’s Continuous Improvement Team (CIT) has been voluntarily working through the phases of the Schools in Need of Assistance (SINA) process. The phases completed so far are the audit, diagnosis and design. The audit phase focused on the collection and analysis of AEA 267 qualitative and quantitative data. The CIT did this to identify strengths and areas of concern in order to design action plans to increase our effectiveness in educational leadership, services and support to children families and educators we serve to build their capacity to positively impact and increase student achievement. From the audit phase 42 areas of further concern were identified. These areas were then themed into eight clusters. These eight clustered areas were narrowed into three prioritized areas, 1) focus on improving services that will impact student achievement and outcomes e.g. special education state performance plan, Iowa Youth Survey items, 2) focusing on improving the support given for implementation of professional development with integrity and 3) focusing on improving early literacy / numeracy services within and across the agency.
The diagnosis phase reviewed the three prioritized areas from the audit summary. Through a comparison of the current reality with the desired state, a gap analysis was completed. The root cause(s) that contributed to the three prioritized areas of concern were identified through a root cause analysis. Solutions and actions were identified to address these prioritized areas of concern. Then KASABs (Knowledge, Attitude, Skill, Aspiration and Behavior) were developed for each prioritized area of concern for each stakeholder group.
The design phase provided for the development of action plans to address each of the three prioritized areas. Action plans have been completed and recently peer reviewed by the Continuous Improvement Team. As a result of the peer review some polishing of these action plans will take place before implementation begins.
Details regarding the Continuous Improvement Team SINA process are available on our website.
Next month’s Intersections will feature video explanations of each of the action plans developed from this work. For more information, contact Dr. Jon McKenzie.