“Begin at the beginning and go on
till you come to the end: then stop,”
said the King to the White Rabbit in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Whether you’re new to the OIP or have been using it to support your improvement efforts, it’s important to take the time to reflect on where your district is now in relation to meeting focused goals, and where you believe it needs to be within the next year, two years, three to five years, and beyond. Contrary to the King’s advice, don’t stop. Improvement is a continuous process, not an event, and it’s everyone’s job.
Review the information included in the The Superintendent’s Role tab, which focuses on what superintendents should do to foster effective data-based instructional decision making and focus the work of the district. The content in this section provides an overview of the OIP and its relationship to OLAC, and outlines the stages of the OIP through which your district and your schools will navigate.
Listen to an Ohio superintendent's district's experience using the OIP
Consider the initiatives your district is currently implementing and the degree to which they’re contributing to your capacity to improve adult and student learning, or adding unwanted complexity that may lead to fragmentation, rather than focus. To assist you in reflecting on where you and your district are in making the kinds of changes desired to improve teaching and learning, review the District Self-Assessment Guide for Moving Our Numbers developed by the National Center on Educational Outcomes (NCEO). In particular, take a few moments and review the first two key areas of practice: (1) Use Data Well; and (2) Focus Your Goals, thinking about your district’s degree of implementation (depth) and scale of implementation (breadth) across all schools in the district.
Use the remaining sections of the Pathfinder and associated/embedded resources as tools for identifying and acting on what you need to do to fully implement agreed-on practices, continually learn and grow as an organization, and improve student, adult, and organizational learning.
View the OLAC Webinar: Re-grounding – The Big Picture of OIP
