What is Practia?
Practia School Improvement is a framework, a new approach to school improvement that uses data and coaching to improve adult practices. Practia takes all the research and evidence-based school improvement components and offers a novel way to get the desired results – better environments for learning and improved outcomes for students.
Practia shares many similarities with the vast majority of school improvement systems, including:
- Continuous Improvement Cycle
- Stakeholder Engagement
- Leadership and Accountability Structures
- Professional Development
- Data-Driven Decision Making
- Resource Alignment
- Monitoring and Evaluation
Practia maintains a focus on people at the center. School improvement means to improve inputs and outcomes for everyone involved – students, staff, and families.
Practia starts with the essential conditions needed in schools in order for students to succeed. Practia is not a “pre-packaged” program. Instead, the local school and community must collaboratively develop and agree upon these essential conditions.
What makes Practia unique is the focus on inputs in order to achieve outcomes. Essential conditions are the inputs that make those outcomes possible.
Practia is designed so that all of the efforts of the system (data analytics, coaching, and resources) are directed so that the practices of the adults ensure the integrity of these conditions. The logic model is that, if adults ensure these essential conditions are present, then students will learn and achieve. Below are specifics on how the components of the Practia system work together:
Key Components of Practia
Data Analytics
- The data elements in this system are all within the locus of control of adults. It is not collecting and displaying student-level data, this is data about the practices of adults.
- The data collection starts at the beginning of the school year. This system presents actionable data in real-time so that areas of need can be identified and addressed right away.
- The data system provides inputs for the next components, Coaching and Resource Allocation
Coaching
The data analytics provide the framework for all professional coaching. Staff members receive personalized coaching tailored to their needs (both individual and collective). Because the data system is frequent and ongoing, staff can see changes in the data quickly. Coaches take a humanistic approach to the work – while the data is a central component, coaches focus on healthy, holistic ways that staff can help to establish the supportive environments collectively agreed upon.
- “Evidence strongly suggests that a well-designed instructional coaching program improves teacher practice and student outcomes.” (see Improving Teaching Practice with Instructional Coaching)
- Yet in most instructional coaching systems, the metrics used both to determine topics for coaching and impact of the coaching are limited.
- Practia provides a clear roadmap so that both the coach and the person being coached understand what they are working toward, based on the essential conditions identified by the school.
Resource Allocation
The Practia data system also provides actionable information on how a school can best utilize its resources (human, fiscal, etc.) The Practia data system can be disaggregated to show which classrooms and grade levels are best ensuring the essential conditions and which are in need of additional support. Then coaches and additional resources can be directed where they are most needed to have the biggest impact on student outcomes.
Student Outcomes
Student-level data are an essential part of Practia; these data are used to validate the adult practices. When adult staff have established these essential conditions, then student outcomes are properly used to demonstrate the success of the system.
This is key – Practia focuses its efforts on ensuring these conditions are in place through the collection and analysis of “formative adult practice data”. Student achievement is then a logical, sequential outcome of these conditions. This follows best practices in countless other industries, from farming to business to sports. But education has lagged behind, and too often the data metrics used in an attempt to drive improvement efforts are student outcomes. While student outcomes are the undeniable goal of the system, they are misused when trying to improve adult practices. Practia focuses on the right levers, the adult practices that lead to student outcomes. This is critical, as the system provides explicit feedback on which (and how) adult practices need to improve. This is within the locus of control of the teachers, and eliminates the frustration felt by so many teachers who feel their work is to get students to change their behavior. In this system, the direct focus is the actions and practices of adults. The students benefit from the improved practices of the adults.
Practia Core Principles
Formative Adult Practice Data
- The data that feeds Practia must be focused on the practices of adults.
- And, these practices need to be something that adults can improve.
- The whole point of Practia is for adult practices to improve, thereby positively impacting student outcomes. So, this formative data must be something that, through coaching, adults can get better at.
Timely, Ongoing Access to Formative Data
- School staff need this information as soon as possible once the school year starts, and the data must be refreshed consistently during the school year.
- Again, this adult practice data is formative, or input, data. It should be used by coaches to make improvements and adjustments as the school year progresses.
- Practia proactively identifies areas of need at the beginning of the school year and allows for resources to be directed for support in those areas.
School Improvement, not Evaluation
- Practia is built on a foundation of trust.
- School staff need to know that the data being collected will be used to make improvements in the practices of adults, resulting in improved student outcomes.
- School staff also need to commit to improvement and work with coaches to identify and improve in areas of weakness.
- School staff need to know that these initial data points will not be used for any evaluative purposes.
Details
How it Works demonstrates how a school can implement the model and includes specific examples.
The full Practia framework is designed to be implemented in a school with an environment conducive to this focus on adult improvement. If you are a teacher or staff member in a school who is interested in the Practia concept but do not feel that your whole school is ready for it, here is information on how Practia can be used by individual teachers.