This blog post is part of a series on your improvement engine—make sure you have a great improvement engine (purpose, perspective, process, plan, and practices) before you start working on your improvement goal! (See also School Improvement Reflection Protocol).
Like you, I want to get better at improving. I want to more effectively and efficiently improve. I want to find ways to go farther faster.
Let me ask you 3 questions:
Question 1: What steps have you taken in the past 12 months that actually helped you and your international Christian school colleagues do school improvement even better?
- I’m asking because I want to find out what’s working for others and try it out.
- I’m asking because working on school improvement goals is a challenge—one that can crowd out working on ways to do school improvement better.
- I’m asking because you might be making school improvement harder to do than it needs to be.
Photo by Bruno Nascimento on Unsplash
Question 2: What steps could you take in the next 12 months to do school improvement even better? Here are some possibilities:
(1) Overcommunicate the why, how, and what of school improvement.
(2) Clarify what does and doesn’t help with school improvement.
(3) Document your improvement purpose, perspective, process, plan, and practices. Make these documents accessible, use them regularly, and review/revise them annually.
(4) Establish a galvanizing purpose for school improvement.
Image by pch.vector on Freepik
(5) At each improvement meeting:
- Include a well-being component (for example, ask everyone to share a recent high and low).
- Help everyone know how each meeting fits into the big picture. You can do this by connecting (as appropriate) the mission, vision, improvement process, and improvement goal to each meeting.
(6) Deepen shared understanding of what improvement is, what your improvement system is, and what helps you and your colleagues stay focused on improvement.
(7) Study and discuss mindsets that impact school improvement, for example, growth, fixed, thrive, and survive:
| Growth mindset | Fixed mindset |
| The goal of our self-study and visit is to learn how we can be an even better school | The goal of our self-study and visit is to show how good of a school we are |
| The visiting team report helps us improve | The visiting team report is an indictment |
| Each recommendation we received from the visiting team is an exciting opportunity for us to work hard & grow | Each recommendation we received from the visiting team indicates a deficiency |
| Let’s talk with other schools that are better than us at this so we can learn how to improve | Why are they making us do this? Other schools are simply better than us at this, so why try? |
*The above chart is based on this video and this video. To learn more, read this blog.
| Thrive mindset focuses on… | Survive mindset focuses on… |
| Being proactive on what’s important. | Being reactive to what’s urgent. |
| Prevention. | Addressing symptoms. |
| Developing systems. | Completing tasks. |
| Using documentation. | Using personal recollection. |
| Carrying out ongoing processes and multi-year plans. | Completing projects. |
| Helping both current and future students, staff, and leaders to flourish. | Getting through today, this week, this month. |
*To learn more, read this blog.
(8) Ensure that your school improvement process:
- Is ongoing, documented, and collaborative.
- Includes key components like reviewing the purpose of school improvement; assessing the current situation; developing and implementing an action plan; assessing, celebrating, and reporting progress; and determining next steps.
- Is understood and used by staff and leaders.
- Gets participants experiencing the 5 elements of flourishing: passionate purpose, resilient well-being, healthy relationships, transformative learning, and helpful resources.
Additionally, consider having domain committees meet twice each year and considering using the Working Genius model to analyze the composition of your Steering Committee and to determine next steps.
(9) Ensure that your improvement plan:
- Is documented and evidence-based.
- Includes key components like goal, due date, action steps, resources, and evidence of progress.
- Is formatted effectively.
- Is understood and used by staff and leaders.
(10) Address the root causes of each action plan, for example: unhelpful mindsets, insufficient staffing, inadequate policies and processes, faulty assumptions and misunderstandings, a lack of training/expertise, and insufficient shared understanding of a given facet of Christian education (for example, curriculum, well-being, using student assessment data, and helping students grow strong in Jesus).
(11) Ensure that your improvement practices get results, get used, and get staff and leaders experiencing the 5 elements of flourishing: passionate purpose, resilient well-being, healthy relationships, transformative learning, and helpful resources. Here are sample practices:
- Ask questions.
- Frequently talk about improvement.
- Put improvement tasks on your calendar.
- Do daily, weekly, quarterly, and annual reviews to think about what happened and to determine next steps.
- Use a scoreboard to track progress on my goals.
- Before starting to work on a goal, review the School Improvement Framework and the Improvement Engine: purpose, perspective, process, plan, and practices.
- Use Radical Candor (video, chart).
(12) Work with a coach. On a time-permitting basis, I provide free coaching for international Christian schools. Interested? Feel free to contact me.
Question 3: Now what? What’s 1 thing you can do to help you and your international Christian school colleagues do school improvement even better?
Bottom line: Help your international Christian school colleagues do school improvement even better!
Get flourishing!
Michael
Get Flourishing 
