Top 10 Continuous Improvement Strategies

Our team had the privilege of participating in a PowerSchool webinar on continuous improvement, with Dr. Pat Greco and Corey Golla of the School District of Menomonee Falls. Greco spent the last seven years as superintendent of the district, with a passionate focus on transforming the system through continuous improvement. As the district’s new superintendent, Golla is dedicated to strengthening the systems and processes in place to ensure students experience even greater levels of success. A series of articles and webinars about the district’s continuous improvement approach provides us with the top strategies these leaders offer for implementing, sustaining, and seeing results from continuous improvement efforts in a school district.

Top 10 Continuous Improvement Strategies:

1. Start on the journey and don’t look for perfection. | PowerSchool
2. Invest heavily in skill development of your leaders. | Education Week
3. To change culture, harvest wins quickly; reward and recognize makes people want to dig in even more. | PowerSchool
4. Strategy equals execution. | Studer Education
5. Stop every 45 days to see what supports leadership, teachers and students need. | PowerSchool
6. Use key words at key times and good listening skills. | Studer Education
7. Focus on excellence and the role of service with all stakeholders. | Studer Education
8. Build culture where everyone is thinking of how they can improve. | Education Week
9. Combine problem-solving techniques, constant feedback and experimentation by students, teachers and staff. | Education Week
10. Simple fixes make a big difference. | Education Week

Thank you, Menomonee Falls, WI, for sharing your journey with Education Week and PowerSchools Superintendent Webinar Series.  Your work continues to inform other educational leaders who are equally committed to excellence and success for all students.

Sources:
Ash, M. (2018, August 8). How Menomonee Falls Saved $275K with “Continuous Improvement” Strategies. PowerSchool Superintendent Webinar Series. 
Education Week’s coverage of continuous improvement strategies series in education funded in part by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Sparks, S. (2018, February 6). Tinkering Toward Better Schools. Education Week.
Studer, Q., & Pilcher, J. (2015). Maximize Performance; Creating a Culture of Educational Excellence