Research-to-Practice Bridge Event

Building Improvement Networks to Support Educational Excellence in Oklahoma

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This free in-person event describes how educators are using networked improvement communities and a continuous improvement process to test, refine, and scale up effective and innovative practices.

REL Southwest, in partnership with the Oklahoma State Department of Education (OSDE), presents an in-person event on the use of networked improvement communities (NICs). These collaborative partnerships apply the principles of improvement science to test, refine, and scale up solutions to identified problems through a series of rapid, ongoing cycles.

Levi Patrick, OSDE assistant executive director of curriculum and instruction, will describe how Oklahoma’s new Champions of Excellence Program is using NICs to help districts develop innovative improvement projects aligned to Title IV, Part A. Kirk Walters, a managing researcher with REL Southwest, will then present an overview of the principles of NICs and improvement science, including how to form NICs and how they function and mature over time. As an example, he will describe the Better Math Teaching Network, a NIC focused on improving high school math instruction. Following the presentations, participants will have the opportunity to apply what they have learned to projects in their local contexts.

Speakers:

• Levi Patrick, Assistant Executive Director of Curriculum and Instruction, Oklahoma State Department of Education
• Kirk Walters, Ph.D., Managing Researcher, REL Southwest

Partnership sponsor: Southwest Networked Improvement Communities

Who will benefit: Champions of Excellence grant coordinators, grantees, and stakeholders as well as state and district staff, principals, and teachers interested in using a continuous improvement process to identify, test, and scale up effective practices

Contact: Lacy Wood
Email: lwood@air.org