Learning to Improve: How America s Schools Can Get Better at Getting Better

Great book

The book is well written and easy to read. The authors utilize examples to explain ideas for successes and failures. Based on quality improvement in Healthcare and Automative industries, the ideas presented have application in education to help bridge the gap between educational academics and the teachers who are on the frontlines attempting to improve outcomes with their students.

The authors detail a vision for improvement in education that is replete with concrete principles and tools. They show how to use these tools through in depth case studies. They note how education needs a paradigm shift if we are to achieve quality outcomes at scale, but instead of simply stating this...they painstakingly explain what this shift entails. As an education researcher, I’m energized by this book and am ready to get to work!

This is a very promising framework for actually improving education. The critique of current reform initiatives that are implemented quickly but do not allow for capture of learning is spot on. The alternative presented is intriguing and has already generated much discussion among curriculum leaders in Maine. The six principles pull together a process that can guide a collective learning agenda. Wrestling the framework down to the ground to actually implement raises a whole host of questions but the ideas offered are a heuristic as opposed to a recipe - and that in itself is cause for cautious optimism that this is an approach worth exploring!

Great read and can be immediately applied.