The Ohio Continuous Improvement Process at work

Heights High math teachers Rachel Martinez, Joyce Bukovac and Becky McDonald are using the Ohio Continuous Improvement Process.

The CH-UH City School District is using the Ohio Improvement Process (OIP) to identify areas that need improving, identify academic goals and define the work needed to reach the goals. With the support of the U.S. Department of Education, the Ohio Department of Education developed the OIP. The process is a unified state system intended to improve academic achievement for all students.

Teacher-Based Teams (TBTs) are using the process in the classrooms to ensure that students learn the concepts outlined in the curriculum, also known as the Common Core Standards. Heights High math teachers Becky McDonald, Rachel Martinez and Joyce Bukovac teach six sections of mathematical decision making for seniors. McDonald and Martinez each have several years of teaching experience, but are grateful to be on a team with Joyce Bukovac, a veteran teacher with 23 years of experience.

Bukovac sees the OIP as an extension of the Professional Learning Communities (PLC), which has been used in the district for several years. PLCs were groups of subject area, grade level or small school teachers who worked together to improve teaching and learning. “However, the OIP provides more detailed tools and gives us feedback from outside our small team,” Bukovac said.

Lending expertise and feedback to the TBTs are Building Leadership Teams (BLTs) led by the principal, and the District Leadership Team (DLT) led by the district administrator. The BLTs and DLT review the OIP protocol charts completed by teachers and give their input to guide classroom instruction.

The work of every TBT is broadly defined by the results from an OIP district analysis of student performance data. The CH-UH DLT used a “decision framework” to identify the main goals: improve student achievement in both math and reading, and provide a more respectful and safer school environment.

Once the goals were created and articulated by the members of the DLT, the TBTs began addressing those goals by taking a closer look at their current practices.

TBTs develop their teaching protocol using the following five-step process:

1. Collect and chart formative assessment data aligned to the standards.
2. Analyze student work specific to the data (what students did well and why; what students did poorly and why).
3. Establish shared expectations.
4. Implement (who will implement; how often; observations of selected strategies).
5. Collect and analyze performance data.
   
   

The BLTs and the DLT will review the TBT protocol and provide the teacher teams with brief, supportive and objective feedback based on evidence. Periodic feedback gives classroom teachers the input of experienced educators who are trained in the OIP protocols. 

Andrea Celico, assistant superintendent, is pleased with the progress of the teams. “It should come as no surprise to know that teachers working together rather than in isolation improves classroom instruction,” she said. “And the OIP helps us ground our discussions in evidence rather than opinion and encourages collective responsibility for student success.”