Fall Theory of Improvement Convening

Written By Anthony Sarlo

Setting the Stage

In order to set a common vision and theory of improvement for our Year 4 NIC, a group of key stakeholders convened to create a theory of practice improvement. This group met for 4 hours to create a theory of practice improvement plan. Ultimately, the group identified 5 change areas to bring to our NIC to serve as areas for shared ideation.

The Participants

The College Ready on Track Hub Team convened a group of district and school leaders from the Schools and Academic Divisions.

College Ready on Track Team

  • Anthony Sarlo, Director

  • Jeremy Cooper, Program Manager

  • Karen Herbert, Program Manager

Schools Division

  • Jen Troy, Associate Chief

  • Michelle Wright, Collaborative Director

  • Melissa Boyd, Collaborative Director

  • Bobby Thomas, Collaborative Director

Academics Division

  • Heather Koehler, Associate Chief

  • Christina Baldy, Secondary Math Manager

  • Justin Cole, High School Math Curriculum Specialist

  • Valeria Praga-Rodriguez, Director of MLE Instructional Development

  • Adrienne Endres, Executive Director Multilingual Services

Prior Cohort Champions

  • Derek Pike, Facilitation Lead from West HS

  • CJ Smith, School Facilitation Lead from DMLK

  • Ann Cobb, Principal of Respect Academy

  • Ed Salem, Principal of Legacy Options

Additional Members

  • Laura Cotsapas, Director of School Planning

The Process

The group met at MindSpark Learning in Lakewood, Colorado. Using a process and protocol, the team worked collaboratively to design a theory of improvement to guide our work. We landed on five potential change areas in which we will focus our learning and collective efforts. The schools that participate in the NIC this year will develop, test, and refine change ideas aligned to these areas. In this way multiple schools can be working on similar ideas and can share their learning with one another.

Theory of Improvement

The group was able to create a theory of improvement and identified 5 change areas for the NIC to choose from when designing change ideas. The school teams will come together to develop change ideas to test at their school sites.

The 2022-2023 Theory of Improvement for the College Ready on Track Network in Denver Public Schools

What’s Next?

The College Ready on Track team is reaching out to 19 schools that were selected to be part of the Year 4 cohort as well as the 10 schools that were a part of the Year 1 cohort. School leaders will agree to program expectations for participation. School design leads and members that are new to the network will receive training in design improvement for equity and schools will convene for a NIC Kickoff before the end of the year.

Anthony Sarlo
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The Year 4 Cohort Kick-Off Event