Continuous improvement is a long-standing and widely used approach for driving organizational change across a variety of private and public domains. This essay discusses the origins, character, and impact of continuous improvement with a particular emphasis on education. Dee explains the conceptual appeal of continuous improvement and the specific barriers to realizing its potential for driving educational improvement.
Key Takeaways
- Continuous improvement seeks to drive organizational impact through locally grounded, problem-focused cycles of piloting reforms and making data-driven assessments.
- Though continuous improvement is conceptually appealing and widely used, evidence for its efficacy is limited.
- The barriers to realizing continuous improvement’s promise in education include requirements for high-quality data systems, staff training and time, and an institutional commitment to its cyclical process of problem solving.
Understanding the Promise and Reality of Continuous Improvement in US Public Schools by Hoover Institution
