Breaking the “Adopt, Attack, Abandon” Cycle: A Case for Improvement Science in K–12 Education
School reform efforts have collectively failed to find sustainable solutions to education's most pressing problems. Researchers and education practitioners have both vocalized these challenges. The difficulty of fitting proven reforms to local school contexts often leads to a cycle of “adopt, attack, and abandon.” This chapter discusses the potential power of improvement science to break the cycle in education. In doing so, the research aims to understand the school leader's perspective when improvement science processes were employed at their sites. The research examined three school cases, as principals used rapid cycles of evaluations, using the improvement science PDSA model. In addition to providing a better understanding of what factors facilitate or constrain the implementation of rapid cycles of evaluation in school sites, the research offers insight into how evaluators can use improvement science methods to adapt interventions or practices to local context.
Official Publisher's Webpage (Wiley Oline Library)
Rohanna, K. (2017). Breaking the “Adopt, Attack, Abandon” Cycle: A Case for Improvement Science in K–12 Education. New Directions for Evaluation, 2017(153), 65–77. https://doi.org/10.1002/ev.20233
Critical Perspectives on the Contexts of Improvement Research in Education
Critical Perspectives on Educational Innovation and Improvement Science
Breaking the “Adopt, Attack, Abandon” Cycle
_eprint: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ev.20233