Cycle of Inquiry

Developed in collaboration with Bay Area Reform School Collaborative(BASRC)

1. Identify a problem statement that includes an area of academic focus and a target group of students.

Based on an analysis of disaggregated data student achievement data and teacher practice data, define a problem statement that identifies patterns in student achievement, skills gaps and related gaps in teacher practice.

Explicitly state your high leverage area of academic focus based this data, and clearly identify a target group of students.

Prompts and Pitfalls to avoid

2. Pose your inquiry questions.

Pose a question about student achievement that will help understand the skill gaps of the target group of students.

Pose a question about teacher practice that will help understand the relationship between teacher practices and skills gaps of the target group of students.

Prompts and Pitfalls to avoid

3. Set goals and define measures for school, grade levels and/or departments.

Set measurable student achievement goals; identify the data collection tools that will be used to answer your student achievement questions and measure your progress toward meeting the goals. Make sure your goals are connected to the standards you value.

Set measurable teacher practice goals that address both breadth and depth; identify the data collection tools that will be used to answer your teacher practice questions and measure your progress toward meeting the goals. Make sure the goals are connected to the standards you value.

Prompts and Pitfalls to avoid

4. Build a concrete workplan that responds to your problem statement and will help each school meet their goals for both student achievement and teacher practices.

Develop a workplan, including a budget, data and analysis, and Record of Agreements.

Connect your inquiry work at the school level and at grade levels and/or depratment levels by linking to schoolwide, grade level and/or depratment wokrplans.

Develop a timeline and set specific data for reaching goals.

Establish your data collection plan for both student achievement and teacher practice, and establish benchmarks to evaluate your progress along the way.

Research and select evidence-based strategies and outside expertise linked to addressing the specific skills gap of target students and meeting measurable goals.

Plan for articulation between grade levels, department and partner schools.

Build systems to manage the implementation of inquiry and professional development (communication, colloboration, shared leadership, assessment and governance).

Prompts and Pitfalls to avoid

5. Implement the workplan.

Implement research and evidence=based strategies schoolwide and related on-going professional development.

Implement grade level and/or department Cycles of Inquiry connected to the whole school Cycle of Inquiry.

Continually manage communication, shared leadership, assessment and govenrance systems.

Collect quantitative and/or qualitative benchmark data to identify progress toward goals during the year.

Prompts and Pitfalls to avoid

6. Analyze the data to answer the question about student achievement and teacher practice.

Identify which students made how much improvement.

Identify which teachers/teacher practices affected student practices, particularly the achievement of targeted students.

Analyze your success in reaching your student achievement and teacher practice goals.

Share the work and results with community stakeholders for feedback to inform next steps.

Based on data analysis, make decisions about next steps and plan for the next Cycle of Inquiry.

Prompts and Pitfalls to avoid

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Last modified: May 13, 2004

Disclaimer: This website is the sole responsibility of Mike McMahon. It does not represent any official opinions, statement of facts or positions of the Alameda Unified School District. Its sole purpose is to disseminate information to interested individuals in the Alameda community.