Join WestEd at the 2022 Carnegie Foundation Summit, March 27–29, at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront in San Diego, CA. The conference will take place in-person with a remote option.
WestEd experts in improvement science will present sessions and posters in several focus areas, including equity and diversity, data and measurement, and improvement capability. WestEd will also host two special sessions for attendees interested in learning about career pathways in improvement science and networking.
Check out the schedule below.
WestEd General Sessions
Improvement Science Career Panel: Navigating New Opportunities in a Changing Field
Strand: Improvement Science in Practice
Set: Set 2 | Monday, March 28 | 9:30 a.m.—10:30 a.m.
This panel presentation—featuring colleagues with a range of deep improvement experience—will highlight career pathways and illustrate how professionals use Improvement Science in practice. They will describe how they learned about improvement science, where they have been successful in implementing learning systems, and how they have navigated new opportunities in their careers. The participants will engage in a discussion about the opportunities in the field and strategies for expanding impact in a variety of education systems and sectors. (Sponsored by WestEd)
Presenters:
- Rebecca Colina Neri, Senior Improvement Specialist, WestEd
- Carlos Sandoval, Improvement Specialist, WestEd
The Systems Simulation: A Learning-By-Doing Activity to Better See and Improve a System
Strand: Improvement Science in Practice
Areas of Focus: Equity, Diversity, & Belonging, Improvement Capability, System Transformation
Set: Set 3 | Monday, March 28 | 11:00 a.m.—12:00 p.m.
“See the system that produces the current outcomes” is one of the core improvement principles. Yet, limits on time and resources for systems investigation constrain the capacity of school and district teams to undertake the intensive, collaborative work necessary to fully understand their system and the equity challenges that exist within. As a result of this need, the Santa Clara County Office of Education Differentiated Assistance team developed and implemented a simulation activity that helps school districts better understand how variations in their system lead to inequities. During hands-on, interactive exploration of the tool, participants will gain insight into the effectiveness of this type of simulation in their improvement efforts.
Presenters:
- Erica Boas, Improvement Specialist, WestEd
- Shelah Feldstein, Senior Improvement Specialist, WestEd
Networking with WestEd Staff—Breakfast Session
Strand: Sponsor-Hosted Breakfast Sessions
Areas of Focus: Improvement Capability
Set: Sponsor-Hosted Breakfast Sessions | Tuesday, March 29 | 7:00 a.m.—8:15 a.m.
WestEd’s Improvement team works across a wide range of content areas and organizational settings across the United States. These include K–12 school district teams, networks within high schools, higher education systems, and state education agencies. Join the WestEd team for informal networking to learn about common interests and improvement strategies across a range of settings. If you are new to improvement work, this is a great opportunity to learn how the work develops and how projects align with goals and timelines. (Sponsored by WestEd)
Presenters:
- Jonathan Dolle, Director, Improvement Science, WestEd
- Neal Finkelstein, Senior Managing Director, WestEd
Measures for Continuous Improvement in Middle Grades Mathematics
Strand: Improvement Science in Practice
Areas of Focus: Data & Measurement, Equity, Diversity, & Belonging, Improvement Capability, Instruction & Assessment
Set: Set 6 | Tuesday, March 29 | 12:15 p.m.—1:15 p.m.
When teachers and instructional leaders use a continuous improvement approach to improve teaching and learning in middle grades mathematics, they often lack a coherent set of high-quality, practical measures to understand their progress and determine next steps. In response to this gap, WestEd is building a repository of existing measures as a resource for improvement networks and educators. In this presentation, WestEd details its repository, which includes measurement tools and “measurement guides” that explain the purpose of the measures and how they are used in continuous improvement efforts.
Presenters:
- Sola Takahashi, Senior Research Associate, WestEd
- Kirk Walters, Director of Mathematics, WestEd
- Andrew Brannegan, Senior Research Associate, WestEd
WestEd Poster Sessions
Co-Developing Practical Measures for Practice-Based Teacher Education
Focus Area: Data & Measurement
This poster details how three organizations (Raise Your Hand Texas, TeachingWorks, and WestEd) collaborated to develop practical measures for teacher education. The presenters will describe the development of multi-dimensional measures to support teacher educators’ implementation of justice-focused, high-leverage practices.
Presenters:
- Erica Boas, Improvement Specialist, WestEd
- Jahneille Cunningham, Improvement Specialist, WestEd
- Thea Ulrich-Lewis, Program Director, Raise Your Hand Texas
- Jason Brasel, Research and Design Specialist, TeachingWorks
Equitable and Just Improvement Facilitation and Improvement Facilitation for Equity and Justice
Focus Area: Equity, Diversity, & Belonging
The goal of this poster is to develop a lens for looking at improvement facilitation work from an equity and justice perspective. Improvers will take part in activities that explore improvement facilitation practices through an equity and justice lens.
Presenter:
- Carlos Sandoval, Improvement Specialist, WestEd
How a Data-Equity Protocol Catalyzed an Integrated Theory of Equity Within Hemet Unified & WestEd’s Improvement Journey
Focus Area: Data & Measurement
WestEd and Hemet Unified School District collaborated to develop an equity-driven continuous improvement school district. They used a data protocol to spark critical curiosity about how the district’s systems were designed (to produce the student outcomes). Through the partnership, the district developed a vision focused on students with the fewest opportunities. Additionally, the partnership shaped WestEd’s vision for an integrated theory of equity-driven continuous improvement.
Presenters:
- Kevin Macpherson, Improvement Specialist, WestEd
- Jenn Martin, Assistant Superintendent, Student Services, Hemet Unified School District