Academic Literacy

1. From Write to Better
A NETWORKED APPROACH TO IMPROVE LEARNING OUTCOMES THROUGH ENHANCING ACADEMIC LITERACY
Academic
Literacy
BY CAROL PARENTEAU- MARCH, 2017

2. Purpose
The purpose of this project is to evaluate the
programs aimed to improve writing and academic
literacy skills using Improvement Science
principles.
Improvement Science is a methodology for using
disciplined inquiry to solve a specific problem of
practice.

3. Improvement Science
Improvement science is rooted in quality efforts undertaken by
organizations like Toyota and Bell Labs.
Applied in the field of healthcare. Leveraging improvement
science, through the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI),
Improvement Science has led to positive results, including
significant improvement in the number of medical errors.
Although the contexts differ, the same concept can be applied
to drive improvement in teaching.
Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching created
models, tools to apply to education.

4. Principle of Improvement Science # 1
Make the work problem-specific and user centered.
Starts with a single question: What specifically are we trying
to solve?
Improve Learning Outcomes by improving
academic literacy, because in the endeavor of
educating students, writing becomes a tool for
learning and communication. (Guzmán-Simón &
García-Jimenez, 2015).
Vocabulary
Cohesion
between
sentences
Syntax
Content

5. APDC
Improvement Cycle
5. Anchor practice improvement in disciplined
inquiry.
Engage rapid cycles of Plan, Do, Study, Act
(PDSA) to learn fast, fail fast, and improve
quickly. That failures may occur is not the
problem; that we fail to learn from them is.
Principle of Improvement # 5

6. Principle of Improvement # 5
Disciplined Inquiry
ADSA
ADSA
ADSA
ADSA
ADSA
ADSA
5. Anchor
practice
improvement in
disciplined
inquiry.
Engage rapid
cycles of Plan, Do,
Study, Act (PDSA)
to learn fast, fail
fast, and improve
quickly. That
failures may occur
is not the
problem; that we
fail to learn from
them is.

7. But there is more…
Curriculum and Instruction Assessment and Data Resources & Services Tutoring Interventions Systems Thinking
Towards improving the target

8. Principle of Improvement Science # 3
3. See the system that produces the
current outcomes.
It is hard to improve what you do not fully
understand. Go and see how local conditions
shape work processes. Make your hypotheses
for change public and clear.

9. Seeing the System that Produces the Outcomes

10. Make your hypotheses for change public
Second part of principle #3

11. Principle of Improvement Science # 6
• Faculty
• Library
• Deans
• Assessment Director
• Instructional Design
• Writing SME
• Assessment Analyst
• Provost
• Writing Center
6. Accelerate
improvements through
networked communities.
Embrace the wisdom of
crowds. We can accomplish
more together than even the
best of us can accomplish
alone.

12. Using Tools: The Driver Diagram
Target
What do we want to
change
Primary Drivers
Hypotheses
Secondary Drivers
Ideas and Solutions

13. Driver Diagram

14. Driver Diagram
Net Tutor
Students that face challenges
with writing need tutoring
support, because faculty do not
have the time to teach writing.
Tutoring services will improve
student’s writing skills.
Improvements to curriculum
based on design principles,
quality standards and sound
pedagogy will facilitate better
outcomes.
Two new
Scholarly
Argument
Courses

15. Principle of Improvement Science # 4
4. We cannot improve at scale what we cannot measure.
Embed measures of key outcomes and processes to track if
change is an improvement. We intervene in complex
organizations. Anticipate unintended consequences and
measure these too.

16. Complex Problem
Cannot easily be measured
Unbounded systems – No experiments
Complex causal chains
Operating with scarce resources
Involve multiple stakeholders with different or conflicting
interests/points of view
No single, optimal and/or objective solution

17. Principle of Improvement Science# 2
Variation in performance is the key issue to address . The critical issue is not what works, but
rather what works, for whom and under what set of conditions. Aim to advance efficacy
reliably at scale.
No single, optimal and/or objective solution

18. Key Challenge
Defining Metrics
Writing outcomes data (segment by demographics, psychographics,
geography)
Tutoring data (demographics, frequency, grades, persistence)
Library help and usage data (impact, usage, quasi-experiments, satisfaction
data)
Curriculum improvement (quasi- experiments, end of course surveys,
satisfaction surveys)
Science of Improvement (pre-and-post project, survey stakeholders)
Interventions (surveys)

19. How to Measure Complexity

20. How to Measure Complexity
“The ultimate goal of the process to promote a coherent action on
difficulty problems. To do this we must tie together a number of related
tasks that together can help us to think more clearly, make better
decision, and implement more effectively.”
Model, Understand, Measure Predict/Decide/Plan, Communicate, Act

21. Next Steps
6. Accelerate improvements through
networked communities.
Peggy, Mindy, Irene, Deb, Paul, Kay, Deb
3. See the system that produces the current
outcomes
Keep an eye on the system and how to affect
positive impact.
5. Anchor practice improvement in disciplined inq
Cycles of improvement for each project

22. References
 Arum, R., Roksa, J., & Cook, A. (2016). Improving Quality in American Higher Education: Learning Outcomes and Assessments for the 21st Century (1
edition). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
 Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. (n.d.). Using improvement science to accelerate learning and address problems of practice.
Retrieved from http://www.carnegiefoundation.org/our-ideas/
 Collins, J., & Hansen, M. T. (2011). Great by Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck--Why Some Thrive Despite Them All (1 edition). New York, NY:
HarperBusiness.
 Bryk, A, Gomez, L, & Grunow., (2011, July 1). Getting ideas into action: building networked improvement communities in education. Retrieved March
15, 2017, from https://www.carnegiefoundation.org/resources/publications/getting-ideas-action-building-networked-improvement-communities-
education/
 Guzmán-Simón, F., & Garcia-Jimenez, E. (2015). Assessment of Academic Literacy. Relieve, 21(1). https://doi.org/doi: 10.7203/relieve.21.1.5147
 LeMahieu, P. G., Grunow, A., Baker, L., Nordstrum, L. E., & Gomez, L. M. (2017). Networked improvement communities: The discipline of improvement
science meets the power of networks. Quality Assurance in Education, 25(1), 5–25. https://doi.org/10.1108/QAE-12-2016-0084
 Lewis, C. (2015). What is improvement science? Do we need it in education? Educational Researcher, 44(1), 54–61.
 Newmann, F. M., Smith, B., Allensworth, E., & Bryk, A. S. (2001). Instructional Program Coherence: What It Is and Why It Should Guide School
Improvement Policy. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 23(4), 297–321. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3594132