This unique approach to understanding and addressing problems within a school system is based upon first considering what created the problems and then seeking to resolve them using research-based approaches to testing changes incrementally. This much more efficient approach to problem solving focuses on first identifying and addressing the circumstances that created a problem, rather than moving immediately to implementing solutions based on existing strategies. This approach invites innovation and risk-taking, while facilitating a culture of continuous learning and improvement.
Here, Margaret Terry Orr, professor at the Graduate School of Education, explained improvement science in her own words: “The words suggest two things. One is the notion of improvement, the idea of continuous improvement, not simply finding a solution. The second is the use of science. You use research principles to guide continuous inquiry about the problem to unpack and understand it better. You use evidence to help look at the system that produces the problem so that you can find opportunities for improvement that are drawn from prior research.”
This specialized approach to problem solving looks at each problem in its specific context. By doing this, the solution is then applied to a specific problem, not offered as a generalized fix.
Over the last few years, Fordham GSE’s Ed.D. program brought this approach into their curriculum, assignments and dissertation research. A powerful example of a student who has already implemented positive change resulting from this partnership is Rosalyn Barnes, Ed.D., GSE ’21, through her work on improving reading skills for underperforming Black boys in middle school. Based upon her work and dissertation, Barnes was named the 2021 Carnegie Project on the Education Doctorate Dissertation in Practice of the Year Award winner.
Rosalyn Barnes, Ed.D.
To specifically address the issues she examined for her dissertation, Barnes turned to her staff to brainstorm ways to improve their instructional methods. In talking about how Rosalyn went about this, Orr shared, “She did it by thinking about how to help her staff improve their instructional practice to support improving reading for Black males in her middle school, in a way that had them couple that effort with a study of culturally responsive practice.” Orr continued, “She was able to develop a process in her school where teachers became co-drivers of the improvement process by studying their own practice with each other, by making improvements working with each other that are sustainable. They’re now continuing to do this inquiry beyond just Rosalyn’s dissertation.”
Using this new philosophy, the Fordham Graduate School of Education has already begun creating global change makers, in some cases even before they reach graduation.
