Sustaining a Continuous Improvement Culture in Educator Preparation: A Higher Education Network Based on Data Wise

Abstract

Educator preparation programs across the U.S. are grappling with the best way to respond to new state policies requiring they use data to demonstrate and accelerate improvement in program outcomes. Supported by a grant from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, the educator preparation program at Endicott College integrated the Data Wise Improvement Process into its practice. Not only did the Data Wise work help improve student outcomes by engaging the Endicott team in a form of practitioner research, but it also led to the creation of a network of educator preparation programs that, since 2015, has used Data Wise in an annual cycle of continuous improvement. This article includes recommendations for other educator preparation programs looking to integrate a sustainable improvement process based on the tenets of practitioner research, as well as suggestions for forming networks of continuous improvement across preparation programs in a state or region. The article concludes with a discussion of implications for research and policy.