Leading a Learning Network

Implement a Structured Continuous Improvement Network in your system

Course begins March 22

Educators within a system have the expertise to solve their own unique teaching and learning challenges, but often don’t have the professional learning structures in place to do so. Structured continuous improvement networks provide educators with a high-quality professional learning framework that focuses their work on identifying a unique problem of practice within their system, then utilizing a continuous improvement process to collaboratively develop and implement solutions.   

In this 15-hour blended course, expert Learning Forward network facilitators Michelle Bowman and Nick Morgan provide system and school leaders with an overview of the structured continuous improvement network model, and provide tools, strategies, and coaching to help you implement a continuous improvement network in your system.

Utilizing over a decade of Learning Forward’s experience facilitating structured networks that drive improvement in education, this course will help leaders understand and implement a learning model that creates a collaborative environment where educators support one another to solve unique problems of practice. Grounded in collaborative inquiry, communities of practice, the principles of improvement science, and the Standards for Professional Learning, learners will be introduced to a powerful framework that provides a consistent approach to identifying critical system needs, and uses the continuous improvement process to uncover previously unrecognized keys to success.

Through live, collaborative learning sessions as well as asynchronous learning and collaboration with colleagues, participants will be able to implement concrete steps and tools for identifying a problem of practice and creating a plan to solve that problem. Participants will begin with uncovering a focused local problem of practice, define what success will look like, and work through the initial steps to solve the problem.

Course outcomes 

1. Develop the skill set necessary to initiate and facilitate a structured continuous improvement network. 
2. Apply the components of continuous improvement to solve a local problem of practice. 
3. Make connections between the continuous improvement process and the Standards for Professional Learning. 
4. Describe how various stakeholders within a system will support the improvement process. 

When 

This course begins March 22 with our first live Zoom session, and runs through April 21. 

Live sessions will take place from 2-4 p.m. Eastern on the following days:

Who is this for?  

District leaders (teams of 2 or more encouraged!) who wish to extend their understanding for implementing a network model to address system challenges and who seek the skills necessary to facilitate networks for educators. 

Michelle A. Bowman is vice president of networks and continuous improvement at Learning Forward. She leads the networks strategy that supports state and local education agencies committed to professional development redesign, and oversees the development of content and learning designs that support organizations capacity to engage in continuous improvement processes. Prior to joining Learning Forward, Michelle served in leadership at the district, campus, and classroom levels. Michelle completed her Ed.D. in Learning and Organizational Change at Baylor University. Her dissertation investigated how school district teams engaging in a community of practice impacts school district leaders’ professional learning efficacy.

Nick Morgan is a Senior Consultant with Learning Forward and also serves as a Lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, where has taught since 2007, and as a Senior Advisor with McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting firm. For Learning Forward, Nick designs and facilitates state and national networks including the Redesign PD Community of Practice and the Ohio Remote EDx Network. He previously served as Executive Director of the Strategic Data Project, part of Harvard University’s Center for Education Policy Research, which partners with school districts, charter school networks, state education agencies, and nonprofit organizations to bring high-quality research methods and data analysis to bear on strategic management and policy decisions.

Additional facilitation and support will be provided by:

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