Our Approach
The Improve team includes a depth of professionals who have implemented positive change within PreK-16 environments. We truly understand the legal, political, and change management issues and complexities that educational agencies face. To this end:
- We design every project to have lasting, sustainable impact. We create a tailored approach, intelligent policies, repeatable templates, and scalable processes, and we build human capacity at the school, support unit, community district, and central office layers of the system.
- We take a top-down and bottom-up approach to every project. Change is not sustainable at the school level unless the school is supported by the organizational units and policies that govern it. A program implemented by the central office or the district office cannot succeed unless it addresses the needs of the schools, resources (financial and allocation of time and space), and the people within them. No project is viable or sustainable without providing the requisite training and support for the individuals required to implement maintain the project.
- We build capacity within our partners as we work. We are successful when our clients feel ownership of jointly-developed work products, especially in the implementation phase—and this occurs only through a collaborative process. Working together with client stakeholders will build management capacity and forge a strong, lasting relationship.
- We maintain cross-initiative goal alignment. We start with program or project goals and ensure alignment across all elements of the initiative, never losing sight of our overarching mission.
- We listen, learn, and approach all projects in partnership with districts and schools. As partners, we build upon existing assets, talent, previous efforts, and achievements.
Our standard practices include:
- Acknowledging and appreciating the hard work performed by agency, district and school staff on a daily basis, and working collaboratively to drive the change management process
- Asking questions and identifying areas of improvement systemically and sustainably, both bottom-up and top-down
- Responding quickly, with a focus on customer service
- Enabling joint planning and goal articulation, and creating consensus regarding purpose and expectations
- Actively listening, documenting, and incorporating ideas, comments, and recommendations of all participants
- Having regular contact (e.g., status calls, emails) to incorporate ideas, summarize feedback, and stay on the same page
- Documenting, reviewing and getting sign-off on all project deliverables
- Providing ongoing project management and support services, and being available on an as-needed/on-call basis