When brainstorming potential solutions to a district problem of practice, it can often be helpful to look to others for inspiration. This set of introductory guides shares research and examples related to common problems of practice in education.
Monterey Peninsula Unified School District (MPUSD) interviewed a range of teachers and students to identify opportunities to improve teaching and learning. From those conversations, they identified the need to increase students’ sense of belonging at school and personalized support for students’ academic development. After reviewing themes from the interviews, the team summarized a key problem of practice: “How might we increase flexibility and personalization to build a sense of belonging and connection within the context of our labor and policy constraints?”
This problem statement challenged the team to find solutions that met the academic and social-emotional needs of each student. The problem statement also required the team to think about those things it could adapt and change, even amid constraints.
When designing change in a district, it is essential that leaders hear directly from students, families, teachers, and classified staff (i.e., those most impacted by teaching and learning). This guide from Stanford d.school will help you translate feedback into a clear problem your design team will address by framing problems as “How Might We?” questions.
When designing change in a district, it is essential that leaders hear directly from students, families, teachers, and classified staff (i.e., those most impacted by teaching and learning); this is often done via empathy interviews.
Themes from Monterey Peninsula Unified School District’s empathy interviews fall into multiple categories: developing stronger connections between and amongst students and teachers, and personalizing support for students’ academic development. The team’s discussion connected the themes from interviews to broader efforts across the district to increase flexibility and personalization while strengthening students’ sense of belonging.
When designing change in a district, it is essential that leaders hear directly from students, families, teachers, and classified staff (i.e., those most impacted by teaching and learning); this is often done via empathy interviews.
Themes from Mastery Charter Schools’ empathy interviews fell into several categories: supporting students and teachers with technology, fostering digital access, and creating independent learners. The team’s discussion connected the themes from interviews to broader efforts across the district to move toward blended learning, prepare students for the future, and standardize expectations for teaching and learning with technology.
When designing change in a district, it is essential that leaders hear directly from students, families, teachers, and classified staff (i.e., those most impacted by teaching and learning); this is often done via empathy interviews. It can sometimes be challenging to make sense of the themes from empathy interviews, so this guide from Perficient introduces a framework for translating stories from empathy interviews into actionable insights.
When designing change in a district, leaders hear directly from students, families, teachers, and classified staff (i.e., those most impacted by teaching and learning) via empathy interviews. They then must make sense of those interviews to better understand the challenge they’re solving for, from the perspective of those most directly impacted. This protocol from IDEO guides teams to share learnings from interviews and look for patterns.
When designing change in a district, it is essential that leaders hear directly from students, families, teachers, and classified staff (i.e., those most impacted by teaching and learning); this is often done via empathy interviews. This protocol from IDEO guides teams to review notes from empathy interviews and capture themes that should inform your design team’s work.
These discussion questions accompany the Activity: Making Sense of Empathy Interviews strategy card.
These discussion questions accompany the Activity: Reflect on Equity in Your Process strategy card.
