Residency
Implementation
Section 1:
Introduction to Continuous Improvement
Introduction to Continuous Improvement��Section 1 Outcomes
Participating programs will
Key Characteristics Addressed
4.2B Use of Formative and Outcome Data
KC
Protocols to communicate about and share data
4.2D Use of Formative and Outcome Data
KC
Data used in real-time to revise residency program as needed
4.2A Use of Formative and Outcome Data
KC
Program assessment and evaluation plan with multiple measures that are all tied to the Characteristics and Evidence of an Effective California Teacher Residency Program
Workbook Task 1A: Building a Shared Understanding of Continuous Improvement
The Know-Want to Know-Learn chart will help us share what we know and want to know about Continuous Improvement.
We can then use that to determine which parts of this section will be impactful for our program partnership team.
Guiding Philosophies of Continuous Improvement
W. Edwards Deming and Masaaki Imai are pioneers of Continuous Improvement.
Deming said, “Every system is perfectly designed to get the results it gets,” pointing out that systems consistently deliver the outcomes they are structured to produce—by design or by default (as cited in Scholtes, 1998).
Imai, who introduced the concept of kaizen, described it as “a never-ending process of reviewing current operations to identify opportunities for improvement” (Imai, 1986).
Together, they suggest that improvement is most effective when it's thoughtful and sustained.
What is Continuous Improvement?
Continuous Improvement (also called Improvement Science) is a systematic, data-driven approach to problem-solving.
It involves regularly analyzing both qualitative and quantitative data to make thoughtful adjustments that improve programs.
Its goal is to ensure programs operate effectively, meet their goals, and respond to the needs of the communities they serve.
(American Institutes for Research, 2022; Marshall Street Initiatives, n.d.; Quality and Safety Learning Center, 2023)
Equity & Responsiveness
Benefits of Continuous Improvement
Impactful Outcomes
Stronger Collaboration
The Continuous Improvement process helps leadership teams work more collaboratively—aligning goals, sharing insights, and learning together.
By regularly using data to reflect and adjust, programs can make thoughtful changes that better support candidates’ development—ensuring they’re confident and classroom-ready.
Analyzing both outcomes and feedback allows programs to identify gaps, address disparities, and adapt to the diverse needs of their schools and communities.
Continuous Improvement is more than a tool—it’s a way of working together. It’s about staying curious, using data to learn, and making progress one step at a time.
✨ Improvement happens through trust, iteration, and shared responsibility.
Team Discussion
Consider one or more of the following questions:
🧠 Which of these benefits feels most important for our program right now—and why?
🔍 What’s one area in our program where we’d like to see stronger collaboration or more data-informed decisions?
🎯 If we could improve one outcome for our candidates this year, what would it be—and how might continuous improvement help?
The PDSA Cycle
The PDSA
(Plan–Do–Study–Act) Cycle is a tool for systematically practicing Continuous Improvement.
It involves a four-step process that helps teams test small changes, learn from data, and improve over time.
PDSAs are meant to start small—try a change with one group or in one setting before expanding. Beginning with a single group keeps the process manageable and focused on learning—not perfection.
Example PDSA Cycle
Let’s look at a real-world example of how a team could apply the PDSA cycle in their program.
Scenario:
A program team is analyzing their resident progress data and sees that only 55% of residents pass their mid-year performance assessment on the first attempt. They want to raise this rate and better prepare residents for success.
Remember: This first test is intentionally small. We’re not changing our whole program—we’re trying one idea with one group to learn what works for our community.
Taking small steps will allow our team to move forward thoughtfully and adapt as we learn so that we can take care of our residents and develop well-prepared educators.
Team Discussion
Consider one or more of the following questions:
🧠 What part of the Plan-D0-Study-Act (PDSA) Cycle feels most approachable for our team right now? What might feel more challenging?
🔍 Think about a persistent challenge for our program. How could starting small (with a single change idea) help us learn more about it?
🎯 What’s one outcome we’d like to improve for our candidates this year—and what kind of data might help us better understand that outcome?
Workbook Task 1B: Conducting a PDSA Cycle
The following slides can be used, as needed, to guide us through the four steps of the PDSA cycle.
If we need support identifying what data our program team should collect and/or collaboratively analyzing and utilizing data to identify a problem to address, we should first engage with the other sections of this module.
Guide to Conduct PDSA Cycles
The titles of each following slides correspond to one of the four steps of the PDSA Cycle. Use the prompts to fill in each quadrant of the PDSA Cycle template in Workbook Task 1B: Conducting a PDSA Cycle.
PLAN
Guiding Slide 1 of 2
Guiding Question 1: What data are we aiming to improve, and what improvement do we want to achieve?
In this section, we will analyze our data to determine specific areas of improvement that we want to address, and then we will identify a specific data point or data points to target.
Section 2 of this module, titled “Identifying Key Data”, can be used to help us ensure we are collecting all necessary data about our program to understand its strengths and areas of improvement.
Sections 3, 4, and 5 in this module can support our partnership team in collaboratively collecting and analyzing data to identify areas of our program to address.
With that data in mind, we’ll determine what success looks like by setting an achievable, data-driven goal. (For example, increasing residents’ pass rate from 55% to 75%.)
PLAN
Guiding Slide 2 of 2
Guiding Question 2: What change idea will our team test to target this data?
Start by brainstorming a variety of change ideas that could be made to our program to try to improve this data set.
The Resource Center in this module includes templates and examples connected to different program aspects that may help us identify effective change ideas to test in our program.
Then, our team will align on a single change idea. We can do this by answering, “What one small, testable change will we try that might lead to improvement?”
Remember to keep the change manageable and focused. This is not a full solution–it’s a first step towards identifying a larger, programmatic change.
- Equity Pause -
We just made a decision about a change that we are going to implement in our program. Before we move forward, let’s take a moment to carefully consider how this decision may impact our community members.
These questions were derived from the Equity Pause resources introduced in Module 1, Section 6, “Framing the Residency to Respond to Relevant District Contexts”.
DO
Guiding Slide 1 of 2
Guiding Question: What roles do each of us have in implementing our change idea?
In this section, we will be testing the change idea that we’ve aligned on. Because change ideas and plans to execute them are often multifaceted, let’s check in as team to make sure everyone is able to own their roles and responsibilities.
Consider the following questions:
DO
Guiding Slide 2 of 2
We’re now ready to “do” our plan by testing our change idea!
As we conduct this change idea, we will remain committed to the following principles:
STUDY
Guiding Slide 1 of 1
Guiding Question: What were the results of our change idea?
In this section, we will reflect on what happened and analyze the data we collected to measure the impact of our change idea.
Along with analyzing the data we collected, we can consider the following questions:
ACT
Guiding Slide 1 of 1
Guiding Question: What should we do next with this change idea?
Based on what we learned, we need to determine our next steps. Our options are:
✅ Adopt: If the plan was fully successful, we will keep the change and use it more widely, adopting it more fully into our program experience.
♻ Adapt: If the plan yielded some success but needs to be iterated to fully meet our goal, we will return to the Plan section, make improvements to our change idea, and test it again.
❌ Abandon: If the plan did not move our data in the right direction, we will return to the Plan section and test a new change idea.
Team Discussion
Remember, Continuous Improvement is a way of working collaboratively.
Between each PDSA cycle, we will reflect together as a team to further cultivate our partnership.
We can consider these questions:
Next Section: Identifying Key Data