EF4: Educators use implementation and student outcome data to determine next steps.
The fourth Essential Function, Educators use implementation and student outcome data to determine next steps is summarized by the fourth and fifth components of the GAINS acronym, Notice and Adjust and Systematically Repeat, and answers the question: “did the intervention work?”
Once they have implemented the plan, the team evaluates their implementation and outcomes to determine whether they had the desired impact. Evaluation enables the team to decide what to do next, and helps them to identify practices and strategies that have demonstrated effectiveness, and may be used to achieve similar outcomes in the future.
Like holding monitoring meetings, evaluating the plan comes down to how the team can answer two questions:
- Did we meet our goal?
- Did we implement our plan?
The following 4×4 can be used to guide teams in determining next steps based on how they answer these two questions.
Finally, the team re-enters the DBDM process with Essential Function 1. They schedule entry into this new data cycle immediately following the end of the previous cycle, typically at the next data meeting. In this way they establish systematic cycles of continuous improvement.
Activity: Refer to the DBDM cycles that you labeled with Essential Functions during the overview of this PLM. Review how you labeled the steps. Based on what you now know about the Essential Functions, would you change the way you labeled any of the steps?
