schools-for-all
 
  • Home
  • About
    • Operational Definitions used in this Web Site
    • Outlines for Summaries, Bibliographies & Studies/Stories
    • Guidelines for Participation in this Web Site
    • Map of this Web Site
  • Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Webinars Archive
    • On-Line Discussions
  • Discussion Groups
    • IDG: Healthy Schools/ School Health Promotion
    • IDG: Monitor, Report, Evaluate, Improve (MREI)
  • Wiki Summaries
    • Intro to Summaries
    • Common Topics & Terms >
      • Mini-Blog Common Terms & Topics
      • Education Equity, Inclusion & Success >
        • Whole Child Approach
        • Broad Range of Learning Opportunities
        • Cross Curricular Competencies
      • Mult-Component Approaches >
        • Core Components of Approaches >
          • Macro & Specific Policies
          • Education Promoting HPSD
          • H&LS/PSH Curricula & Instruction
          • Extended Education Activities
          • Health, Social & Other Services
      • Multi-Intervention Programs (MIPs)
      • Single Interventions
      • Learning/Behaviour Models
      • Behaviour & Learning Theories - Overview
      • Government Inter-Sector Actions & Levers >
        • Whole of Government Strategies
        • National Action Plans
        • Declarations, Statements & Guidance on Coordination
        • Standards & Procedures
        • Inter-Ministry & Inter-Agency Committees
        • Inter-Ministry Coordination >
          • Inter-Ministry Agreements
          • Inter-Ministry Mechanisms
      • Systems Approaches
    • Accidental Injury Prevention
    • Behaviour & Learning Theories
    • Capacity & Capacity-Building >
      • Capacity & Capacity Building Overview
      • Organizational & System Capacity >
        • Coordinated Policy & Leadership
        • Assigned Coordinators-Not Focal Points
    • Community Schools
    • Disparities, Disadvantage & Determinants
    • Ecological Analysis, Comprehensive Approaches, Systems Change >
      • Systems Change - Overview
      • Incremental, Systems-focused Actions
    • Education in Emergencies
    • Education for Sustainable Development
    • Food & Nutrition >
      • Mini-Blog School Food & Nutrition
      • School Food & Nutrition (SFN) - Overview
      • SFN - Multi-Intervention Programs
      • School & Community Gardens
    • Healthy Schools
    • Implement, Maintain, Scale up & Sustain Programs (IMSS) >
      • Mini-Blog on Implement-Maintain-Scale Up-Sustain (IMSS)
      • IMSS Overview
      • Understand Context, Problems, Focus on Priorities >
        • Situation Assessment Tools
      • IMSS Rationale & Examples >
        • IMSS Reports and Reporting
      • Use of IMSS Models & Frameworks
      • Strengthen Tradiional IMSS Planning
      • Individual & Idiosyncratic Factors
    • Inclusion/Inclusive Schools
    • Indigenous School Health
    • Infectious Diseases >
      • Overview
    • Integrate Within Education Systems >
      • Mini-Blog on Integrating H & S Programs Within Education
      • Integrate Within Education - Overview
      • Multi-Sector Commitments to a Whole Child Approach:
      • Different Type of Partnerships >
        • Education as Lead Partner
        • Reciprocal Partnerships
        • Shared Strategic Risks & Benefits
        • Relevant, Annually Reviewed
      • Understanding Education System Mandates, Constraints & Norms
      • Understanding Educator Backgrounds, Beliefs, Work Lives & Concerns
      • Other Ministry Commitments of Staffing & Funding in Schools
    • LGBT Students
    • Low Resource Countries >
      • WASH Programs (Overview) >
        • Handwashing & Hygiene
      • School Food & Nutrition in LRCs >
        • Healthy Diet/Eating in LRCs
    • Mental Health
    • Monitor, Report, Evaluate, Improve >
      • Mini-Blog on MREI
      • MREI Systems - Overview
      • MREI - Administrative Data Systems (EMIS)
      • MREI - Self Assessment Tools
      • MREI - School Accreditation & Award Programs
      • MREI - Policy/Program Surveys
      • MREI - Global, Regional, National Updates
      • MREI - School Recognition Programs
      • MREI - School Improvement Planning
      • MREI - Joint Sector Reviews
      • MREI - Continuous Improvement
    • Physical Activity
    • Safe Schools (Bullying, Violence) >
      • Bullying Prevention
    • Safe Schools (Buildings & Facilities))
    • School-based & School-Linked Services >
      • Mini-Blog on School-based & School-linked Services
      • School-based & School-Linked Services - Overview
    • Sexual Health & HIV/AIDS
    • Substance Abuse & Addictions
    • Teacher Education & Development
    • Understanding Education Systems
  • Conferences
  • Global Initiatives & Calendar
  • Issue Topic Page Template
  • API Topic Page Template
  • Context/Pop Topic Page Template
  • Theory Topic Page Template
  • Discussion Group Template
  • Intro to set of topics template
  • Template for about pages
  • Test page
  • Mini-Blog - Infectious Diseases
, You are here: Wiki-Summaries >> Monitor, Report, Evaluate, Improve  >> Key Concepts/Insights  >>  Continuous Improvement
This Section: Monitor, Report, Evaluate, Improve (MREI)

Monitor, Report, Evaluate to Improve (MREI) - Continuous Improvement

  • Glossary Term (GT)
  • Encyclopedia Entry (EE)
  • Handbook Section (HS)
  • Bibliography/Toolbox (BT)
  • Additional Resources (AR)
<
>
A philosophy, organizational commitment and a well-organized plan for continuous improvement (CI) at all levels in an organization should underpin its various monitoring, reporting, evaluating to improve (MREI)  practices.  The CI concept  originated in Japan after the end of the Second World War. It gained massive popularity in manufacturing and has gradually been adopted by the education, health and other public sector organizations. Similar terms and elaborate rating systems/organizational checklists have been developed under similar titles such as Total Quality Management. The over-arching idea is that organizations should establish a culture or work environment where employees continuously improve their practices towards the mission of their organization. Continuous Improvement should seek to improve all elements of an organization—processes, tools, products, services and more. Making sustainable change takes time and involves collective effort; is context specific; and requires constant adaptation, data collection, and learning. Since defining what is meant by "good" or "poor" quality is often a subjective process, especially in organizations that are focused on intangibles such as "well-being" rather than the production of goods, profits or easily measured medical/physical results, the continuous improvement discussions should include the ends as well as the means. In loosely coupled systems such as schools where "command & control" style decision-making is not effective, the CI process will depend on the engagement and intrinsic motivation of employees at all levels.
Sources
  • McKinsey & Company (2019) How continuous improvement can build a competitive edge, Autho
  • Karen Shakman, Diana Wogan, Sheila Rodriguez, Jared Boyce, and Debra Shaver (2020) Continuous Improvement in Education: A Toolkit for Schools and Districts, Instituter of Education Sciences 
  • Barbara Kahan, Michael Goodstadt (1999) Continuous quality improvement and health promotion: can CQI lead to better outcomes? Health Promotion International, Volume 14, Issue 1, March 1999, Pages 83–91
This summary was first posted in September 2021 as a "first draft" version.  We encourage readers to submit comments or suggested edits by posting a comment on the Mini-blog & Discussion Page for this section or posting a comment below:
A philosophy, organizational commitment and a well-organized plan for continuous improvement at all levels in an organization should underpin its various monitoring, reporting, evaluating to improve (MREI)  practices. The CI concept  originated in Japan after the end of the Second World War. It gained massive popularity in manufacturing and has gradually been adopted by the education, health and other public sector organizations. Similar terms and elaborate rating systems/organizational checklists have been developed under similar titles such as Total Quality Management. The over-arching idea is that organizations should establish a culture or work environment where employees continuously improve their practices towards the mission of their organization.
A leading CI proponent in the private sector, McKinsey & Company has noted that "
Continuous improvement is an ongoing effort to improve all elements of an organization—processes, tools, products, services, etc. Sometimes those improvements are big, often they are small. But what’s most important is they’re frequent."
The Institute of Education Sciences within education department of the US Government has noted that "
Continuous improvement is based on the principles that making sustainable change takes time and involves collective effort; is context specific; and requires constant adaptation, data collection, and learning  Continuous improvement engages key players in a system to focus on a specific problem of practice and, through a series of iterative cycles, identify and test change practices (new approaches, tools, or strategies used to address the problem), make predictions, collect data about the change practices, and study the potential influence of those change practices on outcomes of interest  Through these cycles the members of the system build their capacity to test proposed change practices; refine those change practices based on evidence; and increase the scale, scope, and spread of a change practice over time.
A Canadian discussion of continuous quality improvement in health promotion reminds us that "Quality is defined in a variety of ways. While there is some agreement that ‘quality embodies notions of efficiency, effectiveness and consumer satisfaction’, the fact remains that definitions of quality are subjective and depend on who is doing the defining. Further, criteria for ‘quality’ depend on whether the production of concrete goods is at the heart of an endeavour, or whether intangibles such as ‘well being’ are of central importance".  

Sources
  • McKinsey & Company (2019) How continuous improvement can build a competitive edge, Autho
  • Karen Shakman, Diana Wogan, Sheila Rodriguez, Jared Boyce, and Debra Shaver (2020) Continuous Improvement in Education: A Toolkit for Schools and Districts, Instituter of Education Sciences 
  • Barbara Kahan, Michael Goodstadt (1999) Continuous quality improvement and health promotion: can CQI lead to better outcomes? Health Promotion International, Volume 14, Issue 1, March 1999, Pages 83–91

This summary was first posted in September 2021 as  a "first draft" version. The following individuals or organizations have contributed to the development of this series of MREI topics; Albert Lee, Christine Beyer, Nancy Hudson, Candace Currie, Vivian Barnekow,Said Arnaout,Suleiman El Shehri, Raj’a Omar, Faten Ben Abdel Aziz, Lloyd J. Kolbe, Sean Slade, Seung Lee, Dean Brooks, Doug McCall. We encourage readers to submit comments or suggested edits by posting a comment on the Mini-blog & Discussion Page for this section or posting a comment below:
Text

This summary was first posted in June 2012. Currently it has been posted as  an "excerpt/adaptation", "first draft" or "revised draft" and "first or revised edition" version. The following individuals or organizations have contributed to the development of this topic.
We encourage readers to submit comments or suggested edits by posting a comment on the Mini-blog & Discussion Page for this section or posting a comment below:

Due to the length of Handbook Sections (similar to a book chapter) prepared for this web site and knowledge exchange program, we post these documents as separate documents. Click on this web link to access the draft or completed version on this topic. Come back to this page to post any comments or suggestions. 


 Bibliography/Toolbox on
Key research, reports and resources on this topic are highlighted below.  Many of the topics in this web site also have extensive bibliographies/toolboxes (BTs) published as separate documents. Click on this web link to access the full version of our Bibliography/Toolbox on this topic. These lists use our outline for these collections that we have developed over several years of curating these materials.
Research
Reports, Resources


Understand the Approach/ Program & Its Effectiveness in Different Contexts on Different Aspects of HPSD, Populations


How to Implement, Maintain, Scale Up, Sustain, Build Capacity, Leverage to Support Core Components.


How to integrate within Education Systems

Use of Ecological/ Systems Approach



Research Questions/
KDE Agenda




Understand the Approach/ Program & Its Effectiveness in Different Contexts on Different Aspects of HPSD, Populations


How to Implement, Maintain, Scale Up, Sustain, Build Capacity, Leverage to Support Core Components.


How to integrate within Education Systems

Use of Ecological/ Systems Approach



Research Questions/
KDE Agenda
The following additional resources are posted on this web site or published by other credible sources. Please send any suggested additions to info@internationalschoolhealth.org


For updates and reader comments on this section, go to our Mini-Blog on Monitor-Report-Evaluate-Improve (MREI)

The number of summaries completed or drafted in this section are listed below)

- Overview
  • MREI of What: Student Learning? Youth Behaviours? Health & Development? Status of Policies and Programs?
  • Evidence, Reports & Data about the Impact of MREI Systems
  • Examples & Models of MREI Systems
- Key Definitions/Descriptions
  • Monitoring
    - Out of School/Dropout Data
    - Administrative Data Systems (EMIS)
    - Child & Adolescent Health & Development Status
    - Child & Adolescent Attitudes, Behaviours & Development
    - Teacher Norm-based Assessments of Student Development
    - School Physical Conditions & Resources
    - School Psycho-Socail Environment & Supports
    - Student Incidents, Suspensions & Injury Data
    - Student knowledge, skills, learning (Instruction & Extended Education)
    - Health, Development & Employment of Young Adults
    - Teacher Wellness, Work Lives, Supply, Qualifications, Development, Concerns
    - Education Faculty Programs/Capacity
    - Use, Training of Other Professionals
  • Reporting
    - Different Reporting Formats (Progress Reports, Success Stories, Practice Stories, Case & Cohort Studies, Inventories & Intervention Mapping, RCTs and Reviews)
    - Global, Regional, National Updates

    - School Accreditation/Award Programs
    - Policy/Program Surveys
    - Practitioner, Student,Parent or  Community Satisfaction Surveys
    - Consolidated Reports on Children, Adolescents & Young Adults
  • Evaluating/Assessing/Analyzing
    - Scheduled Program Evaluations

    - Planned or Post-Hoc Case Studies
    - School Inspections
    - Access, Reach, Response Times of School-based and School-Linked Services
    - Access, Reach, Breadth of Extended Education Activities
    - Student Knowledge, Skills & Attitudes in Health & Life Skills Education (tests and Surveys)
    - Health, Safety & Environmental Conditions in and Near Schools
  • Improving
    - Self-Assessment Tools
    - School Recognition Programs
    - Using Student, Parent, Neighbourhood & Teacher Satisfaction Surveys

    - Using School Improvement Planning
    - Using Joint Sector Reviews

    - Using Health, Social, Other Sector Quality Management Systems
- Key Concepts/Insights/Issues
  • Competition among Monitors
  • Accountability-Purposes, Politics, People, Shared
  • Indicators: Valid, Relevant or Convenient?
  • Continuous Improvement
  • Logic Models: Linear or Complex?
  • Data-driven decision-making
  • Intrinsic or Extrinsic Motivators within Systems
- How to Implement, Maintain, Scale Up, Sustain, Build Capacity, Adapt to Different Contexts, Leverage to Support Core Components
  • Data Sharing Across & Within Systems
  • Coordinated Data Collection & Analysis
  • Segmenting & Comparing Data by Country & Community Contexts
  • Building MREI Capacity in Countries
How to integrate within Education Systems
  • Educator Experiences with High-Stakes, Standardized Testing
  • Time Frames for Education Change vs Other Sector Programs
  • Teacher, Administrator & Other Adopter Concerns
- Implications of Ecological/ Systems Approach
  • Shared MREI in Multiple, Complex, Loosely Coupled Systems
  • Within Child/Youth Reporting Systems in other Sectors
  • Links with Early Childhood Education
  • Links with Post-Secondary Education
- Research Questions/Knowledge Development
  • Research Programs/Knowledge Centres
  • Impact on Student Learning
  • Cost Effectiveness, Cost Benefits
  • Research Methods & Data Collection Issues
This World Encyclopedia is built and maintained as a collaboration among several organizations and individuals. The International School Health Network (ISHN) is pleased to publish and facilitate our collective efforts to exchange knowledge.