SPRINT to better schools

Introduction

The SPRINT employs current thinking around Pedagogical Documentation, Developmental Evaluation, and Inquiry Based Learning to develop Leaders and teachers as Inquirers.

Sprints generate greater impact, more quickly and at less cost. Sprints focus on spreading practical tools for professional development across school communities to build capacity to innovate and improve outcomes.

This guide provides a scaffold for combining, modifying, and adapting these practices to meet the needs and peculiarities of public education. It outlines roles, responsibilities and timelines to help teachers establish habits of cyclical, collaborative, provocative, reflective, and responsive practices.

Gathering and analyzing evidence of children’s learning supports pedagogical decision making about a variety of questions, including what approaches and materials are most likely to help the child learn, what contexts for learning will suit the child best, which groupings of children will allow for individual learning needs to be addressed effectively, and what level of support to offer as the child engages in new learning.

Rinaldi (2006) refers to documentation as the “pedagogy of listening” and “visible listening” (pp. 65, 68). Pedagogical documentation is not a form of summative assessment and should not be reserved for the end of a given period of time. Instead, it is done on an ongoing basis, and it may involve revisiting and rethinking evidence, as part of a cyclical process that promotes children’s growth and learning. -

(Ontario Ministry of Education, The Kindergarten Program, 2016, p. 37)

Background

The distinguishing features of the “Sprint” are consecutive days and the specificity of roles.

The Sprint is typically a period of 3-4 consecutive days during which a Development Team of 3-5 teachers develop, implement, and refine specific in-classroom practices with the students in their regular classrooms. The focus of the work is commissioned by the Sponsor and completed work is ready for review by the end of the Sprint. A Facilitator supports the process for the Development Team, Sponsor and Student Team.

Development teams are led through a process to identify student needs, explore possible solutions, and ultimately create positive change in their teaching practice. At the end of the sprint, a “deliverable” – a usable, and potentially shareable lesson or resource Increment or fully functional iteration - is created. This deliverable goes through several iterations as a result of classroom testing and continues to be used and/or improved beyond the completion of the sprint. Teacher practice changes and teachers learn to adjust and differentiate their practice to students responses. Teachers develop positive working relationships with peers and students and apply the process to their day to day classroom practice.

The sprint backlog is a list of potential approaches or strategies identified by the team to have a positive impact on the students engaged in the sprint. The team selects a few backlog items and identifies the tasks necessary to develop, test, and refine them.

The SPRINT provides the necessary support required to work through this process (time, resources, expertise/guidance, etc.)