Ohio Improvement Process (OIP): A Foundation for Sustainable Improvement in Student and Adult Learning

OIP and Ohio's Leadership Development Framework

Developed by the Ohio Leadership Advisory Council (OLAC), Ohio's Leadership Development Framework (BASA, 2013) delineates essential leadership practices for superintendents, district leadership teams (DLTs), building leadership teams (BLTs), and teacher-based teams (TBTs). It also encourages the distribution of leadership practices through the use of collaborative learning teams (e.g., DLT), defining leadership as a shared venture, the purpose of which is the improvement of instructional practice and performance regardless of role.

Ohio's Collaborative Leadership Team Structures

Shift the focus from single individuals to teams that can function as purposeful communities;
Distribute key leadership functions;
Align work system-wide while focusing on a limited number of district-wide goals and strategies;
Ensure effective leadership is exercised at all levels of the system; and
Engage in all four stages of the OIP for the long-term.

The OIP works hand-in-hand with Ohio's Leadership Development Framework (BASA, 2013) to support Ohio districts in making the kinds of shifts in practice needed to reduce duplication of effort, focus on student success rather than programs, streamline processes and procedures, promote shared leadership and collaboration at all levels of the district, build personnel capacity across the district, and develop and support the entire system as a learning organization.

Shifts in Practice Promoted by the Use of the OIP and Ohio's Leadership Development Framework
From	To
Multiple initiatives are "in play" but are not implemented consistently from teacher to teacher or building to building.	A limited number of initiatives are implemented in every building and in every classroom.
Initiatives are often contradictory from one program or department to another; initiatives have little or no relationship to district goals, strategies, or actions.	The district maintains a singular focus by eliminating contradiction across programs or departments; initiatives relate directly to the districts' focused goals and strategies and included as strategies/action within one all-encompassing improvement plan.
Plans are developed in response to separate funding opportunities; each school’s plan is disconnected from the district plan and from the plans of other schools in the district.	One district-wide plan drives intentional and aligned resource management; it also drives the development of school improvement plans.
Monitoring of the extensiveness and fidelity of implementation does not occur in any systematic way.	Systematic monitoring of implementation fidelity occurs at all levels of the system.
The district does not evaluate effects of implementation on changes in adult practice or student performance.	The district makes decisions regarding the effectiveness and impact of initiatives and strategies based on a regular review of data – both performance monitoring and implementation fidelity data.
District-wide ownership of improvement work is limited.	Shared and collective ownership facilitated through parallel and aligned collaborative structures (i.e., DLT-BLTs-TBTs) is the norm.