An “Instructional Improvement Cycle” is exactly what it sounds like—a short research cycle where teachers try a new instructional strategy with some students and compare the results with students who receive the usual instruction. Teacher as Researcher uses Instructional Improvement Cycles to flip the traditional relationship between teachers and researchers, giving you more agency in your teaching style.

These cycles are a simple way to enhance your teaching using real data. The data collection period lasts 2-4 weeks, so you can conduct several cycles per school year and get results in time to adjust your instruction based on your findings. Plus, Teacher as Researcher includes access to Strategy Workshop, a web-based tool that automates the data analysis process so you don’t have to.

Instructional Improvement Cycle process:

  1. Select a new instructional strategy to try from a web database of hundreds of evidence-based strategies
  2. Implement with one group and compare with your control group, collecting data for 4 weeks
  3. Enter data into the analysis tool
  4. Reflect on the results—is there sufficient evidence that the strategy improved student outcomes?
  5. Adjust your teaching methods based on your findings