Giving Compass' Take:

• Agile development refers to short, iterative sprints in which specific changes are made, measured, and judged. The next iteration is based on those results and the process continues, working toward the intended goals for student education. 

• How can philanthropists help support schools that would like to move to this model? What are barriers to transitioning to such a face-paced model? 

• Find out how parents and educators make an impact on the education system.

Being honest about expectations is essential. If you’re not, you won’t realize when your goals are too broad, and it’s hard to take the right actions.

I use a model that focuses on short sprints that take me through a series of milestones and allow me to be nimble in how I accomplish my goals. I try to approach these milestones in three-week sprints, with one week of recovery. A sprint is a focused amount of time getting stuff done based on a clear plan of action. The recovery is time to reflect on what went well, where I struggled, and what I need to do to improve. For each sprint, I aim to get through the process of: Honest, Exact, Experiment, Try.

Here’s what I look to achieve throughout each step:

  1. Honest: We have to be clear about what we are really doing and how often. For schools and districts, this involves knowing what success means in the long term — but for this to work, there must be milestones along the way.
  2. Exact: Be precise about what you want to achieve. This will allow you to really understand not only whether your goals are achievable but also how to get there.
  3. Experiment: I talk about these steps as: 1) opening the mind to undo perceived constraints, 2) empathizing with the people you are designing for, and 3) developing immediate action steps.
  4. Try: Implement these steps in real-world conditions, get feedback, and continue evolving the work by tweaking the experiments, sharing information, and anticipating undermotivation.

Read the full article about agile classroom development by Anthony Kim at The 74.