The efficacy approach
a singular mission: Move all children to rigorous standards of proficiency and character
School Improvement
based on a very simple belief
Our Belief: There Is Nothing Wrong with Our Kids
Virtually all can achieve high standards in school if they have the right tools and supports.
This means the primary work of caring adults--in schools, homes an community institutions--is to develop the intellectual capacity of every child.
Our Strategy to accomplish this has three essential elements: establish a Mission; change the Mindset, and teach the Method--a simple, powerful operating system based on data analysis, to everyone.
We execute this Strategy through a powerful set of Services (Efficacy Training, Curricula and Execution Support) working through two Operational Platforms (Single Schools and School Clusters)
Mission: Academic Proficiency & Strong Character for All Students
Our Mission is to position young people for 21st century success through development of academic proficiency and strong character.
We work with educators to build consensus on this Mission, and make sure their their local proficiency standards are aligned with rigorous state and national benchmarks.
On the ground level, we encourage school leaders to establish appropriate, challenging proficiency targets in each subject, at every grade level, and communicate these to their students. This puts educators and their students on the same page, so that together they are always clear about the goals they are working toward.
Mindset: You Aren't Born Smart; You Get Smart
To reach rigorous standards of proficiency, educators and their students need a positive, healthy Mindset—one that provides a supportive foundation of belief for the challenging work of teaching and learning.
The Efficacy Mindset replaces the notion that "some have it and some don't" with the constructive (and scientifically validated) idea that effective effort drives development. In other words: people get smart by working hard.
This Mindset is an essential element of our approach; it builds belief in the learning capacity of adults and children, and gets people ready to achieve the Mission.
Method: Effective Use of Data as Feedback to Drive Improvements
Once people are on board with the Mission, and have the Mindset required to accomplish it,
they need an effective Method to help them with their work.
Efficacy's data-driven Self-Directed Improvement System™ (SDIS™) is the Method. It allows educators and students to analyze performance data to make feedback about what they did well and what they need to work on to improve. They then use this feedback to help them build effective strategies for teaching and learning.
The SDIS is a powerful tool--a simple, effective approach easily integrated with existing school data sets.
It can also be used by all the important actors: administrators, classroom teachers,
and children themselves in a coordinated drive to proficiency.
Contact us
