The Spartanburg Academic Movement has hired Vivian Ann Shaver as a continuous improvement coach-trainer for area schools. The practice of continuous improvement science has long been effectively applied in corporate sectors.
SAM now has two staff members solely focused on providing CI training for educators, teaming with school districts to apply these practices in classrooms across Spartanburg County.
Shaver was most recently employed by Sealed-Air Corporation where she managed multiple projects and provided technical assistance during product development and launch. She has used continuous improvement strategies throughout her professional career.
Having a 40-year veteran teacher as her mother and Shaver’s own service on School Improvement Councils and PTO’s adds perspective to merging her CI expertise with SAM’s expanding training initiatives for educators.
“SAM is a unique gift that educators across Spartanburg County should open with enthusiasm! As part of the CI team, I am excited to collaborate with educators as they learn to embrace continuous improvement to help elevate student learning,” Shaver shares. “Vivian Ann comes to SAM with immense experience in coaching for success, project management, and knowledge of six sigma principles used for process improvement. This experience is invaluable in working with educators, administrators and partners to employ continuous improvement methodology for improving outcomes for children,” said Mendy Mossbrook, Director of SAM’s Continuous Improvement Institute.
“School leaders have presented SAM with a dilemma,” SAM Executive Director John Stockwell notes. “We can achieve improvement in learning outcomes, but often not sustained… not continuous. What can be learned from highly successful enterprises outside of education to help sustain continuous improvement in learning at the level of each child?”
Embedding CI practices in area schools is a strategic response to that dilemma.
The effort began with “The Four Schools Project,” a SAM initiative that launched in the fall of 2017, identifying strategies to improve outcomes for children in the four highest poverty schools in the county. CI in the classroom was identified as an approach to address multiple factors impacting student success.
“The beauty of this training is that teachers know and do CI instinctively. We are providing them a framework that helps their results become obvious and stay at the forefront of everything that happens in the classroom,” explained Cheryl Broadnax, Senior Director of District Improvement with StriveTogether.
During her previous tenure with Cincinnati Public Schools as Assistant Superintendent, Broadnax led the effort to embed CI practice across that district, resulting in in the district raising its achievement rating to the highest available in Ohio. Broadnax has worked with SAM and Mossbrook in the training of district-based CI coaches and the development of workshops and leadership training. Shaver will work with Mossbrook to deliver specific training for teachers and provide on-site teacher coaching in schools.
To date, about 50 teachers have been trained in continuous improvement strategies. Districts 6 and 7 have hired Continuous Improvement coaches to further support CI use. Just a few months after training, one veteran Spartanburg County teacher reported:
“I have become more intentional about my teaching and my students have paid more attention to what they are learning and how well they are doing.”
Four free single-day educator workshops are being held in March and April. The Superintendents of Spartanburg Districts 1-7 have approved training for re-certification contact hours.
- Wednesday, March 27: 9 AM – 4PM, Mary Black Foundation Conference Center
- Wednesday, April 10: 9 AM – 4PM, Mary Black Foundation Conference Center
- Wednesday, April 24: 9 AM – 4PM, Mary Black Foundation Conference Center
Registration is now open for these workshops via this goo.gl/forms/bZDKgcZy9VRjtQ4r2.