TregoED Blog — Problem Analysis

How often do we become so lost in rescuing and firefighting that we fail to think upstream- to what’s causing a problem and ways to prevent it or lessen its impact? Imagine two friends picnicking by a river when suddenly they start seeing children floating down the river in need of rescue.  They both dive Read the full article…

As schools strive for continuous improvement on key academic goals and to meet ESSA standards, attendance surfaces as an issue that may seem to be an easy fix at first glance.  However, it is the “the scope of attendance problems that schools encounter and the depth and diversity of student needs” that make solving the Read the full article…

ESSA State plans are in – it’s time to get to work! Many will focus on the end result through accountability goals and assessment – but not necessarily on finding root cause for why expectations are not being met. Lasting and effective change is possible when we look at the data to identify true cause.  Read the full article…

I was recently talking to a principal from a school that was considered a “Focus” school.   They were not on the list because the overall school was performing badly.  They were on the list because they were a Title I school that has a large within-school gap between the highest achieving subgroup or subgroups and Read the full article…

See the Trees – Fix the Forest

We all know the old saw about not being able to “see the forest for the trees.”  And it is true – sometimes we can get so caught up in details and what is right in front of our face, that we miss overall patterns and the bigger picture. But when problem solving, the opposite Read the full article…

Before medical students get too deeply entrenched in their studies, they are presented with several cautionary nuggets of advice. My favorite is “if you hear hoofbeats behind you, look for a horse…not a zebra.” Obviously, the temptation to assign an exotic diagnosis to a patient is seductive for the novice practitioner-it sort of proves that Read the full article…