Institute For Continuous Improvement

John T. Wardlaw

What is Continuous Improvement?

The Wardlaw Institute offers a Summer Continuous Improvement Intensive Week, which is free to all Spartanburg County educators. The week will offer a total of 32 Continuing Credit Hours with CI 101 & 102, Statistics, and Lean for Educators, and trauma-informed resilient schools training.

To further support educators, SAM is building a Distance and Blended Learning (DBL) Resource site to facilitate cross-district, cross-school collaboration, best-practice support, and the co-development of solutions to the unique challenges of teaching during this time.

If you have any questions about specific trainings, please email Vivian Ann Shaver.

TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES

All workshops and training offered through the Institute are developed to support the outcomes focused work of the Spartanburg Academic Movement through the key learning stages of:

Kindergarten Readiness
Early Grades Reading
Middle Grades Math
College and Career Ready High School Graduation
Postsecondary Enrollment
Postsecondary Persistence and Completion

Participants will have the option to align their work with similar work happening throughout our community through SAM’s Collaborative Action Networks engaged in aligning community action and resources to improved outcomes in these pivotal learning stages.

Register for Continuous Improvement Courses

CI 101: Continuous Improvement for Educators

SAM Office, 101 North Pine Street, Spartanburg, SC

Delve deeper into data analysis, visualization, and decision-making tools. This course is appropriate for both teachers and staff of Spartanburg County Schools.
April 30, 2024
1 full day, 8:30 AM - 3:30 PM for in-person training.

CI 102: Continuous Improvement for Educators

SAM Office, 101 North Pine Street, Spartanburg, SC

Register

CI 102: Tools Training is for those who have completed a CI 101 class. This course includes deeper training in CI Science, including data analysis, visualization, and decision-making tools.
1 Full Day
May 1, 2024
8:30 PM to 3:30 PM

Lean for Educators

SAM Office, 101 North Pine Street, Spartanburg, SC

Register

We are constantly being asked to do more with less. How can we accomplish this without sacrificing good outcomes? Lean is the set of Continuous Improvement (CI) tools and methods that helps us be more efficient. Participants in Lean for Educators will learn basic Lean tools such as 5S for creating a high performance workplace, Value Stream Mapping for delivering value for stakeholders, Kaizen (Japanese for “good change”), and waste elimination. The class includes an interactive simulation designed to illustrate the power that small changes can have on process improvement and satisfying stakeholders.
Participants are asked to bring their laptops/chromebooks.
May 2, 2024
8:30 AM - 3:30 PM, In-person only

Register

Statistics for Educators

SAM Office, 101 North Pine Street, Spartanburg, SC

Participants in Stats for Educators will learn to ask pertinent questions and interpret data while they create and analyze basic charts and graphs. Hypothesis testing is employed to determine the reliability of data-driven conclusions. The types of hypothesis testing included are regression analysis, student t-tests, and ANOVA (Analysis of Variance). (7 hours Continuing Education Credits)
April 16, 2024
8:30 AM - 3:30 PM
SAM Office Building
101 North Pine Street