PDCA: A Process for Learning and

Improvement
August 8, 2014 | Process

PDCA is a problem-solving process that is the basis for successful school improvement and that is also
useful for the activities of individuals and teams, and of school leaders, teachers, and students.
PDCA is a simple, straightforward process that I recommend as the basis for school improvement
programs. PDCA is sometimes called the Deming Cycle after Continuous Improvement advocate W.
Edwards Deming. (Deming himself called it the Shewhart Cycle after his colleague Walter Shewhart.)

PDCA (the Deming Cycle) has four steps

 Plan
 Do+
 Check
 Act
There are many similar processes. For example, the Dufour’s Four Questions is a similar process that
is focused on instruction.

1. What do we want our students to learn?

2. How will we know they are learning?
3. How will we respond when they don’t learn?
4. How will we respond when they do learn?

Or Springboard Schools uses a similar process that they call the Cycle of Inquiry.
1. Identify Problem
2. Formulate Questions
3. Set Goals
4. Develop Plan
5. Implement
6. Review and Assess

As a quick web search will show, there many, many other problem-solving processes that are similar
to PDCA, some with four steps, others with six or seven. Take your pick. The goal is to put in place a
structured processes for inquiry and critical thinking, a process that will promote exploration,
discovery, experimentation, and critical thinking throughout the school.

Even though other processes might work, I recommend PDCA for three reasons:

First, PDCA is flexible and can be used in a variety of situations. Individuals — teachers, school,
leaders, or students — can use it. Groups can use it to plan school-level improvements or classroom-
level improvements. Teams or task forces can use it. Teachers planning lessons can use it. Students
working in groups or as individuals can use it to set goals or make plans. It can be used in any
situation where it is appropriate to set a goal, make a plan, and implement the plan. It is a more or
less generic process for learning and improvement that encourages inquiry, exploration, and
reflection.

The following chart shows what PDCA would look like applied to the school and committees or
groups within the school, to instruction, to individuals (school leaders and teachers), and to students.

School/Group Classroom Individual Student

Plan What’s our goal? What do I want What’s my goal? What do I

students to want to
learn? learn?
How will we know How will I How will I know How will I
if we’re making know if they if I’m making know if I
progress? learned it? progress? learned it?
What will we do? What will I What will I do? What will I
teach them? do?
Do Activities Lessons Activities Activities
Check Did it work? Did they learn Did it work? Did I learn it?
it?
What did we learn What did I What did I learn What did I
(about learn (about (about learn (about
 School/Group Classroom Individual Student

improvement, teaching, about improvement, learning,

about ourselves, myself, about about myself, about myself,
about others)? others)? about others)? about
others)?
Act What do we do What do I What do I do What do I do
next? teach (or next? next?
reteach) next?
Second, PDCA provides a structure not only for learning, problem solving, and improvement, but
also a structure for presentations. For example, when a committee completes its work, its
presentation to the school council would have four parts:

 P: This was our goal and our plan.

 D: This is what we did.
 C: Here is what happened.
 A: This is what we learned and what we propose.
And students presenting their project to a class would also use the structure:

 P: This is what we set out to find.

 D: This is what we did.
 C: Here is what we found out.
 A: This is what we learned about our learning and what we would like to do next.
Third, PDCA is simple to implement and use. To start, the acronym (PDCA) makes it easy to refer to
and to remember and what the four words suggest is easy to understand. With a few additional
words, almost everyone will have a pretty good idea what they need to do to begin using PDCA
immediately.

 Plan — Identify a problem or a goal and make a plan.

 Do — Implement the plan.
 Check — Check results to see if the plan worked.
 Act — Decide what to do next.
The simplicity makes the process intuitive. An explanation takes minutes — not hours — of
professional development. That’s part of a strategy to minimize the costs — of time and money — of
implementation. The plan is to simplify processes and, while there is complexity within the steps of
PDCA, that complexity can be introduced later, in stages. The bare-bones version can be presented
quickly and is ready to go.
Professional Development in Education

Making Sense of Student Data in Teacher Professional Development

In recent years, the use of student data has become increasingly concerned with management
of teacher performance. However, when teachers become aware of specific student data
directly related to their approach of teaching, it could inform them about possible strengths,
weaknesses or challenges. Unfortunately, teachers generally have little time and encounter
significant problems in the interpretation and use of data for change. In this article, we put
forward that such problems can be avoided by offering teachers practical frames that are aimed
at the interpretation and productive use of student data. We report on an extensive study that
was done in the setting of reform implementation where teachers were asked to change their
teaching practices. Participating teachers performed multiple PDCA(Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycles
in which they designed and taught lessons where student data were collected. To interpret and
make use of such student data for change, we provided participants with practical frames. We
examined to what extent and in what way participants used these frames and how this
influenced professional development. Results showed that participants used frames to both
interpret student data and make changes to their teaching practices towards that required by the
reform in a stepwise, rather independent way.
hm

PDCA Example: Public School

Your local school system utilizes a form of PDCA processes,

even if nobody calls it that. Students’ grades are constantly
evaluated. Scores on standardized tests are logged and compared
to those of students in demographically similar districts. Principals
institute after-school study programs and otherwise motivate
teachers in order to boost scores. Taxpayers vote for levies that
will provide funds for updated textbooks and improved facilities. If
the people in the community are not satisfied, school board
members are voted out of office and educators are replaced.