Introduction: The Secret to School Improvement               7

My Best Teaching Ever: Wilderness Medicine      7

Creating Time and Space for Iteration     9

Iterative Improvement at MIT     10

Three Cycles for Iterative Improvement 11

The Cycle of Experiment and Peer Learning          13

Design Thinking for Leading and Learning              15

Collaborative Innovation Cycle   17

Three Principles for Iteration      18

Think In Cycles and Spirals            19

Act in Short Design Cycles             19

Improve in Community  19

Chapter 1: What is the Cycle of Experiment and Peer Learning?   21

Changing the Complex, Fine-Grained Work of Teaching   24

Teachers Primarily Change Their Pedagogy in Response to Other Teachers             26

Three Phases to the Cycle of Experiment and Peer Learning          27

Experiment        28

Experience         29

Plan       32

What’s missing from the Cycle of Experiment and Peer Learning 33

Evaluation and Measurement    34

Loss       35

Power, Difference, and Design Justice     37

Leadership and the Cycle of Experiment and Peer Learning            40

Chapter 2: Spinning the Cycle of Experiment and Peer Learning   44

Creating More Opportunities for Experimentation            46

Pointing a Light: Targets of Difficulty        47

Making Time: Summer Innovation Funding           47

Finding the Resources All Around You: Students as Designers       49

Innovation Staffing: Department Heads, Coaches, and Teachers on Special Assignment    50

Using the Bully Pulpit      51

Making Team Learning Richer: Looking at Student Work and Instructional Rounds              53

The Proof of the Pudding: Looking at Student Work          53

Getting into Classrooms: Instructional Rounds    54

Institutional Learning: Ramping up Planning through Peer-to-Peer Learning           56

Meeting Times are Instructional Sharing Times   58

Teacher Led Peer-to-Peer Learning          59

Seeing Outside Expertise as the Catalyst Teacher to Peer-to-Peer Learning             61

Rowing in the Same Direction: Creating Common Instructional Language and a Shared Vision        62

Preparing to Communicate Together: Creating a Common Instructional Language               62

Developing a Shared Vision: Right-Sized Goals     64

Iterating Forward with The Cycle of Experiment and Peer Learning             66

Chapter 3: What is Design Thinking?        68

From Waterfalls to Sprints: A Brief History of Design         71

From Dewey to Design Thinking 74

The Design Justice Critiques of Design Thinking   76

Getting Started with Design Thinking for Leading and Learning    78

Key Principles to Design Thinking for Leading and Learning            81

Six Phases for Design Thinking for Leading and Learning  84

Discover               84

Focus    88

Imagine 91

Prototype           93

Try          97

Reflect & Share 99

Reflection and Inclusion 101

Conclusion          102

Chapter 4: Getting Started with Design   104

Discover               104

Research to Discover: Surveys, Interviews, and Observations       104

Iterating on Discovery    106

Combining Local Knowledge with Education Research     108

Focus    109

Going from Observable Data to Underlying Challenges    109

Finalizing a Focus Area   112

Imagine 113

User Personas (or Community Personas)               114

Imagine by Analogy         115

Imagining from Flare to Focus     117

Prototype           118

Sketching and Storyboarding      119

Paper Prototyping and Wireframing         121

Physical Prototyping and Rehearsals        123

Try          124

When to Try Out Your Prototypes             125

How to Try Out Your Prototypes 126

Who Should Try Out Your Prototypes      130

Reflect & Share 132

Design Crits         132

Conclusion          134

Chapter 5: The Collaborative Innovation Cycle     136

Four Phases of the Collaborative Innovation Cycle             139

Developing the Collaborative Innovation Cycle with Peter Senge 142

Looking Inwards and Outwards, Setting the Frame for the Collaborative Innovation Cycle 143

Systems Thinking in Schools        143

Who Leads? Distributed Leadership in Schools    145

Key Principles for the Collaborative Innovation Cycle        146

Bringing People Together Around Ideas They Care About               147

Four Questions for Innovation    150

Refining a Vision and Getting to Work     154

Building from Personal Visions to Shared Vision  155

Managing Difference in a Shared Vision  159

The Someday-Monday Dilemma 161

Getting to Work: The Cycle of Experiment and Peer Learning, and Design Thinking for Leading and Learning           164

Working Together Through Ups and Downs          165

Four Fields of Listening  171

Tools for Better Listening: The Ladder of Inference           176

Addressing Disagreement Through a Bias to Action           180

Measuring Progress and Adjusting            183

Key Principles for Measuring Progress and Adjusting        184

Distinguishing Assessment from Evaluation          186

Gathering Evidence from Artifacts of Learning     188

Gathering Evidence from People               193

Using Assessment to Revitalize Initiatives and to Get Unstuck      198

Conclusion          199

Chapter 6: Tools and Strategies for the Collaborative Innovation Cycle     201

Activities for Bringing People Together Around Ideas They Care About     201

Visions for a Powerful Learning Environment       202

Four Questions for Innovation    204

Asset Mapping  208

Activities for Refining a Vision and Getting to Work           211

Exploring Possible Visions: Rightboro Scenarios  211

Refining a Vision: The Someday/Monday Starter Kit          218

Part 1 - Someday: What Does Awesome Look Like?           218

Part 2 - Monday: Concrete Steps               220

Activities for Working Together Through Ups and Downs                221

Activity: Left-Hand Column Case 222

Activities for Measuring Progress and Adjusting 225

Assessment Planning Scenarios 225

Assessment Plan              230

From Launching Innovation in Schools to Sustaining Innovation in Schools              232

Conclusion: Cycles, Endings, and Beginnings         234

Balancing Coherence and Innovation      234

When Cycles End              235

Final Thoughts: Inclusion and Joy              237

Appendix 1: Design Thinking Starter Project Walkthrough: Helping a Friend with a Routine or Event           239

Step 1: Discover: Prepare for & Conduct an Initial Interview          239

Prepare & Conduct Interview Template 241

Example Interview          243

Step 2: Focus: Identify a Specific Design Problem               246

Key Takeaways Template             247

Key Takeaways Example 248

Step 3a: Imagine new Solutions 250

Brainstorm Template     251

Brainstorm Template     253

Step 3b: Choosing a Solution for Prototyping       254

Step 4: Prototype Your Solution 255

Step 5: Try out your Prototype, Get User Feedback, and Iterate  258

Design Hypothesis Tryout Template         259

Feedback Template        261

Feedback Example          263

Step 7: Reflect and Share              266

Appendix 2:  Design Thinking for Leading and Learning in Practice Walkthrough   268

Discover               269

Discover 1a: Find Your Team       269

Discover 1b: Review The School Change Status Quo          269

Discover 1c: Identify a Problem of Practice            270

Discover 1d: Identify Stakeholders           272

Discover 1e: Gather Stakeholder Perspectives on Your Problem of Practice through Interviews, Observations, Student Work, or Surveys             272

Discover 1f: Research and Comparison schools    275

Focus    276

Focus 2a: Thinking About Needs (Focus) 276

Step 3: Brainstorm Solutions (Imagine)   278

Step 3b: Evaluate Ideas (Imagine)             279

Step 4: Plan Initial Steps (Prototype)       280

Step 5: Take a Step and Iterate (Try)        284

Step 7: Reflect & Share  286

A flexible, creative, research-backed approach to making a lasting difference in education

Teaching and learning can happen better and faster when we follow a cyclical process of launching, evaluating, and improving what we do. Instead of waiting until the beginning of a new semester or new unit to try new things, we can embrace a mindset and a practice of testing out small changes all the time. The result of making iteration central to education is greater gains and improved learning outcomes. In this book, leading educational innovator Justin Reich shows you the way. Iterate: The Secret to Innovation in Schools bridges research and practice, offering a concrete framework and hands-on guidance for educators and education leaders who want to bring the spirit of experimentation to their work.

“Justin Reich stands out as one of the most brilliant minds in education reform. In his latest book Iterate: The Secret to Innovation in Schools, he masterfully combines his extensive academic research and vast experience as an educator to create an immensely useful resource for guiding change in schools. This book offers an invaluable blend of concepts, strategies, and tools that empower school leaders and individuals to understand and effectively design innovation within educational communities.”
—Tom Daccord, Co-Founder of EdTechTeacher

Praise for Iterate

“There are lots of books out there talking about "change" in education. However, Justin has written one of the few, if not the only, one that talks honestly about the negatives of ‘top down’ change being done ‘to’ teachers and students, and points the way to ‘bottom up’ change done ‘with’ teachers, students and their families.”

-          Larry Ferlazzo, High School educator, author, and Education Week teacher advice columnist

"I wish I had a red telephone in my office that I could pick up any time I wanted to talk with Justin Reich about the beautiful, sticky, and crucial work of helping schools evolve. This book will now sit on my desk and play the role of that phone. Iterate is packed with thoughtful perspectives, real stories, and actionable approaches for how we can create the conditions for positive change in schools. And it's all shared in a crisp conversational tone with vibrant illustrations. I never have to call Justin again!"

- Sam Seidel, co-author of Hip Hop Genius 2.0 and Creative Hustle; and K12 Lab Director of Strategy + Research at the Stanford School

“Perhaps the greatest praise I can give a new book is this: I want to give this to all my educator friends and colleagues. There is so much in this book that ‘works’! I found myself repeatedly saying, ‘Yes! Yes! I agree with that! Yes, that makes so much sense!’ Here’s one: ‘If we want students to try new ideas; teachers must do so, too.’ Or this one, ‘Design as flare and focus,’ or even more powerful the idea of having more adults in schools who still teach part-time. And the best, ‘only teachers can change teaching and learning.’ There are so many invaluable nuggets of wisdom and truth in this book. And the best, most of it is available for free through creative commons. Reich has given the field an important and exciting new resource.”

-          Linda Nathan, lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and founding Head of Boston Arts Academy

“Justin Reich stands out as one of the most brilliant minds in education reform. In his latest book Iterate: The Secret to Innovation in Schools, he masterfully combines his extensive academic research and vast experience as an educator to create an immensely useful resource for guiding change in schools. This book offers an invaluable blend of concepts, strategies, and tools that empower school leaders and individuals to understand and effectively design innovation within educational communities.”

-          Tom Daccord, co-founder of EdTechteacher

“In Iterate: The Secret to Innovation in Schools, Reich masterfully synthesizes decades of research and practice into a powerful set of strategies that help spark change in education. Acknowledging that schools are complex systems that operate on many levels, the three practical and ready-to-implement approaches shared in this book demonstrate how to engage all stakeholders in collaborative experimentation that works!”

-          Tom Driscoll, CEO of EdTechTeacher

“In The Magic School Bus, Ms. Frizzle gives her students some great advice: ‘Take chances, make mistakes, get messy.’ In his timely new book Iterate, Justin Reich gives similar advice for classroom teachers and school leaders, providing useful examples and practical tips on how to innovate at all levels of the school ecosystem by continually experimenting with new approaches and making changes based on the results, over and over again.”

-          Mitch Resnick, Professor at MIT, Director of the Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab, and Developer of the Scratch creative computing community

“Iterate is more than a guide—it's an irresistible call to action for educators, leading toward innovation and systemic transformation. Reich, with his impressive wisdom drawn from profound involvement in educational reform, weaves compelling narratives that make this book a captivating journey. Rich in research-based practices, this work is not merely about reading cover to cover, but learning, applying, and iterating upon the myriad lessons and practical strategies it imparts. An essential compass in the pursuit of educational metamorphosis, Iterate masterfully turns insights into action.”

-          Eric Klopfer, Professor at MIT and Director of the Scheller Teacher Education Program

“Reich by no means underestimates the challenges and complexity of promoting innovation in schools and what it can require of teachers and school leaders. But this is a hope-inspiring, energizing book that will be immensely helpful for all educators who are trying to roll up their sleeves and get on with exploring, prototyping, trying, reflecting—and iterating on—the kinds of locally-responsive improvements to teaching and learning that all students need and deserve. Reich deftly and coherently steers the reader through a plethora of ideas—some well-known and some his own—that can be tried out on Monday within a single classroom or used to inform large-scale, systemic change.”

-          Liz Dawes Duraisingh, Co-Director and Principal Investigator at Project Zero, Lecturer at Harvard Graduate School of Education, and author of Inquiry-Driven Innovation: A Practical Guide to Supporting School-Based Change

"Justin Reich has written a gem of a book. Iterate is a how-to manual for climbing out of that rut and rediscovering the creative processes that reside in all of us. It should be on every educator's bookshelf."

-          Sam Wineburg, Margaret Jacks Professor of Education, Emeritus, Stanford University, Founder of the Stanford History Education Group

“This is a book for every educator, community member, family member, and policymaker interested in learning more about the work they do to improve it. Drawing from his rich and robust experiences as well as transdisciplinary perspectives on designing and improving teaching, Reich has produced a powerful book that innovates as it educates.”

-          H. Richard Milner IV, Cornelius Vanderbilt Chair of Education, Immediate-Past President, American Educational Research Association, and author of The Race Card

“Intuitively we know that teachers are the driving force of change and administrators need to create the conditions for this to happen but rarely is that articulated, much less given a road map.”

-          Melanie Ching, Director of Community & Engagement at What School Could Be