identifying best & promising practices

8/2/2019 Identifying Best & Promising Practices

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Identifying Best and Promising

PracticesNEO Literacy Corps



DEFINITIONS



What is the best way to brew coffee?



Isn’t “best” subjective?

What is a “best” practice?



Best Practice

A method or technique that has consistently

shown results superior to those achieved by

other means.

Can be:

Research-validated Field-tested



Promising Practice

An emerging method or technique that has

proven effective at achieving a specific aim,

and may hold promise for other contexts.



GAME

Is it a:

BEST practice?

PROMISING practice? MYSTERY practice?



HAND WASHING



CHICKEN SUIT



DIAPER DRAMA



ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORDS



Why should we bother?

What can we gain by identifying and

promoting best and promising practices?



PROCESS

From “Identifying and Promoting Promising Practices.”

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ocs/ccf/about_ccf/gbk_pdf/pp_gbk.pdf

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ocs/ccf/about_ccf/gbk_pdf/pp_gbk.pdf



Identify a Need

You have done this by

deciding on a resource

manual topic.

You can do this any

time! Workplace

evaluations are a great

way to regularlyidentify areas to

improve your program

or professional skills.



Identify a Practice

Use your interviews,

networks, reading, and

searches to find a

practice beingimplemented locally

(or somewhere you

can observe &

investigate).



Resource Jam

National ServiceResource Center

Ohio Resource Center

Faith and ServiceTechnical Education

Network (FASTEN)

Journal articles

PEPNet : Promising andEffective PracticesNetwork

Points of Light Foundation

Your professionalnetworks

http://www.nationalserviceresources.org/effective-practice


http://www.ohiorc.org/

http://www.fastennetwork.org/



http://www.nyec.org/pepnet/

http://www.pointsoflight.org/ideas-and-insights













Can You Trust It?

Source: Who is promoting it? Why?

Field-tested: Has this been used in multiple

contexts with positive results? Adaptable: Is this relevant to your

organization and clients/volunteers?



Does It Connect?

People often call something a “best practice”

without presenting any evidence that it

makes any difference! Sadly, non-profits dothis all the time!

Example:

Just this once, do your homework: check if the numbers (outcomes) match the label

(best practice).



Moral of the Story?

Don’t let the shiny

things distract you!

Promoted items are

not always a “best

practice.”



Literacy Cooperative Quality

Framework Research- Harvest is plenty but laborers are few

Practices- Why are we doing this? Habit: Ham

Policy

Goal: Summarize Best Practices in Accessible Format Process

160

Categories/Themes

Presentation

Result Research Based Best Practices

Factors that Impact Programs

Self Assessment Tool



Can you trust it?

Who is promoting this?

Why is it being promoted?

Positive Relationship between Family Involvement

and Student Success

Learner Persistence in Adult Education

National Core Capacity Assessment Tool Dataset

Singable Books



Small Group Learning Circle

In groups of 4, each member individually

reads one of the 2-page articles provided on

promising or best practices. Select a discussion leader, timekeeper &

recorder to take notes. After reading (5-10

min?), each person will briefly summarizetheir article for the group (1 min each)

Continued…



Small Group Learning Circle

Discuss (~15 min). The following questionscan be used to start the conversation:

Field-tested: Has this been used by multiple

organizations with positive results?

Adaptable: Is this relevant to your organization andclients/volunteers?

Why should we bother identifying and promoting

best and promising practices? Can you give another example of a best or promising

practice that you’ve seen with data to demonstrateits effectiveness?



TRAINING ASSIGNMENT:

DESCRIBE AND DOCUMENT



Identify a Best or Promising Practice

National ServiceResource Center

Ohio Resource Center

Faith and ServiceTechnical Education

Network (FASTEN)

Journal articles

PEPNet : Promising andEffective PracticesNetwork

Points of Light Foundation

Your professionalnetworks





















Observe

Observe the best or promising practice in

action! Find out who is doing it locally & set

up a visit or watch videos of the practice inaction.



Document

Observe and document the practice. You can

use it as your monthly Great Story in

OnCorps, and it may be chosen to post onthe NEOLC blog. Also post to Edmodo for

other members.



Promote

Next training: Give 1-2 minute presentation

on the promising practice you observed.

Keep it brief & interesting Explain where you found it

Share thoughts on its usefulness



Questions?



Thank you!

Developed by Farrell Ink LLC for UniversitySettlement and The Literacy Cooperative foruse by NEO Literacy Corps.

Process adapted from “IntermediaryDevelopment Series: Identifying andPromoting Promising Practices.” Created by

Dare Mighty Things, Inc. for use by theCompassion Capital Fund National ResourceCenter.

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/ocs/id_bestpractices.pdf






identifying best & promising practices

Documents