Monitoring academic progress to guide instructional practices is an important role of teachers in a small rural school district in the Southern United States. Teachers in this region were experiencing difficulties using the approved school district model to implement data-driven instruction. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to identify elementary- and middle-level teachers' perceptions about using the Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA) model to analyze data in the classroom and use it to inform classroom instruction. Bambrick-Santoyo's principles for effective data-driven instruction was the conceptual framework that guided this study. The research questions were focused on teachers' perceptions of and experiences with the PDSA. A purposeful sampling was used to recruit 8 teachers from Grades 3-9 and their insights were captured through semistructured interviews, reflective journals, and document analyses of data walls. Emergent themes were identified through an open coding process, and trustworthiness was secured through triangulation and member checking. The themes were about using data to assess students, creating lessons, and collaborating with colleagues. The three findings revealed that elementary- and middle-level teachers acknowledge PDSA as an effective tool for guiding student learning, that teachers rely on assessment data, and that teachers need on-going collaborative engagement with their colleagues when using the PDSA. This study has implications for positive social change by providing a structure for improving classroom instructional practices and engaging teachers in more collaborative practices.

In organisations today, it has become more important to work with quality development, to be able to handle and meet the rapid changes in the society. For this report, a case study has been done on a unit that works with development and administration for a Social administration, to see how they work with quality development today, and how it can be improved. Theories on quality development and continues improvements, together with research made on how to lead change has been applied in this study. The result shows that a key factor that needs to be improved, to be able to work with quality development, is to make clearer definitions of the projects from start, so that they can be analysed and developed when finished. The presented recommendation for this is to use a more structured work methodology when starting a new project. This could help the employers to get a better definition of the expectations of the project, along with a plan for follow-up, that needs to be done to keep evolving in the unit. This methodology can hopefully lead to that the culture, that today is focused on doing, can shift towards prioritizing more time for planning and development. This is central if the organisation wants to work with continues improvements. / Att arbeta med kvalitetsutveckling iorganisationerhar blivit allt mer centralt, för att försöka att möta den snabba förändring som sker, och samhälletsförväntningar. I denna rapport har en enhet som arbetar med utvecklingsuppdrag och administrativa uppgifter i en socialförvaltning undersöktsgenom en fallstudie, för att se hur de arbetar med kvalitetsutveckling,och hur detarbetetskulle kunna utvecklas. Teorier kringHörnstensmodellen och att bli en lärande organisation, samtforskning kring att leda förändring, har legat till grund för arbetet. Resultatet visar att det är framförallt svårigheter kring att få till en klar definition av uppdragen som gör att det blir svårt att arbeta med offensiv kvalitetsutveckling, då det blir svårt att följa upp och utveckla, när inga klara förväntningar är preciserade från början.Det förbättringsförslag som är presenterat handlar om ett mer strukturerat arbetssätt i uppstarten av uppdragen, som kan leda till att dedefinieras tydligare. Den mall som rekommenderas att fyllas i vid start, ska dessutominnefattauppföljningsplaner och ger möjlighet till enkel uppföljning av det egna arbetet. Mallenkan förhoppningsvis leda till att kulturen som idag fokuserar på att göra, kan börja gå mot att mer planering och uppföljning också innefattas i arbetet. Det är väsentligt att enheten försöker att bli bättre på att följa upp och utveckla, om de ska kunna arbeta med offensiv kvalitetsutveckling på ett mer givande sätt i framtiden.

<p>Sammandrag</p><p>Denna studie tar upp problematiken vid införande av administrativa stödprojekt vid Uppsala universitet, främst hur motstånd till förändring kan motverkas. Problemet definieras genom frågan: Hur kan Uppsala universitet effektivisera implementeringen av administrativa stödprojekt? Syftet med denna studie är att lyfta fram kritiska framgångsfaktorer vid genomförandet av projekt. Färdigimplementerade administrativa stödprojekt studerades genom personliga intervjuer med projektansvariga och administratörer på institutioner. Upptäckterna analyserades med hjälp av en processorienterad teori baserad på Demingcykeln. Erfarenheterna utkristalliserades till konkreta riktlinjer och råd för framtida projektimplementeringar vid Uppsala universitet. Den främsta riktlinjen var att i större utsträckning informera och motivera de som kommer att påverkas av projektet.</p>

The challenges of implementing the Common Core State Standards at the classroom level resulted in political pushback to the reform initiative after the local media covered poor implementation decisions. This study explored how elementary school teachers and instructional leaders described teachers' progress along the implementation continuum for the standards. The concerns-based adoption model served as the conceptual framework for this study. This multicase study design consisted of 16 interviews of teachers and instructional leaders from 4 schools. Data were analyzed through a process that began with open coding followed by axial coding to identify themes. Teacher collaboration driving implementation progress emerged as a theme. The following needs also emerged: (a) training to make the required instructional shifts, (b) common processes to monitor implementation progress, and (c) aligned resources. The results led to a semester-long professional development project pairing a quality improvement process popular in other fields with the existing professional learning community structure to address the problem. This project built on the implementation progress made through working collaboratively to meet the training needs of the teachers; the project also included mechanisms for monitoring teachers' progress in implementing the standards. The project study provides insight and specific steps for teachers and leaders working to implement the standards. Students will be the ultimate beneficiaries of this project study through improvements in their teachers' instructional practice.

Sammandrag Denna studie tar upp problematiken vid införande av administrativa stödprojekt vid Uppsala universitet, främst hur motstånd till förändring kan motverkas. Problemet definieras genom frågan: Hur kan Uppsala universitet effektivisera implementeringen av administrativa stödprojekt? Syftet med denna studie är att lyfta fram kritiska framgångsfaktorer vid genomförandet av projekt. Färdigimplementerade administrativa stödprojekt studerades genom personliga intervjuer med projektansvariga och administratörer på institutioner. Upptäckterna analyserades med hjälp av en processorienterad teori baserad på Demingcykeln. Erfarenheterna utkristalliserades till konkreta riktlinjer och råd för framtida projektimplementeringar vid Uppsala universitet. Den främsta riktlinjen var att i större utsträckning informera och motivera de som kommer att påverkas av projektet.

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With the rapid growth of industry 4.0 and the digital age, we can see that the use of digital tools, systems and solutions are becoming more standardized in all sectors. We are currently witnessing these tools becoming a much more integral part of future industry and therefore putting pressure on current organizations to adapt. Digital maturity is a phenomenon that has gained an abundance of exposure in recent years, and the importance of this phenomenon grows in relation to the growth of the digital environment. According to academia, questions about companies’ digital status have recently become topical. Digital maturity can act as a portal for possibilities and change. For example, exploiting opportunities, implementing technological processes and averting business risks that stem from advanced technologies. Academic research in this field mainly concentrates on the quantitative aspects and therefore we have engaged in a qualitative approach in order to fill the gap within this field of research. Moreover, we have identified that studies and contemporary assessment models do not consider the importance of management and aspect of change to the necessary extent. Academia mentions the importance of converting digital maturity assessments to company actions through a systematic engagement from managers. However, most studies in the field have focused on either giving overviews on different perspectives of assessments or answered questions regarding the success rate of digital transformations, we believe that management and change management are key components to digital maturity and transformational success. A qualitative approach is therefore suitable because of the exploratory nature of our interests. To gather data, we conducted interviews with participants chosen through a purposive sampling technique. The purposive sampling method was chosen to achieve a better and more qualitative result since the participants all had expertise within the field of digital development, digital maturity measurements and management. The interview questions were based on theories in our conceptual framework and served as a foundation for the interview guide. The intention was to see if our initial theories on digital maturity transformation would match the views of the participants. By using a thematic analysis method, we connected the participants answers to our identified framework themes, potentially altering our conceptual framework. The original components of our conceptual framework were: Importance of management and change management, which included theories of organizations, people, change kaleidoscope, the theory of constraints, PDSA-cycle and RACI-model. The result of the study showed that our predicted components of importance of management and change management were essential for the success of digital maturity. Our underlying theories also matched the participants views. However, new theories and components were added based on the empirical findings. These were: long term solutions and strategies, strong and motivating leadership, project triangle and communication plans. Our study indicates that management and change management can be success factors in the process of becoming more digitally mature.

Syftet med denna studie är att lämna förslag till Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara aktiebolags (LKAB i fortsättningen) arbetssätt för framtagning av hållbarhetsmål på koncernnivå. Två frågeställningar har konstruerats för att kunna besvara studiens syfte. Frågeställningarna undersöker hur LKAB arbetar idag med att ta fram hållbarhetsmål på koncernnivå och hur ett optimerat arbetssätt med framtagning av hållbarhetsmål skulle kunna se ut. Datainsamlingen består av intervjuer med olika medarbetare som på ett eller annat sätt har varit involverade i framtagning av förslag till hållbara mål. Resultatet visar att LKAB har arbetet med identifieringen av hållbarhetsmål utifrån ett projektbaserat arbetssätt. Detta är studiens första slutsats. Analysen visar att arbetssättet med framtagning av koncernmål skulle kunna genomföras utifrån ett processbaserat arbetssätt. Analysen och diskussionen i den här studien visar att ett optimerat arbetssätt skulle kunna uppnås genom att dela huvudprocessen till två och utveckla ett processbaserat arbetssätt för varje huvudprocess. Detta är studiens andra slutsats. / The purpose of this study is to submit proposals to the company Luossavaara-Kiirunavaara (LKAB) and its mythology of identifying sustainability goals at group level. two questions have been created in order to be able to answer the study´s purpose. The questions examine LKAB´s mythology of identifying sustainability goals at group level and how an optimized mythology of identifying sustainability goals could look like. The data collection consists of interviews with various employees who have been involved in the identifying of sustainability goals. The results shows that LKAB´s mythology of identifying sustainability goals has formed on a project-based approach. This is the first conclusion of this study. The analysis shows that the mythology of identifying sustainability goals could be implemented with a process-based mythology. The analysis and the discussion in this study show that an optimized mythology could be achieved by dividing the main process into two main processes and developing a process-based mythology for each main process. This is the second conclusion of this study.