Get Better Faster: What is it, and How Does it Work?

Many books live in the SchoolMint office. One of the most important ones is Get Better Faster by Paul Bambrick-Santoyo. It’s a bonafide staple in our workspace — as well as in the classrooms and offices of many of our partners.

And while we understand that teaching is a complex and sophisticated endeavor, we also admire the very concrete, practice-based approach from Bambrick and the leaders from the Relay Graduate School of Education.

This post dives into the Get Better Faster (GBF) approach. What is it? Why is it valuable? We hit the books and reached out to our SchoolMint Grow partners to answer those questions and more for you!

What Does it Mean to Get Better Faster?

In Get Better Faster, Bambrick writes, “…teach the right skill at the right time, and the result is a steady chain reaction of success.” That sounds great...but how do you get there?

Well, first you have to understand what “Get Better Faster” actually means:

• Bambrick defines better as “More able to meet students’ immediate needs.”
• Getting faster is about succeeding early as a matter of immense urgency, because “the more quickly a teacher masters the most important skills of teaching, the more quickly students get to develop the skills of being students.”

Accelerate Teacher Growth

Though the subtitle, A 90-Day Plan for Coaching New Teachers, implies this plan is targeted at developing new teachers, schools across the country use the GBF approach and sequence to accelerate instructional growth for all teachers, regardless of years of experience.

For an example of how one of our district partners use SchoolMint Grow to coach teachers of all skill levels, check out this success story from Ector County Independent School District!

A case study in the introduction of Get Better Faster follows Nikki, an instructional coach, and Jackson, a new teacher. While Nikki is coaching Jackson, they have to decide how to tackle a fundamental problem.

Imagine if Nikki had instructed Jackson simply to “make sure your students are following your instructions.” That sounds like a straightforward direction but is, in fact, a fairly abstract ask:

• What does a teacher actually have to do to “make sure” students are following?
• Exactly what actions (or inactions) on the part of the students constitute non-responsiveness?

In this example, Nikki worked with Jackson to decide on what expectations he had for his students. The outcome: students were to have their fingers on the page of the book they were reading to hold their place, feet on the floor, and faces forward.

These mini-actions showed Jackson that his students were responsive and ready to proceed. The culmination of these micro-actions is what was necessary for Jackson to complete the action step.

How Do I Get Better Faster?

Take note of these two core ideas:

1. “The smaller and more precise the action step, the quicker the growth. Be bite-size, not book-size.” – Leverage Leadership 2.0, 2018
2. “The purpose of instructional leadership is not to evaluate teachers but to develop them.” – Get Better Faster, 2016

In Leverage Leadership 2.0, Bambrick makes it easy to understand what is needed to make up a great action-step that helps educators like Jackson:

• Highest Leverage: Will this help the teacher develop most quickly and effectively? Is it connected to a larger PD goal?
• Measurable: The action step is what the teacher can practice. It names the “what” (e.g. use economy of language) and the “how” (e.g. give crisp instructions in as few words as possible).
• Bite-Size: If your teacher can’t make the change in a week, the action step isn’t small enough!

The Get Better Faster approach answers the question of WHICH action steps will be most effective WHEN in order to advance teacher practice. Bambrick outlines specific sequences along two strands of classroom management and instructional rigor.

Notably, Bambrick recommends action for both concurrently since management must be rooted in a community of learning. 

The steps are deliberately scaffolded so that the most essential teaching skills are addressed first. They are then further broken down into even more specific actions a teacher needs to take to perform each skill effectively.

What’s it Like to Follow the Get Better Faster Approach?

When we reached out to SchoolMint Grow partner Ted Johnson at Pueblo City Schools in Colorado, the goal was to understand the reality of working within the sequence. We wanted to hear it straight from a district source — in this case, the executive director of continuous improvement and innovation.

Here’s what Ted had to say:

Get Better Faster with SchoolMint Grow

So we’ve covered the basics, looked at the core ideas, and heard from a district leader who practices GBF. What’s next?

SchoolMint Grow (previously known as Whetstone) has been a valuable tool for our partners who understand the value of having one digital home for their coaching data, making it easy to use and act upon.