Resilience Project Playbook
Owner: Director of Program Impact & Visibility (DPIV) – with input from other project stakeholders Audience: All current and potential participants in the WNC Resilience Project.
Purpose
The WNC Resilience Project Playbook is organized into five flexible modules, each with a distinct purpose and set of outputs. These modules build upon each other and help your team co-create a customized, iterative Innovation Blueprint grounded in student experience and continuous improvement.
Where This Document Fits in the Process The WNC Resilience Project provides a set of connected tools to support clarity, collaboration, and continuous improvement. Each module is part of a larger framework that helps your team move from inspiration to implementation—at a pace that fits your local context. The core tools include: Exploration & Planning Guide – Helps teams consider whether and how to engage as an innovation partner, identify early priorities, and set up for success. Onboarding Checklist – Supports initial team setup and logistics, bridging early planning to active collaboration. Playbook Modules – A set of structured but flexible guides that help teams explore, plan, test, and refine improvement strategies. Innovation Blueprint – A living document your team creates and updates throughout the project. It captures your AIM, Change Ideas, measures, and key learning. Each above tool supports a different part of the journey. The Playbook provides structure; the Blueprint captures your evolving work, etc.. OWL and its partners are here to support you every step of the way!
Module 0: Noticing the Current State (Optional Pre-Work)
Reflect on early student-centered observations, quotes, or data
Begin surfacing patterns that may point to a meaningful challenge
Gather artifacts and lived experience to inform empathy work ✅ Core Output: Pre-work insights to bring into onboarding 📂 Suggested Tools: Student quotes, empathy interviews, early data trends
Module 1: Drafting a Shared Aim (Onboarding Session)
Create Student Empathy Maps
Synthesize insights through an Insight Carousel
Draft an AIM Statement that reflects meaningful student-centered outcomes
Generate and cluster Change Ideas
Begin sketching a Driver Diagram prototype ✅ Core Output: Draft AIM + Initial Change Ideas + Empathy Summary 📂 Suggested Tools: Empathy Map Template, Insight Carousel Protocol, AIM Litmus Test
Module 2: Validating the Current State (Post-Onboarding)
Confirm the “Current State” with additional student, staff, or stakeholder input
Refine the Problem Statement (and optionally a “How Might We” design question)
Revisit and strengthen the AIM Statement based on what is learned
✅ Core Output: Validated Problem Statement + Refined AIM 📂 Suggested Tools: Student Voice Protocols, Problem Statement Builder, AIM Reflection Prompts
Module 3: Drivers and Design (First School Meeting)
Finalize your SMART AIM Statement
Identify Primary Drivers (based on selected project strands)
Surface Secondary Drivers and Change Ideas
Develop a Driver Diagram as your team’s theory of improvement ✅ Core Output: SMART AIM + Completed Driver Diagram 📂 Suggested Tools: Driver Diagram Template, Value/Effort Matrix, Change Idea Prioritization Tool Note: This module is introduced during the first school visit but often takes multiple sessions to complete. A solid Driver Diagram reflects shared understanding and readiness to test early ideas.
Module 4: Measures and PDSA
Develop a basic System of Measures (Outcome, Driver, Process, and Balancing)
Select an initial Change Idea to test using a PDSA cycle
Plan, launch, and reflect on your first test of change
Track learning and identify Bright Spots or pivots
Rinse, repeat. ✅ Core Output: First PDSA Cycle Plan + Learning Measures 📂 Suggested Tools: PDSA Planner, Learning Tracker, Measurement Table
Key Tools & References Used Throughout the Playbook
All tools referenced in the Playbook are optional and adaptable. Use what serves your team, and feel free to work with project partners to remix or substitute based on local needs.
Note that other tools are referenced in each Module or the Innovation Blueprint.
Final Thoughts
This is not a compliance checklist! It’s a strategy for authentic innovation, rooted in empathy, co-design, and a methodical approach to improvement science. Every step helps ensure that students impacted by disruption are not just catching up, but leading the way in shaping a more resilient, equitable, and innovative future for our schools and communities.
“Start small. Learn fast. Stay grounded in what matters most.”
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