For ease of comparison, the common stragegies (that were found in schools with high drop out rates) are contrasted with the demonstrably successful PD strategies.
After analyzing the numerous uncommon, but demonstrably successful strategies discovered at the PD schools, the teams spent a day creating an action plan that would enable them to adopt and practice these new strategies in their schools. These detailed plans included objectives for the proposed changes, the PD strategy on which they were based, and implementation details ("who?", "what?", "when?", and "how?".)
Once the action plan was completed the school teams shared them with other participants. Rather than wait until the beginning of the next school year that was three months away, the schools chose to initiate their new strategies on the following Monday!
Illustrative of the action plans was the decision by teachers from two of the schools teams to adopt a PD strategy to improve school-parent relations. They decided that teachers from the schools would visit students' homes to explain why parent participation is critical to their children's education. Parents would be invited to visit the school, and periodically meet with their children's teachers.
Six weeks after the original workshop, the schools met again to report on their progress. (In order to promote active learning at the workshop the schools were paired up and presented their partner's "progress to date" to the whole group.) Three of the five schools had been totally revitalized. They reported that they had experienced unprecedented change over the previous six weeks, and noted that the communication between parents and teachers had markedly improved as they adopted some of the PD strategies.
These strategies included greeting the parents when they came to the school, visiting their students' homes, and signing a "compromiso" or learning contract with the parents that outlined the different roles and responsibilities of the parents and teachers in the learning process. In addition, the teachers in one school used communications with the family as the basis for a reading/composition project. The teachers began by sending their photos and a note to the homes of their students and requesting that they do the same. The teachers reported that parents were flattered and surprised by these unexpected visits, and the importance attached to their participation in their children's education. The five school teams left the workshop committed to meeting again the next school year to share further progress.
In some school districts in rural Argentina, almost half of the students drop out before they complete the third grade. Although economic difficulties left many teachers and schools feeling like this problem was intractable, the Positive Deviance design has allowed parents and schools to see possible solutions by identifying what is going right. Using Positive Deviance, these schools discovered that within their district there are schools (the 'positive deviants') who are able to retain over 75% of their students,without access to any special resources. By examining the specific strategies and practices employed by these PD schools, the schools have come to see that there are things that can be done today to improve student retention.