Identify Leverage Areas: The 5 Whys

Tap into critical reflection and unpack professional challenges.

As you continue to adapt your instruction, challenges and pain points are inevitable — but with change comes opportunity. 

Before deciding how to tackle a professional challenge before you, you'll first want to determine the root cause of your problem, and your ultimate leverage area. Using our 5 Whys protocol, we can tap into critical reflection and dig below the surface to identify factors within your sphere of influence that are contributing to the challenge you're facing, and bring pathways for change into focus. 

Let's see what happens if we use the 5 Whys to unpack the challenge of students struggling on state tests: 

Students are struggling on state tests. Why?
Because the tests are long and students get tired. Why?
Because students struggle with test-taking stamina. Why?
Because they get tired and bored, and it's difficult for them to retain focus. Why?
Because the texts or tasks are complex and they struggle to comprehend them. Why?
Because they struggle with assessment literacy and text types, or question styles become difficult for them to read.

Notice how, when forced to keep our responses within the realm of our influence, we can drill down to some concrete areas of focus. Although we may not be able to solve all struggles related to state tests, we can identify leverage areas that will help us to reframe our challenge and feel empowered to take action. 
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