{"id":3616,"date":"2025-12-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/?p=3616"},"modified":"2026-01-28T09:27:58","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T17:27:58","slug":"pdsa-reflection-guide-moving-from-act-to-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/pdsa-reflection-guide-moving-from-act-to-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"PDSA Reflection Guide: Moving from\u00a0Act to Plan"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This worksheet guides individuals to reflect on learnings from a Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle and use this evidence to inform refinements to a change idea and next steps for testing. This tool can also be leveraged to plan cycles of iterative testing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After conducting a test of a change idea using the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) process, a critical next step is to determine how to move forward with learning about the change. Sometimes this means adapting the change, testing it in new contexts, or moving on to testing a new change idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This guide is intended to help improvers use the insights about a change idea that emerged in the Study step of a PDSA cycle to identify a next action to take with that change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Download the PDSA Reflection Guide: Moving from Act to Plan (Fillable PDF)<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

<\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n
\n\n
<\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n
\n\n

You Might Like<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\n\n
\n
<\/a>\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n

Carnegie Foundation and ETS Release Skills Progressions for Collaboration, Communication and Critical Thinking\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

\n\n
\n
<\/a>\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n

Rising Demand for Career Education Prompts College Board to Expand Its Footprint<\/h2>\n\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

\n\n
\n
<\/a>\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n

Opportunity Colleges and Universities Series: University of Illinois Chicago Profile<\/h2>\n\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

\n\n
\n
<\/a>\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n
\n

Podcast: The Next 50 Years of Higher Ed \u2013 What Leaders Need to Know<\/h2>\n\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

<\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div><\/div>\n\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This worksheet guides individuals to reflect on learnings from a Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle and use this evidence to inform refinements … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3617,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"inline_featured_image":false,"ghostkit_customizer_options":"","ghostkit_custom_css":"","ghostkit_custom_js_head":"","ghostkit_custom_js_foot":"","ghostkit_typography":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[],"client_controls":[],"class_list":["post-3616","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-improvement-science-collection"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPDSA Reflection Guide: Moving from\u00a0Act to Plan - Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/pdsa-reflection-guide-moving-from-act-to-plan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"PDSA Reflection Guide: Moving from\u00a0Act to Plan - Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This worksheet guides individuals to reflect on learnings from a Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle and use this evidence to inform refinements ... Read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/pdsa-reflection-guide-moving-from-act-to-plan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/carnegie.foundation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-01T08:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-28T17:27:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-34.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"575\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"DerekC\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@CarnegieFdn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@CarnegieFdn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"DerekC\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/pdsa-reflection-guide-moving-from-act-to-plan\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/pdsa-reflection-guide-moving-from-act-to-plan\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"DerekC\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/#\/schema\/person\/2c01d29bdf9103121a2c02b3b5a30fcd\"},\"headline\":\"PDSA Reflection Guide: Moving from\u00a0Act to Plan\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-01T08:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-28T17:27:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/pdsa-reflection-guide-moving-from-act-to-plan\/\"},\"wordCount\":167,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/pdsa-reflection-guide-moving-from-act-to-plan\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-34.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Improvement Science Collection\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/pdsa-reflection-guide-moving-from-act-to-plan\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/pdsa-reflection-guide-moving-from-act-to-plan\/\",\"name\":\"PDSA Reflection Guide: Moving from\u00a0Act to Plan - Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/pdsa-reflection-guide-moving-from-act-to-plan\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/pdsa-reflection-guide-moving-from-act-to-plan\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-34.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-01T08:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-28T17:27:58+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/pdsa-reflection-guide-moving-from-act-to-plan\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/pdsa-reflection-guide-moving-from-act-to-plan\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/pdsa-reflection-guide-moving-from-act-to-plan\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-34.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-34.png\",\"width\":575,\"height\":720},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/pdsa-reflection-guide-moving-from-act-to-plan\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"PDSA Reflection Guide: Moving from\u00a0Act to Plan\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/\",\"name\":\"Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Logo-Edit-MC.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Logo-Edit-MC.svg\",\"width\":249,\"height\":46,\"caption\":\"Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/carnegie.foundation\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/CarnegieFdn\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/#\/schema\/person\/2c01d29bdf9103121a2c02b3b5a30fcd\",\"name\":\"DerekC\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/569f1fc418ff9e5f872a030fc28b67243e00ad2d18ad9f8438675ee99b35d02c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/569f1fc418ff9e5f872a030fc28b67243e00ad2d18ad9f8438675ee99b35d02c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"DerekC\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/author\/derekc\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"PDSA Reflection Guide: Moving from\u00a0Act to Plan - Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/pdsa-reflection-guide-moving-from-act-to-plan\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"PDSA Reflection Guide: Moving from\u00a0Act to Plan - Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching","og_description":"This worksheet guides individuals to reflect on learnings from a Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle and use this evidence to inform refinements ... Read more","og_url":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/pdsa-reflection-guide-moving-from-act-to-plan\/","og_site_name":"Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/carnegie.foundation\/","article_published_time":"2025-12-01T08:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-01-28T17:27:58+00:00","og_image":[{"width":575,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-34.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"DerekC","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@CarnegieFdn","twitter_site":"@CarnegieFdn","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"DerekC","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/pdsa-reflection-guide-moving-from-act-to-plan\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/pdsa-reflection-guide-moving-from-act-to-plan\/"},"author":{"name":"DerekC","@id":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/#\/schema\/person\/2c01d29bdf9103121a2c02b3b5a30fcd"},"headline":"PDSA Reflection Guide: Moving from\u00a0Act to Plan","datePublished":"2025-12-01T08:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-28T17:27:58+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/pdsa-reflection-guide-moving-from-act-to-plan\/"},"wordCount":167,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/pdsa-reflection-guide-moving-from-act-to-plan\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-34.png","articleSection":["Improvement Science Collection"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/pdsa-reflection-guide-moving-from-act-to-plan\/","url":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/pdsa-reflection-guide-moving-from-act-to-plan\/","name":"PDSA Reflection Guide: Moving from\u00a0Act to Plan - Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/pdsa-reflection-guide-moving-from-act-to-plan\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/pdsa-reflection-guide-moving-from-act-to-plan\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-34.png","datePublished":"2025-12-01T08:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-28T17:27:58+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/pdsa-reflection-guide-moving-from-act-to-plan\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/pdsa-reflection-guide-moving-from-act-to-plan\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/pdsa-reflection-guide-moving-from-act-to-plan\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-34.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-34.png","width":575,"height":720},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/pdsa-reflection-guide-moving-from-act-to-plan\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"PDSA Reflection Guide: Moving from\u00a0Act to Plan"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/","name":"Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/#organization","name":"Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching","url":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Logo-Edit-MC.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Logo-Edit-MC.svg","width":249,"height":46,"caption":"Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/carnegie.foundation\/","https:\/\/x.com\/CarnegieFdn"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/#\/schema\/person\/2c01d29bdf9103121a2c02b3b5a30fcd","name":"DerekC","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/569f1fc418ff9e5f872a030fc28b67243e00ad2d18ad9f8438675ee99b35d02c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/569f1fc418ff9e5f872a030fc28b67243e00ad2d18ad9f8438675ee99b35d02c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"DerekC"},"url":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/author\/derekc\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3616","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3616"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3616\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3617"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3616"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3616"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3616"},{"taxonomy":"client_controls","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/client_controls?post=3616"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}