{"id":3683,"date":"2025-12-01T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T20:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/?p=3683"},"modified":"2026-01-28T09:32:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T17:32:19","slug":"theory-of-practice-improvement-driver-diagrams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/theory-of-practice-improvement-driver-diagrams\/","title":{"rendered":"Theory of Practice Improvement & Driver Diagrams"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
<\/div>
<\/div>
<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

A theory of improvement connects an improvement aim to the specific practices or changes that are hypothesized to be needed in order to achieve that aim. A theory of improvement may be represented visually with a driver diagram. This guide provides a brief overview of the purpose of a theory of practice improvement and outlines the components of a driver diagram (aim, drivers, and change ideas).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A theory of practice improvement organizes the work of an improvement team or community by highlighting the overall goal a group is working toward and their working hypotheses about how they might alter system structures, processes, and norms to achieve their desired outcomes. This theory incorporates evidence from causal system analysis and is grounded in both research and practical knowledge in the field about the problem that is being addressed. The driver diagram is an improvement tool used to represent the theory of practice improvement, identifying the overall improvement aim, high-leverage areas of the system to focus on (drivers) and specific changes to try. It is a living document that evolves as new learning accumulates and the theory is revised. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Download the Theory of Practice Improvement & Driver Diagrams Quick Reference (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":"

A theory of improvement connects an improvement aim to the specific practices or changes that are hypothesized to be needed … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3684,"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-3683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-improvement-science-collection"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTheory of Practice Improvement & Driver Diagrams - 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\/theory-of-practice-improvement-driver-diagrams\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Theory of Practice Improvement & Driver Diagrams - Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A theory of improvement connects an improvement aim to the specific practices or changes that are hypothesized to be needed ... Read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/theory-of-practice-improvement-driver-diagrams\/\" \/>\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=\"2025-12-01T20:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-28T17:32:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-61.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=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/theory-of-practice-improvement-driver-diagrams\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/theory-of-practice-improvement-driver-diagrams\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"DerekC\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/#\/schema\/person\/2c01d29bdf9103121a2c02b3b5a30fcd\"},\"headline\":\"Theory of Practice Improvement & Driver Diagrams\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-01T20:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-28T17:32:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/theory-of-practice-improvement-driver-diagrams\/\"},\"wordCount\":229,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/theory-of-practice-improvement-driver-diagrams\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-61.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Improvement Science Collection\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/theory-of-practice-improvement-driver-diagrams\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/theory-of-practice-improvement-driver-diagrams\/\",\"name\":\"Theory of Practice Improvement & Driver Diagrams - Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/theory-of-practice-improvement-driver-diagrams\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/theory-of-practice-improvement-driver-diagrams\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-61.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-01T20:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-28T17:32:19+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/theory-of-practice-improvement-driver-diagrams\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/theory-of-practice-improvement-driver-diagrams\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/theory-of-practice-improvement-driver-diagrams\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-61.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-61.png\",\"width\":575,\"height\":720},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/theory-of-practice-improvement-driver-diagrams\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Theory of Practice Improvement & Driver Diagrams\"}]},{\"@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":"Theory of Practice Improvement & Driver Diagrams - 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\/theory-of-practice-improvement-driver-diagrams\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Theory of Practice Improvement & Driver Diagrams - Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching","og_description":"A theory of improvement connects an improvement aim to the specific practices or changes that are hypothesized to be needed ... Read more","og_url":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/theory-of-practice-improvement-driver-diagrams\/","og_site_name":"Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/carnegie.foundation\/","article_published_time":"2025-12-01T20:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-01-28T17:32:19+00:00","og_image":[{"width":575,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-61.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":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/theory-of-practice-improvement-driver-diagrams\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/theory-of-practice-improvement-driver-diagrams\/"},"author":{"name":"DerekC","@id":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/#\/schema\/person\/2c01d29bdf9103121a2c02b3b5a30fcd"},"headline":"Theory of Practice Improvement & Driver Diagrams","datePublished":"2025-12-01T20:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-28T17:32:19+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/theory-of-practice-improvement-driver-diagrams\/"},"wordCount":229,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/theory-of-practice-improvement-driver-diagrams\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-61.png","articleSection":["Improvement Science Collection"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/theory-of-practice-improvement-driver-diagrams\/","url":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/theory-of-practice-improvement-driver-diagrams\/","name":"Theory of Practice Improvement & Driver Diagrams - Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/theory-of-practice-improvement-driver-diagrams\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/theory-of-practice-improvement-driver-diagrams\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-61.png","datePublished":"2025-12-01T20:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-28T17:32:19+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/theory-of-practice-improvement-driver-diagrams\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/theory-of-practice-improvement-driver-diagrams\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/theory-of-practice-improvement-driver-diagrams\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-61.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-61.png","width":575,"height":720},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/theory-of-practice-improvement-driver-diagrams\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Theory of Practice Improvement & Driver Diagrams"}]},{"@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\/3683","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=3683"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3683\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3683"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3683"},{"taxonomy":"client_controls","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.carnegiefoundation.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/client_controls?post=3683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}