Problem statement

Directions: As a Team, work through the boxes from top to bottom to craft a problem statement. The next page contains a completed sample of the Writing a Problem Statement worksheet. A blank copy of the worksheet appears on the last page.

Original problem or focusing question	Restate the initial problem that launched this inquiry process, or rewrite the focusing question or one of the clarifying question as a statement.
Stakeholders who are most affected by the problem	Who is most directly impacted by this problem? Alternately, who would benefit the most if this problem were resolved?
Type of problem	For example, skills, attitudes, knowledge, resources, or something else.
Suspected cause of the problem	Based on the data analysis and/or the root cause analysis, what does the Team think is the most significant cause(s) contributing to this problem? What, if addressed, would make the greatest impact on resolving the problem? (Include specific evidence).
Goal for improvement and long-term impact	The wishes, dreams, and general vision describing the target. The Team will write a clearer, measureable goal statement in Module 5.
Proposal for addressing the problem	High-level strategy that represents promising practices drawn from research, local knowledge, and local expertise. (Note sources if possible). This will become the basis for subsequent action planning.
Final problem statement	Tie the above statements into 3–5 coherent sentences that could be easily understood by a wide range of stakeholders.

Sample of Completed Writing a Problem Statement Worksheet

Original problem or focusing question	¨         Students are not reading at grade level by grade 3.
Stakeholders who are most affected by the problem	¨         Third grade students at our school.
Type of problem	¨         Resources: Without good information about where our kids are starting, we have no way of knowing if our goals may be unattainable for some of them.
Suspected cause of the problem	¨         Teachers don’t get sufficient training and support in our reading program. ¨         Students’ reading levels are not measured accurately in grades K–3.
Goal for improvement and long-term impact	¨         We want all our third graders to read at grade level or above.
Proposal for addressing the problem	¨         Start a teacher mentoring program in reading. ¨         Implement more rigorous reading assessments in grades K–3.
Final problem statement	¨         Many third grade students at our school do not read at grade level. ¨         We believe that this is a result of teachers not having sufficient training in our reading program and not accurately measuring students’ reading levels in grades K–3. ¨         We want all third graders at our school to read at grade level or above. ¨         We will start a teacher mentoring program focused on reading and implement more rigorous reading assessments in the primary grades.