CHAPTER 8 - PROTOCOL 2

System Function Audit

TIME60-75 minutes

OWNERSystem owner with representative users

ARTIFACTFunction audit + keep/change/stop decision

SUCCESS CRITERIA

The intended function and nonnegotiable protections are explicit.
The audit studies actual performance and user experience, not completion alone.
The team identifies aligned, weak, contradictory, and unnecessary elements.
One keep, change, or stop decision includes evidence and a return date.

IMPLEMENTATION STEPS

Restate the function

Clarify the need, intended result, users, safeguards, and connection to the school’s commitments.

Examine the evidence

Review timeliness, reliability, quality, burden, user experience, outcomes, and variation across groups.

Test alignment and integrity

Identify where the system reinforces, erodes, or ignores the intended vision and where implementation drifts.

Decide the next function test

Keep, revise, simplify, stop, or investigate one element and schedule evidence review.

WORKING ORGANIZER

Run the protocol.

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01Restate the functionClarify the need, intended result, users, safeguards, and connection to the school’s commitments.What is this system in service of?02Examine the evidenceReview timeliness, reliability, quality, burden, user experience, outcomes, and variation across groups.What does the system reliably produce—and what does it fail to produce?03Test alignment and integrityIdentify where the system reinforces, erodes, or ignores the intended vision and where implementation drifts.Where does the lived system contradict its stated purpose?04Decide the next function testKeep, revise, simplify, stop, or investigate one element and schedule evidence review.What is the smallest responsible decision we can make from this evidence?

Evidence to bring backReturn date

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REFLECTION PROMPTS

Are we protecting a process or achieving its purpose?
What evidence have we treated as success because it is easy to count?
Where does function vary by role or student group?

EQUITY GUARDRAILS

Preserve legal, contractual, safety, privacy, accessibility, and due-process requirements.
Disaggregate evidence when averages may conceal unequal outcomes.
Remove low-value burden rather than adding another audit layer.