Our new way of telling the story of what we do and how we do it. This presentation also unveils our updated framework: The Strategic System for Strong Schools, formerly known as School System 20/20.

2. Every School. Every Child.
Ready for Tomorrow.

3. 2
Every School. Every Child.
Ready for Tomorrow.
ERS is a national non-profit that partners with
district, school, and state leaders to transform how
they use resources (people, time, and money) so that
every school prepares every child for tomorrow,
no matter their race or income.

4. 3
Let’s start with the students

5. 4
Meet Adrian, a 6th grader at
Status Quo Middle School, who
wants to be an engineer but is
behind in math.

6. 5
Meet Adrian, a 6th grader at
Status Quo Middle School, who
wants to be an engineer but is
behind in math.
My Typical Day
I have 1 period of math and 1 of ELA with
no additional time for help.
I’m one of 120 students that my teacher is
responsible for, and most classes are 25-27
students. Most of my classmates are also struggling.
2 of my 6 teachers are novice, and only 1
was rated highly effective.

7. Now let’s consider the teachers

8. 7
Meet Adrian’s Teacher, Ms.
Andrews, a novice ELA teacher
in Status Quo Middle School.

9. 8
My Typical Day
I teach 5 out of 6 periods a day and
only get 1 period to plan.
I have 120 students to get to know.
My students have significant skill gaps.
My PLC team meets weekly to review
curriculum, but we rarely look at student
work. No one is helping us to guide
planning or provide lesson feedback.

10. 9
Districts face a triple squeeze:
A higher bar for
student learning and
greater needs
Unsustainable cost
structures
Flat or decreasing
revenue

11. 10
What if we could radically change
Adrian and Ms. Andrews’ experience
without spending more money?

12. 11
What if Ms. Andrews could…
Spend
90 min/ week
planning with her
team
Work with
< 50 students
Be paired with
a co-teacher
What if Adrian could…
Spend
1 hour/ day
in targeted intervention
Be in a class of
< 10 students
Be taught by
highly effective
teachers

13. 12
Impossible, you say?Impossible, you say?
It is hard but it is possible.

14. 13
For example, schools can…
ADJUST CLASS SIZE ADD TEACHER COLLABORATION TIME
Decrease classes in math by increasing
size of non-core classes
Avg. class
size
Status
Quo
Strategic
School
Math
Other core
Non-core
23
23
23
16
23
30
A 7-period schedule can increase
collaboration from 65 to 110 minutes/week
Status Quo Strategic School
Teach 5 of 6
Periods
4 days/week: Teach 6 of 7 periods
1 day/week: Teach 5 of 7 periods

15. 14
Some schools beat the odds.
Queens Metropolitan
New York
Regents Exam rose from 76%
to 83% in Algebra I and from
27% to 40% in Algebra II
Jeremiah E. Burke
Massachusetts
Math & ELA proficiency
rates have more than
doubled since 2010
Ridge Road
North Carolina
Suspension rates decreased
50%, and end of grade test
scores increased by 14%

16. 15
They beat the odds
by “doing school”
in new ways.
STRATEGIC
SCHOOL DESIGN

17. 16
ERS supports
school system leaders
to change the odds so
that every school and
every child can thrive.
THE STRATEGIC
SYSTEM
for strong schools

18. 17
We focus on five
resource-intensive
areas of system
design.
THE STRATEGIC
SYSTEM
for strong schools

19. 18
What could districts do
to change the odds?
Human
Capital

20. 19
Connect professional learning to
curriculum, team planning, and feedback
Support principals with talent
management
Compensate teachers for their
contributions
For example...
What could districts do
to change the odds?
Human
Capital

21. 20
What could districts do
to change the odds?

22. 21
For example...
What could districts do
to change the odds?
Allocate resources equitably—
adjusted for student need
Offer schools flexibility and support
to use people, time, and money
strategically
Make resource levels and use
transparent

23. 22
What could districts do
to change the odds?

24. 23
Redesign school planning, staffing,
and budget processes
Differentiate principal support
Maximize service quality and
efficiency
For example...
What could districts do
to change the odds?

25. 24
We support system leaders to make
shifts in these five areas through:

26. 25
Data:
Analysis &
Benchmarking
Implementation:
Planning & Monitoring
Design:
Prototypes, trade-offs,
& consensus building

27. 26
We offer three forms of support
Workshops,
webinars, and events
Do-it-yourself tools
and research
Partnerships with
districts and states

28. 27
We partner with districts across the country to transform
resource use so that every school succeeds for every student.
Current State Work
Past State Work
Current District
Work
Past District Work
CLICK FOR CITY DETAIL

29. 28
Partnership Service Offerings
Strategic System Snapshot
Targeted Implementation and Design
Strategic Resource Map

30. 29
Our track record in multi-year partnerships:
Cleveland Metropolitan School District
Situation: The “Cleveland Plan”
is launched
ERS: Strategic Resource Snapshot;
budgeting model design and
implementation; central office
redesign; school design training
Outcome: All four sections of 2015
Nation’s Report Card improved,
enrollment increased, school leaders
control 71% of spending vs. 2%, high-
needs schools receive 6% more
Cleveland

31. 30
Our track record in multi-year partnerships:
Cleveland Metropolitan School District
Cleveland
“Our work with ERS
has empowered us to truly
own our strategy as district
leaders and become better
partners to the schools
we serve.
”— John Scanlan, former Chief Financial
Officer, CMSD
MORE ON CLEVELAND

32. 31
Our track record in multi-year partnerships:
Baltimore City Public Schools
Situation: $130 million deficit
ERS: Strategic Resource
Snapshot; detailed budget
analysis; resource
reallocations
Outcome: $180 million in
additional funding from city and
state over three years
Baltimore

33. 32
Our track record in multi-year partnerships:
Baltimore City Public Schools
Baltimore
“I’ve been inundated
with so much information,
and this is by far the most
strategic, easiest to
understand and most
useful.
”— Dr. Sonja Santelises, Superintendent of
Baltimore City Public Schools

34. 33
Our track record in multi-year partnerships:
Oakland Unified School District
Oakland
Situation: Improve student
performance and graduation rate,
which was under 65%
ERS: Analysis revealed schools had
schedule structures that prevented a
typical student from taking the
courses he or she needed to graduate
Outcome: All students in Oakland
today can access the courses
required for graduation

35. 34
Our track record in multi-year partnerships:
Oakland Unified School District
“ERS has the scheduling
tools that are applicable,
helpful and reflect best practices
in scheduling.
”— Preston Thomas,
OUSD Network Superintendent
Oakland

36. 35
Our track record in multi-year partnerships:
New York State
Situation: New York designated a
cohort of eight districts to identify
opportunities to realign resources
ERS: Strategic Resource Mapping;
district workshops; state-level analysis
with policy recommendations
Outcome: Identified $24 billion
available to reallocate for greater
student achievement and each district
in the cohort had a final action plan to
realize these opportunities

37. 36
Our track record in multi-year partnerships:
New York State
“When we first started with ERS,
we were a little bit skeptical, but as we
began the work, we saw real areas that
we can address… (this process)
provided an opportunity to challenge our
thinking, to challenge the way that we do
things, in an effort to move our student
achievement to a higher level.
”— Dawn Mirand, Superintendent, Kenmore-Town
of Tonawanda School District (approx. 7,000 students)

38. 37
We facilitate workshops, webinars, and events to
build skills in resource transformation

39. 38
In partnership with many other organizations that
support district and state leaders and policymakers, like:
• Achievement Network
• Advance Illinois
• American Institutes for Research (AIR)
• The Annenberg Institute on School Reform
• The Aspen Institute
• Association of School Business Officials (ASBO)
• The Center for American Progress
• Center on Reinventing Public Education (CRPE)
• Chiefs for Change
• The Council of the Chief State School Officers
(CCSSO)
• Ed Build
• Education Counsel
• Education First
• The Education Trust
• GO Oakland
• Large Countywide and Suburban District
Consortium
• Leading Educators
• Learning Forward
• The Learning Policy Institute
• National Association of State Boards of
Education
• New Leaders
• New Teacher Center
• The Policy Innovators in Education (PIE)
Network
• Public Impact
• Relay Graduate School of Education
• Strategic Data Project
• Student Achievement Partners
• TNTP
• UnBoundEd
• The Urban Schools Human Capital Academy
• WestEd

40. 39
Our track record in workshops, webinars and events:
Tennessee Dept. of Education
Situation: Incorporate a
performance component into
teacher pay schedule
ERS: Held workshops on
redesigning teacher
compensation systems
Outcome: 83% of districts now
offer differentiated roles and pay
for teachers, 60% offer
differentiated pay for hard-to-staff
positions, 49% offer modified
teacher salary schedules, 40%
offer bonuses

41. 40
Our track record in workshops, webinars and events:
Tennessee Dept. of Education
“This is doable!
”— Tennessee school district leader
after an ERS workshop on redesigning
teacher compensation

42. 41
Our track record in workshops, webinars and events:
School District of Philadelphia
Philadelphia
Situation: Reimagine the
budget team’s role from
transactional to strategic
ERS: Held a “budget partner”
retreat
Outcome: Updated their school
budgeting tool to emphasize
connection between spending
and academic goals

43. 42
Our track record in workshops, webinars and events:
School District of Philadelphia
Philadelphia
“This retreat will help
me engage with site
administration in a different
way, to truly partner and
think through investment
strategies in a better way.
”— Budget Partner Retreat Philadelphia
participant

44. 43
We create DIY tools and research, based on years of
experience, to scale lessons learned

45. 44
We create DIY tools based on years of experience,
which help leaders scale lessons learned
School Designer

46. 45
We create DIY tools based on years of experience,
which help leaders scale lessons learned

47. 46
Our track record in DIY tools:
Marysville, Michigan
Marysville
ERS: Resource Check, our web-
based tool, allows groups to rate
practice across strategies and
analyze responses
Situation: Lagging student
performance and lack of unified
vision
Outcome: Created a group for
cabinet to use tool and published
plan, US News & Report ranked
Marysville top 6% in 2017

48. 47
Our track record in DIY tools:
Marysville, Michigan
Marysville
“ERS’ tool gave us
an effective way to
gauge our strengths and
misalignments against best
practices.
”— Shawn Wightman, Superintendent

49. 48
Nationally recognized team
Why are we uniquely positioned
to play this role?
Unrivaled data systems
Non-profit status enables collaboration

50. 49
We strive to incorporate our core values
into everything we do.
Impact
Teamwork
Candor
Learning
Work-Life Balance
Service

52. Cleveland
What does our work look
like on the ground?

53. In 2012-2014, we partnered with
Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD)
Fall
2012
Summer
2014
Resource Map
Summer 2013 - Summer 2014Fall 2012 - Summer 2013
Central Office
Redesign
Student-Based
Budgeting
Design
School Design
Training

54. First, we used the Strategic Resource Map analysis
to paint a picture of CMSD’s current resource use
Interviews with
District Leadership
Interviews with
Department Heads
HR and Evaluation Data
Student Performance
Expenditure Detail
Course Schedules
Student Enrollment
Payroll Detail
School Data
ANALYS
IS
ANALYS
IS
Strategic
Resource Map

55. The Strategic Resource Map revealed structures
that needed to change for SBB to succeed
Teacher compensation, effectiveness, and engagement:
• High spending on experience pay and education credits, rather
than responsibility and results
• 37% rated below average; 30% absent more than 14
days a year
School portfolio and spending:
• High Special Ed identification rates and high spending
on the program
• Over half of schools are “small schools”—not deliberately
Strategic School Design and school support from Central:
• School leaders lack flexibility, expertise, and time to use people,
time, and money to meet student needs and school goals
• Central office is not transparent or collaborative in how they
distribute resources to schools

56. Teaching effectiveness, compensation,
and career path
We supported CMSD to… define priorities to address teaching
effectiveness, and analyze collective bargaining options
CMSD took steps by…
Signing teachers’ contract in 2013 with 71% approval
• Differentiated compensation with raises based on
responsibility and results
• More scheduling flexibility for schools, to fit longer day
and more collaborative planning time
• Hiring and assignment done by school-based teams
Offering early retirement incentive to teachers
Managing out ~100 low-performing teachers

57. We supported CMSD to… design and implement a student-
based budgeting funding model
Now, in CMSD…
School leaders control 71% of school spending, as
opposed to 2% under the old model
The model includes weights for high and low achievement,
attendance, and mobility as well as special education and
ELL
High-needs schools received nearly 6% more on average in
total dollars per pupil under SBB
Student-Based Budgeting (SBB)

58. School Support redesign and
culture shift at Central Office
We supported CMSD to… create “Network Support Teams”
made up of representatives from finance, HR, special education,
and academics to coach schools as they create strategic school
plans
Now, in CMSD…
The Central Office is shifting from compliance monitor to
strategic partner, working with schools to “get to yes” on
ideas
90% of school leaders reported that clinics with “Network
Support Team” clinics were helpful

59. Strategic School Design training and roll-out
We supported CMSD to… offer resource flexibility and
training in strategic school design to a pilot cohort of schools;
train all CMSD schools in strategic school design;
Now, in CMSD…
School leaders have more flexibility and support to use
their people, time, and money strategically.
8 of 10 pilot schools plan to increase collaborative
planning time or implement targeted or flexible
student groupings

60. Strategic School Design training and roll-out
Allow math interventionist (who is highly effective in
Reading and Math) to push-in to support flexible
grouping and intervention in lower grades
Implement WIN (what I need) block
(intervention/enrichment); students regrouped
every 3 weeks
Reorganize schedule to ensure that teachers have
significant and meaningful time to plan in teams
(including for WIN block)
Utilize 5 extended year days for teaching
professional development and collaboration
Start an orientation program for new students
and parents
Implement a buddy/tutoring program and
“responsive classroom” model
Combined and increased PE class sizes
to support common planning time
Reduced .5 non-core teachers
Reduced substitute
spending
KEY CHANGES NOTABLE TRADE-OFFS

61. Strategic School Design training and roll-out
Allow math interventionist (who is highly effective in
Reading and Math) to push-in to support flexible
grouping and intervention in lower grades
Implement WIN (what I need) block
(intervention/enrichment); students regrouped
every 3 weeks
Reorganize schedule to ensure that teachers have
significant and meaningful time to plan in teams
(including for WIN block)
Utilize 5 extended year days for teaching
professional development and collaboration
Start an orientation program for new students
and parents
Implement a buddy/tutoring program and
“responsive classroom” model
Combined and increased PE class sizes
to support common planning time
Reduced .5 non-core teachers
Reduced substitute
spending
KEY CHANGES NOTABLE TRADE-OFFS

62. 61
We partner with districts across the country to transform
resource use so that every school succeeds for every student.
WEST COAST
California
Sacramento,
Oakland,
Los Angeles
Colorado
Denver
SOUTHWEST 15
Arizona
Arizona Community Foundation
New Mexico
Santa Fe, Albuquerque
Oklahoma
Tulsa
Texas
El Paso, Austin, Aldine, Spring
Branch
MIDWEST
Minnesota
St. Paul
Illinois
Chicago
Indiana
Indianapolis
Ohio
Cleveland, Cincinnati
Michigan
Michigan State University
SOUTH
Tennessee
Memphis, Nashville, Knox County,
TN Dept. of Education
Georgia
Atlanta, GA Dept. of Education
Florida
Duval County, Lake County,
Palm Beach County
North Carolina
Charlotte-Mecklenburg
Louisiana
Avoyelles Parish,
LA Dept. of Education
NORTHEAST
Massachusetts
Boston, Cambridge, Holyoke
Rhode Island
Providence
Connecticut
Hartford, Waterbury, New
Haven, Connecticut Council for
Education Reform
New York
Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse,
New York City, NY State Dept.
of Education
Pennsylvania
Philadelphia
New Jersey
Newark
Maryland
Baltimore,
Prince George’s County
Washington, D.C.
D.C. Public Schools
Current State Work
Past State Work
Current District Work
Past District Work

63. 62
We partner with districts across the country to transform
resource use so that every school succeeds for every student.
WEST COAST
California
Sacramento,
Oakland,
Los Angeles
Colorado
Denver
SOUTHWEST 15
Arizona
Arizona Community Foundation
New Mexico
Santa Fe, Albuquerque
Oklahoma
Tulsa
Texas
El Paso, Austin, Aldine, Spring
Branch
MIDWEST
Minnesota
St. Paul
Illinois
Chicago
Indiana
Indianapolis
Ohio
Cleveland, Cincinnati
Michigan
Michigan State University
SOUTH
Tennessee
Memphis, Nashville, Knox County,
TN Dept. of Education
Georgia
Atlanta, GA Dept. of Education
Florida
Duval County, Lake County,
Palm Beach County
North Carolina
Charlotte-Mecklenburg
Louisiana
Avoyelles Parish,
LA Dept. of Education
NORTHEAST
Massachusetts
Boston, Cambridge, Holyoke
Rhode Island
Providence
Connecticut
Hartford, Waterbury, New
Haven, Connecticut Council for
Education Reform
New York
Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse,
New York City, NY State Dept.
of Education
Pennsylvania
Philadelphia
New Jersey
Newark
Maryland
Baltimore,
Prince George’s County
Washington, D.C.
D.C. Public Schools
Current State Work
Past State Work
Current District Work
Past District Work