Autonomous district schools (sometimes called “in-district charters”) use some of the same freedoms that public charter schools enjoy while remaining part of the district. Enabled by innovative policies that support school-level autonomy, Springfield, Massachusetts; Indianapolis, Indiana; Denver, Colorado; and San Antonio, Texas, are experimenting with these types of schools. While these efforts are too new to have clear student impact data, autonomous district schools could be a promising strategy to improve districts’ ability to meet families’ and students’ needs and to improve outcomes.
“Autonomous District Schools: Lessons From the Field on a Promising Strategy” summarizes Bellwether’s work with San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD) over the past 18 months. The district has authorized three networks of autonomous district schools using a law that supports and incentivizes the creation of these schools. Bellwether provided program design support, strategic advice, and capacity building to SAISD’s Network Principal Initiative, and this deck offers an overview of the initiative and the lessons we learned about the launch of autonomous district schools.
This slide deck is accompanied by a tool kit, “Autonomous District Schools: Tools for Planning and Launching,” which offers concrete resources for leaders interested in planning an autonomous school or network.
A Guide for School Districts: Exploring Alternative Measures of Student Learn...Tanya Paperny
Districts across the country play a crucial role in ensuring schools effectively serve students and families. Beyond federal requirements in the Every Student Succeeds Act and state-level accountability systems, locally developed school performance frameworks are a key lever for holding schools accountable, particularly for student learning and wellness.
Today — with unfamiliar school configurations and unknown impacts on student outcomes — it is more important than ever that districts are diligent about assessing schools’ impact on students. But the ways that districts have done so in the past may no longer be appropriate. And districts that previously did not engage in school-level performance assessments now have a new incentive to do so.
This toolkit is a resource to help districts adapt existing school performance frameworks to the current moment or create new ones. These slides identify and walk through the fundamental questions districts need to consider in designing school performance frameworks that acknowledge the challenges that schools and students are facing, as well as a continued need to monitor performance and continuously improve.
Moving Toward Sustainability: Kansas City Teacher ResidencyJeremy Knight
Kansas City Teacher Residency (KCTR) is a teacher residency program that recruits, certifies, and develops teachers in the Kansas city region. Launched in 2016, by Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, KCTR has established a high-quality and diverse teacher preparatory program for Kansas City. In late 2018, Bellwether partnered with KCTR and Kauffman Foundation to redesign KCTR's program model to bring it in line with peer benchmarks and ensure long-term impact and sustainability. Over six months, Bellwether, in collaboration with KCTR's senior leadership team, Board, and key advisers, developed and began to implement a plan to put KCTR on a path to organizational and financial sustainability (initial changes significantly reduced the ongoing fundraising need). Key priorities identified in the plan included strengthening partnerships (with schools and university), optimizing KCTR expenditures, exploring new earned-revenue opportunities, and gradually growing the number of residents to full-scale. With the new plan, KCTR is prepared to continue the growth of impact while doing so in a sustainable manner, to ultimately fuel Kansas City with passionate, effective, and diverse educators.
Unfinished: Insights From Ongoing Work to Accelerate Outcomes for Students Wi...Jeremy Knight
Despite some gains over the past 20 years, significant numbers of students are not meeting grade-level expectations as defined by performance on academic assessments. Meanwhile, few schools are able to support the sort of accelerated academic learning needed to catch students up to grade-level expectations.
Evidence indicates this is not for lack of educator commitment or dedication. Instead, many educators lack clarity about how to help students catch up. Common messages about holding a high bar for academic rigor and personalizing learning to meet students where they are can be perceived as being at odds with one another.
“Unfinished: Insights From Ongoing Work to Accelerate Outcomes for Students With Learning Gaps” synthesizes a broad body of research on the science of learning in order to inform efforts to help students close gaps and meet grade-level expectations. This deck argues that helping students catch up is not about rigor or personalization — classrooms need both.
Closing learning gaps requires students to be motivated and engaged to grapple with challenging, grade-level skills and knowledge — while also having their individual learning needs met.
The report identifies what must happen among educators, systems-level leaders, teacher developers, instructional materials providers, and technology experts to move beyond the dichotomy of “rigor versus personalization” and toward a future that effectively blends the two.
A School Leader’s Guide to Effective Stakeholder EngagementTanya Paperny
Families, teachers, and communities all have varying perspectives on what
the school year can and should hold for students. School leaders need to
balance these voices in decision-making through effective and authentic
stakeholder engagement.
Stakeholder engagement is essential for school leaders confronting change
and uncertainty. And yet there are better and worse ways for school leaders
to engage stakeholders in their decision-making processes: It’s far too easy to
neglect important groups, spend too much time with some groups and not
enough with others, or fail to take into account how past decisions and
community context may affect the perception of leadership decisions.
“A School Leader’s Guide to Effective Stakeholder Engagement” [LINK TK]
can help school leaders avoid these pitfalls. This slide deck provides an
overview of stakeholder engagement and easy-to-understand steps, and a
linked workbook (on slide 5) provides a resource to support school leaders as
they implement their approach.
Charter schools currently serve 3 million students in more than 7,000 schools across 44 states and Washington, D.C. And their reach continues to grow: Since 2005, the number of charter schools in the U.S. has nearly doubled, and the number of charter students has nearly tripled.
Despite being an enduring presence in the nation’s education space, charter schools remain a topic of ongoing debate. The State of the Charter Sector provides the latest available information on charter schools across the country, including updated data on growth, performance, and geographic trends. It also includes analyses of the challenges that charter schools face and how the sector is trying to address them.
This comprehensive slide deck updates our 2015 State of the Charter School Movement, and together, these resources serve as a fact base to cut through the rhetoric that often accompanies conversations about charter schools.
The goal of this analysis is not to persuade, but to inform. As the charter sector continues to grow and improve, it needs a rigorous, evidence-based debate around its weaknesses and strengths. Accurate information is crucial for thoughtful policymaking and, ultimately, to ensuring all students have access to a high-quality education.
Toward Equitable Access and Affordability: How Private Schools and Microschoo...Jeremy Knight
In recent decades, tuition increases in independent schools have outpaced inflation and wage growth, while thousands of Catholic parochial schools — which historically have provided private education at a much lower cost — have closed, leaving middle- and low-income families with few affordable options.
Meanwhile, families across socioeconomic groups express interest in private schooling. While private schools consistently serve about 10% of U.S. students, 40% of parents say they would prefer private schools. These trends suggest a need to look more closely at efforts to increase affordability in private schools and ensure that all families have equitable access to the schools of their choice.
In “Toward Equitable Access and Affordability: How Private Schools and Microschools Seek to Serve Middle- and Low-Income Students,” we sought to understand the landscape of private schools working to provide an affordable education by looking at the approaches they are taking and how they are revisiting traditional operating models. We profile a variety of strategies used by schools to improve access for middle- and low-income families. Some schools rely on reducing the costs to families (i.e., tuition) by providing significant financial aid or partnering with scholarship programs, some have found inventive new revenue streams, and some have streamlined operations and leveraged technology to reduce their per-pupil expenditures.
One category of private schools, the microschool, merited a closer look due to its profoundly different operational and financial model. Through surveys and interviews with microschool leaders and experts around the country, this report seeks to further define this emerging sector of intentionally small, educationally innovative schools and to explore their potential as an affordable independent school option.
Ultimately, this overview of low-cost private schools and microschools surfaced questions about improving equity in private education. The profiles of schools aiming to serve middle- and low-income families highlight unsolved puzzles about how to balance that mission with financial sustainability. The analysis also raises questions about the role of private schools in serving families with more limited means, and about the potential of low-cost models to scale and innovate. Further exploration of these questions is essential to ensuring that in the private sector as well as the public sector, all families have equal access to high-quality options.
Teacher Pension Plans: How They Work, and How They Affect Recruitment, Retent...Jeremy Knight
About 90 percent of public school teachers today are enrolled in defined benefit pension plans operated by their state. Most of these state-run plans were created decades ago, and they have not adjusted to serve the mobile teaching workforce in today’s modern society. While they do serve some long-serving veteran teachers well, the plans also leave many short- and medium-term teachers with less-than-adequate benefits.
In “Teacher Pension Plans: How They Work, and How They Affect Recruitment, Retention, and Equity,” we look at the history of these plans and how they interact with key education issues facing our schools today, including attracting and retaining high-quality teachers and providing equitable resources for disadvantaged students. While there are no easy or one-size-fits-all solutions, this deck concludes with examples of states that have re-designed their retirement systems to better meet the needs of teachers, taxpayers, and the general public.
The Challenges and Opportunities in School Transportation TodayJeremy Knight
Every day, America’s fleet of roughly 480,000 school buses transports more than a third of students to and from school. This fleet is more than twice the size of all other forms of mass transit combined, including bus, rail, and airline transportation.
A Guide for School Districts: Exploring Alternative Measures of Student Learn...Tanya Paperny
Districts across the country play a crucial role in ensuring schools effectively serve students and families. Beyond federal requirements in the Every Student Succeeds Act and state-level accountability systems, locally developed school performance frameworks are a key lever for holding schools accountable, particularly for student learning and wellness.
Today — with unfamiliar school configurations and unknown impacts on student outcomes — it is more important than ever that districts are diligent about assessing schools’ impact on students. But the ways that districts have done so in the past may no longer be appropriate. And districts that previously did not engage in school-level performance assessments now have a new incentive to do so.
This toolkit is a resource to help districts adapt existing school performance frameworks to the current moment or create new ones. These slides identify and walk through the fundamental questions districts need to consider in designing school performance frameworks that acknowledge the challenges that schools and students are facing, as well as a continued need to monitor performance and continuously improve.
Moving Toward Sustainability: Kansas City Teacher ResidencyJeremy Knight
Kansas City Teacher Residency (KCTR) is a teacher residency program that recruits, certifies, and develops teachers in the Kansas city region. Launched in 2016, by Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, KCTR has established a high-quality and diverse teacher preparatory program for Kansas City. In late 2018, Bellwether partnered with KCTR and Kauffman Foundation to redesign KCTR's program model to bring it in line with peer benchmarks and ensure long-term impact and sustainability. Over six months, Bellwether, in collaboration with KCTR's senior leadership team, Board, and key advisers, developed and began to implement a plan to put KCTR on a path to organizational and financial sustainability (initial changes significantly reduced the ongoing fundraising need). Key priorities identified in the plan included strengthening partnerships (with schools and university), optimizing KCTR expenditures, exploring new earned-revenue opportunities, and gradually growing the number of residents to full-scale. With the new plan, KCTR is prepared to continue the growth of impact while doing so in a sustainable manner, to ultimately fuel Kansas City with passionate, effective, and diverse educators.
Unfinished: Insights From Ongoing Work to Accelerate Outcomes for Students Wi...Jeremy Knight
Despite some gains over the past 20 years, significant numbers of students are not meeting grade-level expectations as defined by performance on academic assessments. Meanwhile, few schools are able to support the sort of accelerated academic learning needed to catch students up to grade-level expectations.
Evidence indicates this is not for lack of educator commitment or dedication. Instead, many educators lack clarity about how to help students catch up. Common messages about holding a high bar for academic rigor and personalizing learning to meet students where they are can be perceived as being at odds with one another.
“Unfinished: Insights From Ongoing Work to Accelerate Outcomes for Students With Learning Gaps” synthesizes a broad body of research on the science of learning in order to inform efforts to help students close gaps and meet grade-level expectations. This deck argues that helping students catch up is not about rigor or personalization — classrooms need both.
Closing learning gaps requires students to be motivated and engaged to grapple with challenging, grade-level skills and knowledge — while also having their individual learning needs met.
The report identifies what must happen among educators, systems-level leaders, teacher developers, instructional materials providers, and technology experts to move beyond the dichotomy of “rigor versus personalization” and toward a future that effectively blends the two.
A School Leader’s Guide to Effective Stakeholder EngagementTanya Paperny
Families, teachers, and communities all have varying perspectives on what
the school year can and should hold for students. School leaders need to
balance these voices in decision-making through effective and authentic
stakeholder engagement.
Stakeholder engagement is essential for school leaders confronting change
and uncertainty. And yet there are better and worse ways for school leaders
to engage stakeholders in their decision-making processes: It’s far too easy to
neglect important groups, spend too much time with some groups and not
enough with others, or fail to take into account how past decisions and
community context may affect the perception of leadership decisions.
“A School Leader’s Guide to Effective Stakeholder Engagement” [LINK TK]
can help school leaders avoid these pitfalls. This slide deck provides an
overview of stakeholder engagement and easy-to-understand steps, and a
linked workbook (on slide 5) provides a resource to support school leaders as
they implement their approach.
Charter schools currently serve 3 million students in more than 7,000 schools across 44 states and Washington, D.C. And their reach continues to grow: Since 2005, the number of charter schools in the U.S. has nearly doubled, and the number of charter students has nearly tripled.
Despite being an enduring presence in the nation’s education space, charter schools remain a topic of ongoing debate. The State of the Charter Sector provides the latest available information on charter schools across the country, including updated data on growth, performance, and geographic trends. It also includes analyses of the challenges that charter schools face and how the sector is trying to address them.
This comprehensive slide deck updates our 2015 State of the Charter School Movement, and together, these resources serve as a fact base to cut through the rhetoric that often accompanies conversations about charter schools.
The goal of this analysis is not to persuade, but to inform. As the charter sector continues to grow and improve, it needs a rigorous, evidence-based debate around its weaknesses and strengths. Accurate information is crucial for thoughtful policymaking and, ultimately, to ensuring all students have access to a high-quality education.
Toward Equitable Access and Affordability: How Private Schools and Microschoo...Jeremy Knight
In recent decades, tuition increases in independent schools have outpaced inflation and wage growth, while thousands of Catholic parochial schools — which historically have provided private education at a much lower cost — have closed, leaving middle- and low-income families with few affordable options.
Meanwhile, families across socioeconomic groups express interest in private schooling. While private schools consistently serve about 10% of U.S. students, 40% of parents say they would prefer private schools. These trends suggest a need to look more closely at efforts to increase affordability in private schools and ensure that all families have equitable access to the schools of their choice.
In “Toward Equitable Access and Affordability: How Private Schools and Microschools Seek to Serve Middle- and Low-Income Students,” we sought to understand the landscape of private schools working to provide an affordable education by looking at the approaches they are taking and how they are revisiting traditional operating models. We profile a variety of strategies used by schools to improve access for middle- and low-income families. Some schools rely on reducing the costs to families (i.e., tuition) by providing significant financial aid or partnering with scholarship programs, some have found inventive new revenue streams, and some have streamlined operations and leveraged technology to reduce their per-pupil expenditures.
One category of private schools, the microschool, merited a closer look due to its profoundly different operational and financial model. Through surveys and interviews with microschool leaders and experts around the country, this report seeks to further define this emerging sector of intentionally small, educationally innovative schools and to explore their potential as an affordable independent school option.
Ultimately, this overview of low-cost private schools and microschools surfaced questions about improving equity in private education. The profiles of schools aiming to serve middle- and low-income families highlight unsolved puzzles about how to balance that mission with financial sustainability. The analysis also raises questions about the role of private schools in serving families with more limited means, and about the potential of low-cost models to scale and innovate. Further exploration of these questions is essential to ensuring that in the private sector as well as the public sector, all families have equal access to high-quality options.
Teacher Pension Plans: How They Work, and How They Affect Recruitment, Retent...Jeremy Knight
About 90 percent of public school teachers today are enrolled in defined benefit pension plans operated by their state. Most of these state-run plans were created decades ago, and they have not adjusted to serve the mobile teaching workforce in today’s modern society. While they do serve some long-serving veteran teachers well, the plans also leave many short- and medium-term teachers with less-than-adequate benefits.
In “Teacher Pension Plans: How They Work, and How They Affect Recruitment, Retention, and Equity,” we look at the history of these plans and how they interact with key education issues facing our schools today, including attracting and retaining high-quality teachers and providing equitable resources for disadvantaged students. While there are no easy or one-size-fits-all solutions, this deck concludes with examples of states that have re-designed their retirement systems to better meet the needs of teachers, taxpayers, and the general public.
The Challenges and Opportunities in School Transportation TodayJeremy Knight
Every day, America’s fleet of roughly 480,000 school buses transports more than a third of students to and from school. This fleet is more than twice the size of all other forms of mass transit combined, including bus, rail, and airline transportation.
Teacher evaluations-and-local-flexibilityDavid Black
School Improvement Network conducted study of 50 state department of education officials who are responsible for implementing teacher evaluation policy to better understand state teacher evaluation policy and how much flexibility districts have at the local level to implement state requirements. The goal was to inform ourselves, school districts and local schools how much freedom and flexibility, or lack thereof, they have to innovate on behalf of their own teachers and students particularly when it comes to using technology to achieve their professional development needs.
How to Develop a Response to Intervention ModelAmy Robertson
Schools need a way to identify struggling students so they can intervene immediately to alter the course of action for students. Learn the 10 steps to developing an RTI model at your school with this eBook.
Teacher quality and related issues (i.e., teacher preparation, recruitment, and professional development) ranked among the highest priority areas among a sample of education policymakers surveyed by the Institute of Education Sciences. And it is not surprising that quality teaching also emerged as a central theme in one recent series of Policy Forums.
Jeff C. Palmer is a teacher, success coach, trainer, Certified Master of Web Copywriting and founder of https://Ebookschoice.com. Jeff is a prolific writer, Senior Research Associate and Infopreneur having written many eBooks, articles and special reports.
Source: https://ezinearticles.com/?Overcoming-Challenging-School-Environments&id=10174636
Educating Youth in Short-Term DetentionTanya Paperny
Each year thousands of youth in America are uprooted from their schools and communities and sent to a juvenile justice detention center. The majority of these confined youth are there for nonviolent offenses, including technical violations, such as failing to complete treatment or violating probation. Even youth awaiting foster care placement can be placed in a detention center. Over the course of a year, we estimate between 90,000 and 170,000 youth spend at least one day in a short-term detention center, and over 40% are detained for more than a month.
While in these facilities, young people are entitled to the same educational opportunities that they would have in the outside world. However, there is little research or data about this population.
In “Educating Youth in Short-Term Detention,” we found that youth’s educational experiences in these facilities often compound, rather than alleviate, the challenges they face. They are commonly unenrolled from their home school once they are arrested, and while detained, youth often do not receive coursework aligned with their needs, nor do they receive credit for the work they complete. Moreover, once they’re released, youth face significant challenges reenrolling in school, so even a brief period in confinement can severely disrupt a youth’s education.
Helping students navigate an interconnected world — What to expect from PISA ...EduSkills OECD
Today’s students live in an interconnected, diverse and rapidly changing world. In this complex environment, a student’s ability to understand the world and appreciate the multiple different perspectives they are likely to encounter is key to their success.
In 2018, the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) conducted its first evaluation of students’ capacity to live in an interconnected world. The assessment focused on students’ knowledge of issues of local and global significance, including public health, economic and environmental issues, as well as their intercultural knowledge, skills and attitudes. The results of this assessment – PISA 2018 Volume VI – will be launched on 22 October.
Want to get a head start on what this latest Volume is all about? Andreas Schleicher, OECD Director for Education and Skills, unveils the main themes addressed in Volume VI and what to expect from the data.
Launched in 2005, Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP) is a national initiative that champions the importance of a twenty-first-century liberal education—for individual students and for a nation dependent on economic creativity and democratic vitality.
A Conversation about Accountability Challenges Associated with Authorizing Sc...Leslie Talbot
The purpose of this session was to create a forum for open dialogue among attendees of the 2017 Alternative Accountability Policy Forum regarding challenges associated with authorizing schools serving majority opportunity youth. Authorizers from NY and DC illuminated approaches underway in their states, as moderator Leslie Talbot posed and probed for answers to audience questions. Key take-aways from this session are included.
The Fundamentals of Charter Authorization for Schools Serving Majority Opportunity Youth Populations:
In the summer of 2013, The Missouri Board of Education
posed the question: what is the appropriate role for
the state in the support of and possible intervention
in unaccredited school districts, if the goal is achieving
dramatic student achievement gains? This report
provides recommendations to answer that question
and represents a comprehensive vision for an urban
school system that fosters the conditions schools,
educators, parents, and students need for success.
While we focus here on the Kansas City Public Schools
(KCPS), these recommendations could also guide state
intervention in other unaccredited districts.
Teacher evaluations-and-local-flexibilityDavid Black
School Improvement Network conducted study of 50 state department of education officials who are responsible for implementing teacher evaluation policy to better understand state teacher evaluation policy and how much flexibility districts have at the local level to implement state requirements. The goal was to inform ourselves, school districts and local schools how much freedom and flexibility, or lack thereof, they have to innovate on behalf of their own teachers and students particularly when it comes to using technology to achieve their professional development needs.
How to Develop a Response to Intervention ModelAmy Robertson
Schools need a way to identify struggling students so they can intervene immediately to alter the course of action for students. Learn the 10 steps to developing an RTI model at your school with this eBook.
Teacher quality and related issues (i.e., teacher preparation, recruitment, and professional development) ranked among the highest priority areas among a sample of education policymakers surveyed by the Institute of Education Sciences. And it is not surprising that quality teaching also emerged as a central theme in one recent series of Policy Forums.
Jeff C. Palmer is a teacher, success coach, trainer, Certified Master of Web Copywriting and founder of https://Ebookschoice.com. Jeff is a prolific writer, Senior Research Associate and Infopreneur having written many eBooks, articles and special reports.
Source: https://ezinearticles.com/?Overcoming-Challenging-School-Environments&id=10174636
Educating Youth in Short-Term DetentionTanya Paperny
Each year thousands of youth in America are uprooted from their schools and communities and sent to a juvenile justice detention center. The majority of these confined youth are there for nonviolent offenses, including technical violations, such as failing to complete treatment or violating probation. Even youth awaiting foster care placement can be placed in a detention center. Over the course of a year, we estimate between 90,000 and 170,000 youth spend at least one day in a short-term detention center, and over 40% are detained for more than a month.
While in these facilities, young people are entitled to the same educational opportunities that they would have in the outside world. However, there is little research or data about this population.
In “Educating Youth in Short-Term Detention,” we found that youth’s educational experiences in these facilities often compound, rather than alleviate, the challenges they face. They are commonly unenrolled from their home school once they are arrested, and while detained, youth often do not receive coursework aligned with their needs, nor do they receive credit for the work they complete. Moreover, once they’re released, youth face significant challenges reenrolling in school, so even a brief period in confinement can severely disrupt a youth’s education.
Helping students navigate an interconnected world — What to expect from PISA ...EduSkills OECD
Today’s students live in an interconnected, diverse and rapidly changing world. In this complex environment, a student’s ability to understand the world and appreciate the multiple different perspectives they are likely to encounter is key to their success.
In 2018, the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) conducted its first evaluation of students’ capacity to live in an interconnected world. The assessment focused on students’ knowledge of issues of local and global significance, including public health, economic and environmental issues, as well as their intercultural knowledge, skills and attitudes. The results of this assessment – PISA 2018 Volume VI – will be launched on 22 October.
Want to get a head start on what this latest Volume is all about? Andreas Schleicher, OECD Director for Education and Skills, unveils the main themes addressed in Volume VI and what to expect from the data.
Launched in 2005, Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP) is a national initiative that champions the importance of a twenty-first-century liberal education—for individual students and for a nation dependent on economic creativity and democratic vitality.
A Conversation about Accountability Challenges Associated with Authorizing Sc...Leslie Talbot
The purpose of this session was to create a forum for open dialogue among attendees of the 2017 Alternative Accountability Policy Forum regarding challenges associated with authorizing schools serving majority opportunity youth. Authorizers from NY and DC illuminated approaches underway in their states, as moderator Leslie Talbot posed and probed for answers to audience questions. Key take-aways from this session are included.
The Fundamentals of Charter Authorization for Schools Serving Majority Opportunity Youth Populations:
In the summer of 2013, The Missouri Board of Education
posed the question: what is the appropriate role for
the state in the support of and possible intervention
in unaccredited school districts, if the goal is achieving
dramatic student achievement gains? This report
provides recommendations to answer that question
and represents a comprehensive vision for an urban
school system that fosters the conditions schools,
educators, parents, and students need for success.
While we focus here on the Kansas City Public Schools
(KCPS), these recommendations could also guide state
intervention in other unaccredited districts.
Creating Schools That Are Successful In Teaching And Learningnoblex1
Nationwide, low-performing schools are high on the agenda of urban school reform leaders. The current focus reverses the neglect that has plagued these schools for years. Many of them are situated in distressed communities that show the results of years of disinvestment, communities where a growing concentration of poverty and its consequences has taken a social and economic toll. These issues spill over into the schools. These schools, nevertheless, must teach all children to high standards of achievement and mastery, with no excuses.
Most urban schools are vulnerable to society's preconceptions or biases regarding race and ethnicity, income, and class. But problems affecting academic achievement are just as likely to begin in the schools. Teachers' low expectations for student performance, whether out of misplaced sympathy, burn-out or frustration, are self-fulfilling prophecies. Low expectations produce a correspondingly low level of curriculum that is taught in an unengaging manner, that results in low levels of student achievement.
We believe that reciprocal accountability is critical to creating schools that are successful in teaching and learning.
Urban schools, and public education in general, have been undergoing fundamental review. Broad and accelerating changes in society are demanding higher standards of performance than ever before from the nation's public schools. In response, national, state and local leaders are developing academic standards for what children should know and be able to do at specific stages in their education. Almost every state has adopted or is in the final stages of adopting standards, and many states are aligning teacher certification, testing and accountability provisions to the standards. Within this context, school districts across the country have decided to intervene and take an active role in addressing low school performance. The educational interventions are long overdue and welcome, if done well. The high visibility, take-charge leadership of some urban superintendents has a broadly beneficial result of increasing public confidence in urban public education. It is important, however, to explore these interventions to see if they result in serious improvement in teaching and learning in schools. It would be unfortunate if the only results were slightly improved standardized test scores that provided a positive "spin" for political leaders.
As school districts across the country began aggressive interventions in low-performing schools, we decided to examine these interventions and, at the other end of the spectrum, initiatives that recognize school success. This report describes, analyzes and draws lessons and recommendations from the current interventions, which are primarily district-led.
Source: https://ebookschoice.com/creating-schools-that-are-successful-in-teaching-and-learning/
Pat Ashley, cohort director of N.C. State's Educational Leadership Academy, shared an overview of efforts in North Carolina over the last couple of decades to turn around low-performing schools to the Governor's Commission on Access to Sound Basic Education.
Similar to Autonomous District Schools: Lessons From the Field on a Promising Strategy (20)
Wide Open Spaces: Schooling in Rural America TodayJeremy Knight
Fourteen percent of the nation’s population lives in rural communities, and one in five K-12 students attends a rural school — a substantial proportion of America’s school population. Despite increased attention from the national education policy community in recent years, too many rural communities and schools continue to struggle to provide their students with quality educational opportunities. Common approaches to education reform that may work in urban communities often fail to take into account the unique assets and challenges facing rural schools.
“Wide Open Spaces: Schooling in Rural America Today” provides education policymakers with a factbase on America’s rural schools and communities: the economic and academic challenges they face, their unique assets, and opportunities for improvement. This resource highlights some of the challenges facing schools and students, including limited economic opportunity, poor access to healthcare, and social challenges like drug addiction. It also provides an overview of available data on student outcomes, including National Assessment of Educational Progress data and graduation rates. These data reveal that while rural students appear to be doing better on average than students in some other geographies, there are real gaps among subgroups and barriers to postsecondary opportunities that hinder many rural students from achieving their full academic potential.
Even so, rural communities’ assets provide opportunities to create and sustain meaningful change. Compared with other geographies, rural communities tend to place high value on civic and community engagement and support tight-knit networks among residents. Community members tend to have a deep sense of and commitment to place that dates back generations. And at a state and national level, rural communities represent a powerful political voice.
“Wide Open Spaces: Schooling in Rural America Today” aims to equip advocates, decision-makers, and other stakeholders with a shared understanding of rural education to generate a more accurate and nuanced policy response.
Patterns and Trends in Educational Opportunity for Students in Juvenile Justi...Jeremy Knight
Every two years the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights conducts the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC), which includes information about school demographics, course enrollment, discipline, and other measures of school quality. For the first time in 2013-14 and again in 2015-16, the CRDC included juvenile justice schools, which serve approximately 50,000 adjudicated youth placed in secure facilities across the country.
Students’ educational experiences in juvenile justice facilities have historically gone unnoticed. Due to the unique and relatively small population they serve, these schools are typically exempt from traditional state and federal data collection. The two most recent surveys from the CRDC offer limited insight, leading our team to analyze only 18 states in 2013-14 and 15 states in 2015-16. Our analysis includes a comparison of student access to critical math and science courses disaggregated by race and ethnicity.
In “Patterns and Trends in Educational Opportunity for Students in Juvenile Justice Schools: Updates and New Insights,” we found that juvenile justice facilities fail to provide adjudicated youth with sufficient access to the courses they need to graduate high school. For example, students in juvenile justice facilities are 25 percent less likely to have access to Algebra I, a foundational class required for graduation. Moreover, these facilities offer only limited access to credit recovery programs, which are critical to helping students recoup course credits that they missed or failed to complete earlier in their academic careers.
A closer look at the data reveals that while all youth in juvenile justice facilities experience inadequate access to important classes, no group of students has less access than Native American youth. Only 63% of Native youth in juvenile justice schools have access to Algebra I compared with 79% of white students. This pattern persists in the sciences. Forty-seven percent of Native students have access to biology compared with 70% of white students. Indeed, among all groups of students in juvenile justice facilities, Native students have the lowest access to math and science courses.
These alarming statistics make clear that juvenile justice systems must do a better job providing incarcerated youth with the educational opportunities they need to get back on track. Improving the quality of data about students’ educational experiences in juvenile justice facilities is a critical first step. States — which typically run these schools — can then use improved data to increase resources to these facilities and ensure students are enrolled in the proper classes. These steps will help juvenile justice facilities perform their rehabilitative functions rather than further punishing youth by severely limiting their educational opportunities.
Education in the American South: Historical Context, Current State, and Futur...Jeremy Knight
The deck provides a detailed analysis of academic outcomes in Southern states, placing them in historical, economic, and political context. It also traces the development of public schools in the South and shows that the modern education reform movement has its roots in the South, where strategies like accountability, charter schools, private school choice, and school governance reform were first piloted.
Education in the American South: Historical Context, Current State, and Futur...Jeremy Knight
The deck provides a detailed analysis of academic outcomes in Southern states, placing them in historical, economic, and political context. It also traces the development of public schools in the South and shows that the modern education reform movement has its roots in the South, where strategies like accountability, charter schools, private school choice, and school governance reform were first piloted.
Education in the American South: Historical Context, Current State, and Futur...Jeremy Knight
The deck provides a detailed analysis of academic outcomes in Southern states, placing them in historical, economic, and political context. It also traces the development of public schools in the South and shows that the modern education reform movement has its roots in the South, where strategies like accountability, charter schools, private school choice, and school governance reform were first piloted.
Overview of the History and Status of Teachers’ UnionsJeremy Knight
Teachers’ unions are a powerful force in local, state, and federal politics, but Janus vs. the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) could change that. At the heart of this case is a key source of union revenue: agency fees.
Public sector unions, including teachers’ unions, collect revenue from the professionals they represent. From members, they collect membership dues that can be used for a wide range of activities, including political advocacy. In 22 states and D.C., unions can collect so-called “agency fees” from nonmembers. These fees are typically less than full membership dues and enable workers to opt out of supporting unions’ political activities while still supporting unions’ collective bargaining activities that benefit all workers.
If the Court overturns long-standing precedent and rules mandatory agency fees unconstitutional, it will likely have far-reaching effects on unions’ finances, and subsequently, on their power and influence. But to fully understand the potential effects of the Janus decision, it is necessary to first understand the history and current context in which teachers’ unions are operating. We created this slide deck to ensure that sector leaders, reporters, and commentators have a reliable resource to access this key information.
The deck begins with an overview of the history of public and private sector unions dating back to the early 1900s. It then provides a summary of the history and current status of teachers’ unions specifically: major successes related to collective bargaining, controversy and criticism surrounding their increasing political activities, and their response to the increasing accountability in federal education legislation. We then offer current data and information on the nation’s two largest teachers’ unions, including membership data, financial data, a description of their organizational structure and the services they provide, and an overview of recent activities including teacher strikes and walkouts. We conclude the deck by summarizing the Janus case and its potential impacts on teachers’ unions and offering questions yet to be answered about the future of teachers’ unions post-Janus.
This analysis offers an accurate and objective set of information to those wanting to inform their understanding of this historic case.
Measuring Educational Opportunity in Juvenile Justice SchoolsJeremy Knight
Every two years, the Office for Civil Rights, a division of the U.S. Department of Education, conducts a civil rights data collection that includes information about school demographics, course enrollment, discipline, and other measures of school-based experience. In 2013, the office collected data from schools identified as juvenile justice schools for the first time. These schools serve only students placed in secure facilities by law enforcement or courts, and there are approximately 50,000 young people across the country in these on any given day.
Because of their unique position and small student populations, juvenile justice schools are historically exempt from most common state and federal measures of education achievement. In fact, this 2013 data set offers the first opportunity to establish a data baseline across states.
However, in attempting to conduct an analysis of the available data from 2013, the Bellwether team discovered troubling inconsistencies in the data set that suggested inaccurate or incomplete data collection. In order to conduct a credible analysis, we cross-referenced the Office for Civil Rights data with residential facility census data collected by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. This revealed serious deficiencies in most states’ data; in fact, only 18 states provided credible data about enrollment and achievement in their juvenile justice schools.
We were able to draw some conclusions about higher-level math and science course access and enrollment from the available data. However, without more accurate and more nuanced data collection from the Office for Civil Rights, these conclusions are of limited utility to policymakers and program leaders. Both the conclusions and recommendations for improved data collection practices are presented in this deck.
Retaining High Performers: Insights from DC Public Schools’ Teacher Exit SurveyJeremy Knight
As school districts across the country report various kinds of teacher shortages, how to retain teachers has emerged as a key area of interest for district leaders and policymakers. There are a variety of incentives and strategies to keep teachers in the profession, but which ones are most effective? Asking teachers themselves yields answers, some of which cut against the grain of conventional wisdom in the education community.
In order to better understand why teachers leave the profession, we analyzed teacher exit survey data from the District of Columbia Public Schools to determine what could have retained them or what would have had no effect. Because we believe that retention efforts should be focused on effective teachers, we broke down teachers’ responses by their latest teacher evaluation performance rating and focused our analysis on high-performing teachers.
Although DCPS is unique in some ways, lessons about what could have retained high-performing teachers may be transferable to other urban districts. The slide deck below presents our findings and offers considerations for other urban school districts.
We all have good and bad thoughts from time to time and situation to situation. We are bombarded daily with spiraling thoughts(both negative and positive) creating all-consuming feel , making us difficult to manage with associated suffering. Good thoughts are like our Mob Signal (Positive thought) amidst noise(negative thought) in the atmosphere. Negative thoughts like noise outweigh positive thoughts. These thoughts often create unwanted confusion, trouble, stress and frustration in our mind as well as chaos in our physical world. Negative thoughts are also known as “distorted thinking”.
2024.06.01 Introducing a competency framework for languag learning materials ...Sandy Millin
http://sandymillin.wordpress.com/iateflwebinar2024
Published classroom materials form the basis of syllabuses, drive teacher professional development, and have a potentially huge influence on learners, teachers and education systems. All teachers also create their own materials, whether a few sentences on a blackboard, a highly-structured fully-realised online course, or anything in between. Despite this, the knowledge and skills needed to create effective language learning materials are rarely part of teacher training, and are mostly learnt by trial and error.
Knowledge and skills frameworks, generally called competency frameworks, for ELT teachers, trainers and managers have existed for a few years now. However, until I created one for my MA dissertation, there wasn’t one drawing together what we need to know and do to be able to effectively produce language learning materials.
This webinar will introduce you to my framework, highlighting the key competencies I identified from my research. It will also show how anybody involved in language teaching (any language, not just English!), teacher training, managing schools or developing language learning materials can benefit from using the framework.
How to Split Bills in the Odoo 17 POS ModuleCeline George
Bills have a main role in point of sale procedure. It will help to track sales, handling payments and giving receipts to customers. Bill splitting also has an important role in POS. For example, If some friends come together for dinner and if they want to divide the bill then it is possible by POS bill splitting. This slide will show how to split bills in odoo 17 POS.
How to Make a Field invisible in Odoo 17Celine George
It is possible to hide or invisible some fields in odoo. Commonly using “invisible” attribute in the field definition to invisible the fields. This slide will show how to make a field invisible in odoo 17.
Operation “Blue Star” is the only event in the history of Independent India where the state went into war with its own people. Even after about 40 years it is not clear if it was culmination of states anger over people of the region, a political game of power or start of dictatorial chapter in the democratic setup.
The people of Punjab felt alienated from main stream due to denial of their just demands during a long democratic struggle since independence. As it happen all over the word, it led to militant struggle with great loss of lives of military, police and civilian personnel. Killing of Indira Gandhi and massacre of innocent Sikhs in Delhi and other India cities was also associated with this movement.
The Roman Empire A Historical Colossus.pdfkaushalkr1407
The Roman Empire, a vast and enduring power, stands as one of history's most remarkable civilizations, leaving an indelible imprint on the world. It emerged from the Roman Republic, transitioning into an imperial powerhouse under the leadership of Augustus Caesar in 27 BCE. This transformation marked the beginning of an era defined by unprecedented territorial expansion, architectural marvels, and profound cultural influence.
The empire's roots lie in the city of Rome, founded, according to legend, by Romulus in 753 BCE. Over centuries, Rome evolved from a small settlement to a formidable republic, characterized by a complex political system with elected officials and checks on power. However, internal strife, class conflicts, and military ambitions paved the way for the end of the Republic. Julius Caesar’s dictatorship and subsequent assassination in 44 BCE created a power vacuum, leading to a civil war. Octavian, later Augustus, emerged victorious, heralding the Roman Empire’s birth.
Under Augustus, the empire experienced the Pax Romana, a 200-year period of relative peace and stability. Augustus reformed the military, established efficient administrative systems, and initiated grand construction projects. The empire's borders expanded, encompassing territories from Britain to Egypt and from Spain to the Euphrates. Roman legions, renowned for their discipline and engineering prowess, secured and maintained these vast territories, building roads, fortifications, and cities that facilitated control and integration.
The Roman Empire’s society was hierarchical, with a rigid class system. At the top were the patricians, wealthy elites who held significant political power. Below them were the plebeians, free citizens with limited political influence, and the vast numbers of slaves who formed the backbone of the economy. The family unit was central, governed by the paterfamilias, the male head who held absolute authority.
Culturally, the Romans were eclectic, absorbing and adapting elements from the civilizations they encountered, particularly the Greeks. Roman art, literature, and philosophy reflected this synthesis, creating a rich cultural tapestry. Latin, the Roman language, became the lingua franca of the Western world, influencing numerous modern languages.
Roman architecture and engineering achievements were monumental. They perfected the arch, vault, and dome, constructing enduring structures like the Colosseum, Pantheon, and aqueducts. These engineering marvels not only showcased Roman ingenuity but also served practical purposes, from public entertainment to water supply.
Read| The latest issue of The Challenger is here! We are thrilled to announce that our school paper has qualified for the NATIONAL SCHOOLS PRESS CONFERENCE (NSPC) 2024. Thank you for your unwavering support and trust. Dive into the stories that made us stand out!
Palestine last event orientationfvgnh .pptxRaedMohamed3
An EFL lesson about the current events in Palestine. It is intended to be for intermediate students who wish to increase their listening skills through a short lesson in power point.
How to Create Map Views in the Odoo 17 ERPCeline George
The map views are useful for providing a geographical representation of data. They allow users to visualize and analyze the data in a more intuitive manner.
The Art Pastor's Guide to Sabbath | Steve ThomasonSteve Thomason
What is the purpose of the Sabbath Law in the Torah. It is interesting to compare how the context of the law shifts from Exodus to Deuteronomy. Who gets to rest, and why?
The Art Pastor's Guide to Sabbath | Steve Thomason
Autonomous District Schools: Lessons From the Field on a Promising Strategy
1. Mary Wells & Tresha Ward
October 2019
Autonomous District Schools:
Lessons From the Field on a
Promising Strategy
2. 2
Introduction
Districts around the country are increasingly experimenting with the
design and launch of autonomous district schools as a way to increase
innovative, high-quality school options; bring decision-making closer to
students; retain talented leaders; and prevent students and families
from leaving the district for charter schools.
Over the past several years, Bellwether has supported district
administrators and school principals in 10 districts across the country
to design and launch over a dozen autonomous district schools. In this
report, we share a case study of one district using autonomous district
schools as a part of its district improvement strategy: San Antonio
Independent School District (SAISD) in south central Texas.
This document aims to inform education leaders — especially district
administrators, school principals, and philanthropists — about a
promising (but still largely unproven) education improvement strategy,
the key steps in implementing this strategy, and what we have learned
in supporting the early implementation of this work. We hope these
lessons, and the related tools we’ve developed, help districts
considering this strategy make informed decisions and create the
conditions to support these schools well.
Defining Autonomous
District Schools
Autonomous district
schools allow districts to
utilize some of the same
freedoms that public
charter schools enjoy,
enabling educators to
innovate and make
decisions that better
serve students. These
schools do not operate
completely
independently from the
district. They remain
part of the district and
receive a range of
services.
3. 3
Context on San Antonio Independent School District’s
autonomous schools effort
● This effort has broad support from the elected school board and Superintendent
Pedro Martinez.
● The work is led by SAISD’s Office of Innovation, which provides supports to
aspiring autonomous school leaders and oversees the authorization process.
● SAISD has authorized 22 autonomous schools as part of this effort over the past
three years.
● SAISD created a program to provide deep support to some of its most talented
principals, the Network Principal Initiative (NPI), to help design and launch these
schools. The program has several goals, including deepening student impact
through the creation of autonomous and accountable schools, growing and
retaining strong leaders, and bringing additional resources to these campuses
and the district through SB 1882.
San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD) has leveraged Texas’ favorable
policy environment and, specifically, Senate Bill (SB) 1882 (passed in 2017),
which incentivizes districts to create innovative school models.
4. 4
We offer five key lessons from our work with SAISD for districts considering autonomous
schools as a strategy:
Executive summary
In partnership with SAISD’s Office of Innovation, Bellwether provided technical
assistance, content expertise, and coaching to support the design and launch of
these autonomous schools through the following phases:
Developing a
vision and value
proposition
Developing a robust
stakeholder
engagement approach
Drafting the
application for
authorization
Establishing a
governance
structure
Launching
their school
networks
1 Build maximum autonomy into the application around the instructional program.
2 Ensure leaders receive robust support to shift mindsets and skills into this new role.
3 Empower a central office team to efficiently clear obstacles.
4 Invest in extensive stakeholder engagement.
5 Build leaders’ capacity to manage a governing board (this is far outside leaders’
experience, and they will need a lot of support to do this well).
5. 5
Table of contents
Autonomous Schools Overview page 6
Bellwether’s Support of Autonomous Schools page 10
San Antonio ISD’s Autonomous Schools Strategy page 11
Five Lessons Learned From Our Work page 17
Conclusion page 27
6. 6
Autonomous district schools vary widely in the amount of
autonomy they enjoy
Schools may operate with
waivers from certain district
policies, collective
bargaining agreements, and
state laws, but the district
maintains a traditional
relationship with school
leaders/staff, who remain
district employees.
Traditional district schools
Autonomous district
schools
Charter schools
District-run Partner-led Partner-run
The district transfers some
operational authority to an
independent organization
but maintains control over
certain critical operating
policies (such as adherence
to collective bargaining
agreement) and remains
the employer of school
staff.
The district transfers school
operational authority to an
independent organization;
district oversight
(governance) is limited to
the performance contract
with the partner
organization.
Source: Public Impact, “Autonomous District Schools,” Juli Kim,
Tim Fields, and Bryan Hassel.
Our materials focus on these two types of autonomous
district schools, which typically require approval or
“authorization” by the district and involve the creation of a
separate governing board to oversee the school.
7. 7
• Utilize the same freedoms that charters have enjoyed to grow a
wide range of innovative school options in order to meet the
diverse needs of students and families
• Bring programmatic decision-making closer to students, thereby
improving student outcomes
• Retain students and families who might otherwise enroll in
charter schools (thereby keeping enrollment and financial
resources inside the district)
• Unleash the creativity and leadership potential within the large
pool of diverse leaders within districts
• Expand the reach of talented leaders to more students and
retain these leaders in the district
There are several reasons districts pursue autonomous
schools
8. 8
There are also several challenges that districts experience
when launching and managing autonomous schools
District does not invest in creating a strong
authorization process
School quality is mixed
District under-invests in capacity-building for
leaders of autonomous schools and
networks
Schools are not
unique/innovative
Central office (e.g., HR, operations)
struggles to differentiate support for these
schools
Red tape distracts
leaders
Finance systems do not accommodate
student-based budgeting, limiting budget
control for autonomous schools
Too little autonomy to
improve student
outcomes
District leadership transitions and new
leaders want to bring in new strategies
Autonomy erodes or
contracts are not
renewed
Challenge Risk
9. 9
Districts all around the country are experimenting with
autonomous schools
Autonomous models/policies exist
Bellwether supported districts applying the policy
Source: ExcelinEd, “State Progress Toward Next Generation Learning: A National Landscape” (June 2019).
Note: ExcelinEd reviewed existing policy in all 50 states and the District of Columbia; innovation programs that have been codified into
legislative statute were assumed to support/allow autonomous models; states with non-codified or pilot programs were reviewed by
Bellwether staff to verify the extent to which the policies would allow for autonomous school models.
Policies may not allow for autonomous models
10. 10
Three regions Bellwether has supported since 2018 on
their autonomous schools models
Texas:
A bet on leadership
Denver:
A bet on proven models
St. Louis:
A bet on autonomy
In partnership with Denver
Public Schools and Empower
Schools, Bellwether
supported schools and district
instructional leaders in
applying the autonomous
model strategy in a range of
ways, including opening new
schools that would replicate a
proven school model,
expanding successful models
to turnaround schools, and
strengthening the leadership
and instructional practices of
current leaders already
leading networks of schools.
In partnership with the Texas
Education Agency, Bellwether
supported previously
successful leaders across
eight districts in designing and
launching autonomous school
networks.
These leaders replicated
successful instructional
practices from their existing
schools to their networks,
either by launching new
schools or by assuming
leadership of lower-
performing schools.
In St. Louis, the district aimed
to apply the autonomous
school strategy as a lever for
school turnaround, releasing
failing schools from key
district policies to encourage
innovation and raise
performance.
In this application, current
school leaders and staff
remain in place with greater
empowerment to make
school-based decisions. A key
difference is the increased
autonomy and accountability
through a network model and
governing board.
11. 11
Since 2017, San Antonio has made autonomous schools a
significant element of its district improvement effort
San Antonio Independent School District
(SAISD)
– 49,000 students enrolled
– 90% Hispanic, 6% African
American, and 2% white
– 91% low-income/
free/reduced-priced lunch
– 22 schools operate under SB
1882, which incentivizes the
authorization of in-district charters
– Under current accountability
system, district rating would be “F”
in 2016-17; was a “B” in 2018-19
– 18% students attend charter
schools
Sources: San Antonio ISD, Texas Education Agency,
National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, Texas
Public Radio.
12. 12
Since 2018, Bellwether has supported SAISD leaders in
launching autonomous school networks
One autonomous
school
Network: Multiple
autonomous schools
“The network principal concept was first based on the principle that we
can take our best folks and entrust them with oversight of another
campus. If we then provide the right supports, we are more likely to
succeed in the replication of these school models doing right by kids.”
— Mohammed Choudhury, Chief Innovation Officer
Impact: ~350-400 students
Impact: ~700+ students
To magnify the impact of high-performing school principals, SAISD used the autonomous
school strategy to enable these leaders to form networks of two or more schools and elevated
them into the role of network principal. In this position, principals bring successful practices
to struggling campuses, positively impacting more students.
13. 13
The Network Principal Initiative within SAISD supports strong
leaders to design and launch autonomous schools and networks
1. Deepen the impact for more students by having the strongest
principals start additional schools, take over leadership of a struggling
campus while retaining leadership over their existing campuses, or
come together to form a network where they work together.
2. Create autonomous and accountable schools through a chartering
process, thereby ensuring that these talented educators have the
ability to make the decisions they need to make to improve
performance and serve students in the long term.
3. Bring additional resources to these campuses and the district
through SB 1882 (the policy that enables and encourages districts to
authorize highly autonomous schools).
4. Build the leadership bench of talent within the district by
leveraging strong principals to develop others.
5. Provide growth and retention opportunities for the highest-
performing principals by offering a new role that requires new skills.
Goals of the Network Principal Initiative
14. 14
Bellwether partnered with SAISD to support the Network
Principal Initiative across six areas of planning and skill building
Area Key Activities
Strategic Planning
Build a clear and compelling vision and strategic plan for the school or network,
including vision, mission, value proposition, program model, autonomies, human
capital strategy, and use of resources
Stakeholder
Engagement
Engage teachers, administrators, parents, students, and other key constituencies in
the planning and design process; seek input and ensure timely communications
Leadership
Build adaptive and technical leadership skills of leaders to fit autonomous school
context, including shifting their use of time, leading through other leaders, setting
culture, planning, goal setting, board management, and financial planning
Governance
Create a strong plan for governance, including a clearly defined board role,
thoughtful board composition, plans for board onboarding and engagement, and
measures of success
Partnership
Determine local requirements and regulations related to the oversight of autonomous
schools, and identify or launch a qualifying partner organization with an aligned
mission and values, and the capacity to support the school or network
Application
Development &
Authorization
Build a campus-based writing team and write the charter or innovation school
application, as specified by your district’s authorization process
15. 15
Getting ready to launch
‒ Once applications are approved by the board, leaders
begin executing their plan and getting ready to launch
District publishes call for autonomous school
applicants
‒ Interested leaders submit letters of intent to submit an
application for an autonomous district school
June-
August
Leaders develop the vision for their school or network
and complete the application materials
‒ Leaders use the application components to codify core elements
of their network
‒ Leaders garner stakeholder input and support on core elements
September-
January
Applications are reviewed for authorization
‒ Applications are reviewed by district leaders
‒ Leaders are presented to the board and answer questions
about their application
‒ Board votes to approve or deny applications
February-
April
May-
June
High-level overview of SAISD’s annual authorization process
State approval
‒ After receiving local board approval, the Texas Education Agency
reviews and approves or declines SB 1882 school status
April-
June
16. 16
Bellwether supported a cohort of SAISD leaders through their
application development, submission, and launch planning
Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
Monthl
y in
person
learnin
g
provid
ed by
Bellwe
ther on
launch
ing &
leadin
g a
networ
k
RGO
bootca
mp
(launch
ed in
Aug)
Kickoff,
The role
of an NP
& how to
use your
time
Kickoff,
The role
of an NP
& how to
use your
ti
Cohort
launch
App
Due
Tailore
d
suppor
t to
develo
p the
Call
applica
tion
Each learning module touches on the following key topics:
● Network Leadership
● Leader Development
● Network Design
● Stakeholder Engagement
● Plan Implementation and Authorization
● Governance and Nonprofit Partnership
Monthly in-person learning to support leaders in
launching and leading a network
Tailored support to each network principal’s needs
via biweekly advising calls
Cohort
launch
App
Due
Board
vote
Tight coordination and collaboration between Bellwether team
and SAISD’s Office of Innovation
17. 17
We came away with five lessons from our work with SAISD
about what it takes to launch successful autonomous schools
Autonomy
Build as much autonomy into the agreement as possible around functions
closest to the classroom (e.g., staffing, materials, professional development,
and use of time).
Talent
Talent is paramount — the role is very different from a typical campus
principal role, so even fabulously talented leaders need a lot of support to
build new skills and shift mindset. This role is not a good fit for everyone.
Central
Support
Support for this work in the central office can be very targeted and can
come from a very small team — but this team needs to have the power to
efficiently clear obstacles (of which there will be many).
Engagement
Extensive stakeholder engagement can make the conversion of traditional
district schools into autonomous schools a big win for the district, staff, and
community — and lack of engagement can erode trust and lead to the need
to rebuild.
Governance
Independent governance is a key to maintaining the autonomies that have
been granted and driving quality outcomes, but for most district principals,
managing a board is FAR outside their experience and they will need a lot of
capacity-building to do this well.
18. 18
Recent PPI research identified six areas of autonomy that
are most important for driving stronger student outcomes
Area of
Autonomy
Key Questions
Staffing Do school leaders have the power to select and remove their teachers
and other staff, and determine how to evaluate and pay them?
Learning model Are the schools free to adopt different focuses (arts, STEM, etc.) and
learning models, such as Montessori, blended learning, project-based,
and dual-language immersion?
Curriculum Are school leaders free to determine their own curricula, textbooks,
software, and the like?
Budgeting Can school leaders spend their resources to best serve students’
needs, or are budget formulas determined by the central office?
School calendar
and schedule
Are schools allowed to change the lengths and schedules of their
school days and years?
Professional
development
Do school leaders and staff decide what professional development they
need, or does the central office decide that?
Source: “Can Urban Districts Get Charter-like Performance
with Charter-lite Schools?” David Osborne and Emily
Langhorne, PPI, August 2018.
Autonomy
19. 19
Each SAISD network principal pulled a variety of these
levers as they launched their autonomous schools
Area of
Autonomy Initial Design Decisions by SAISD Network Principals
Staffing Leaders developed new and shared positions using their autonomy and
discretionary funds (e.g., network operations leader, supplemental classroom
teachers).
Learning
model
Schools implemented a variety of program models, including project-based
learning, single gender focused, and STEAM.
Curriculum Schools implemented a variety of curricula or invested in support for teachers in
building their own curriculum aligned to their learning model.
Budgeting While many budget formulas are determined by the central office, these schools
have incremental funding from the state via SB 1882 and some discretionary
funding from the district, approximately $800-$1000 per student.
School
calendar and
schedule
Most schools did not modify the length of the day or year, although one
participating campus runs a year-round schedule; several schools reorganized
time within the existing schedule to create more time for professional learning.
Professional
development
Most leaders opted out of nearly all centrally driven professional development and
provided their own aligned to their program priorities.
Autonomy
20. 20
Leading an autonomous district school is not for everyone;
leaders must have prerequisite skills and mindsets
For a new role like network
principal, it is critical to enlist
principals who are willing
to work through the
complexity and ambiguity
of being the first to take that
role.
“[Establishing a network is]
very intrinsically
motivating.” — Alejandra
Barraza
Network leadership can be a
useful strategy in retaining
and stretching high-
performing campus
principals.
“I was looking for
something new and was
feeling this way before the
network idea, and this
opportunity keeps me on
my toes still.” — Alejandra
Barraza, High Scope
network leader, SAISD
“I enjoyed being able to
take a step back from the
day-to-day operational
aspects of the campus to be
more strategic, thinking
about resources and across
the two campuses. … Just
because we were good
principals doesn't mean
we will be good network
principals.” — Brian
Sparks, School Innovation
Collaborative network
leader, SAISD
Proven and ready for a
challenge
Trailblazers
Able to think
strategically
Talent
21. 21
Leaders needed to quickly
learn how to manage their
time and priorities
differently. They also
needed to strengthen their
ability to intentionally build
leadership capacity.
“You need to be
comfortable letting go of
some of the things you
used to do as a principal.”
— Brian Sparks
Leaders need support
crafting a clear vision for
their network and
communicating their vision
in a clear and compelling
way to stakeholders.
“The conversations about
how to create a network
and what should be the
focus and the vision of
the network were really
helpful.” — Delia McLerran,
YWLA network leader
Leaders of a network need
to shift from directly
coaching and managing
teachers themselves to
building their leadership
teams capacity. Leading
through their leaders is a
critical skill they need to
master.
Strong vision Time reallocation Leader of leaders
Talent
To be successful in this new context, leaders of
autonomous district schools need to develop new skills
22. 22
Leaders of autonomous district schools will need several
key supports to enable success
Leaders found calendaring
support and tools such as
work plans helpful.
“It was helpful to have
examples, timelines, and
the ability to ask
questions. I love when I
could take something I
received in a session back
to school.” — Delia
McLerran
Leaders need help to shift
into their new role. Leaders
found it helpful to receive
training from former
network leaders who were
able to provide practical
coaching on the role.
“The training was really
powerful and changed my
thinking.” — Delia
McLerran
“It was valuable having
the opportunity to think
and work with other
network principals, and
share concerns with other
people who are in similar
situations and be able to
create those
relationships.”
— Alejandra Barraza
Training and coaching Tools and resources
Connections with other
leaders
Talent
23. 23
The district central office needs to support these leaders
and their schools with a few key conditions
Identifying leaders who
have the skills and
mindset to take on this
work is crucial, but
resources are needed to
support these leaders too.
Some districts can build a
team to deliver support, but
technical assistance
providers may be needed in
targeted areas as well.
One of the most important
functions that a district
must build is a rigorous
authorizing process that
ensures plans for
autonomous schools are
thorough and thoughtful,
and that the leader and the
board are highly capable.
Barriers will crop up in
places both major and minor
when systems were
designed for centralized
school oversight.
Someone on the district
team needs the power and
the problem-solving
capability to rapidly remove
these barriers.
High-quality
authorizing
Talent-spotting and
support
Willingness and ability
to remove barriers
Central Support
24. 24
Effective stakeholder engagement is pivotal to how the new
autonomous school is viewed by its constituents
Stakeholder engagement
takes time and must be
treated as a full initiative
with its own workplan.
Leaders should plan for key
messages that are
differentiated by
stakeholder group and
sequenced over time.
“We included the most
skeptical teachers on our
writing team. When they
saw what this opportunity
was, and that their ideas
were valued and used, they
were totally on board. Plus, I
didn’t need to write the
whole application myself!”
— Alejandra Barraza
“When we didn’t know who
our nonprofit partner was
going to be, we just didn’t
address it. Looking back, I
would have been more
transparent about what a
nonprofit partner is and
what we were looking for in
that partner, even when we
couldn’t say who it was.”
— Brian Sparks
Teacher planning team
Systematic
engagement planning
Transparency
Engagement
25. 25
Governance is critical to long-term success for autonomous
schools but a very foreign concept for most principals
Board members bring
leadership experience,
community connection,
and valuable expertise to
schools. Once formed, a
high-quality board can help
ensure districts deliver on
promises of autonomy
and ensure leaders focus on
student outcomes.
“When we addressed
governance, I did not know
that we even needed to
talk about it — or even
what it was. I was thinking,
‘What does that even
mean?!’ It was like trying to
teach me to fly a spacecraft,
but I’ve never even seen
one.” — Delia McLerran
Leaders and their boards
need support to form and
become high-functioning.
Areas of need typically
include clarity of roles,
strategy development,
financial oversight duties,
board processes, and
regulatory requirements.
Total lack of context
Board recruitment and
composition
Board and leader roles
Governance
In “partner-led” and “partner-run” autonomous schools (see slide 6), an independent
organization with its own board governs the schools. Instead of reporting to the district central
office, the leader of the school or network reports to the independent board and must build and
manage that board just as a nonprofit leader does.
26. 26
An autonomous schools’ initiatives will not get off the ground
in the first place without support from the district’s board
School board members
need to know that leaders
are doing the stakeholder
engagement work
required to build buy-in
so blowback will be
minimal when they take a
key vote.
School board members
need to be aligned
around a vision they
believe in.
“I believe in school-based
autonomy. Principals are
in the best position to
know what students
need. We must empower
students, teachers, and
principals.” — Steve
Lecholop, SAISD board
member
There must be clear and
consistent
communication, and a
lot of it. This is not often a
strong point for districts.
“You must have a
persuasive and unified
message that is
frequently articulated, all
the time.” — Steve
Lecholop
Inspiring vision Transparency Communication
Governance
27. 27
Conclusion
• Autonomous schools represent a promising opportunity for districts to
increase innovative, high-quality school options; bring decision-making
closer to students; retain talented leaders; and prevent students and
families from leaving the district for charter school options.
• These schools require new capabilities within the district central office
and a wide range of capacity-building support for principals moving into
leadership positions in autonomous schools and networks.
• We believe that only if districts considering an autonomous schools
initiative take note of the five lessons learned from our work with SAISD
and make these investments thoughtfully and well, this promising
strategy will reach its potential to improve education for our most
underserved students.
A related resource, “Autonomous District Schools: Tools for Planning and Launching,” is
available here for administrators and principals interested in planning and launching
autonomous district schools or networks of schools.
28. 28
About the authors
Mary K. Wells is a co-founder and managing partner at Bellwether Education Partners. Mary leads
the Strategic Advising practice within Bellwether, which focuses on supporting education
organizations with growth strategy, market assessment, business planning, organizational
development, and implementation planning. Recent clients include Urban Teachers, The
Achievement Network, Teach Plus, San Antonio ISD, Texas Education Agency, and the Bill &
Melinda Gates Foundation. Prior to launching Bellwether, Mary led STEM and new school
investments for the Texas High School Project, where she was a founding team member. She
oversaw a portfolio of grants focused on expanding access to high-quality college preparatory
schools and improving the quality of math and science education in Texas. Before joining the
Texas High School Project, Mary was a manager and consultant with Bain & Company, where she
advised Fortune 500 companies on growth strategy, new business development, and post-merger
integration issues. Mary is a first-generation college graduate and holds a bachelor’s from Harvard
University and a master’s from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. She lives in
Massachusetts with her husband, son, and daughter. Mary can be reached at
mary@bellwethereducation.org.
Tresha Ward has 15 years of experience in education. In her role at Bellwether as academic
strategy senior adviser, she has worked across pre-k through 12th grades and a variety of school
models supporting leaders as they start up, scale, or improve their instructional programs. Prior to
joining Bellwether in 2017, Tresha spent eight years in a number of leadership roles with the KIPP
charter school network, including managing director of schools for KIPP NYC; where she focused
on school turnaround; school leader development director for the KIPP Foundation; and founding
school leader of KIPP Legacy Preparatory School. Tresha’s areas of expertise include
instructional leadership, school turnaround, talent development, and executive coaching. She
attended Vanderbilt University for her bachelor’s degree and Stanford University for her master’s
degree; she started her education career as a Teach For America Houston corps member in the
Houston Independent School District. She currently lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her
husband. Tresha can be reached at tresha.ward@bellwetheducation.org.
29. 29
Acknowledgments
Thank you to the many leaders who shared their experiences and expertise on
launching autonomous schools and networks:
Brett Alessi, Lina Bankert, Alejandra Barraza, Mohammad Choudhury, Steve Lecholop,
Delia McLerran, Sonya Mora, Dana Ray, Alyssa Schechter, Brian Sparks
Bellwether Education Partners would like to thank the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation for its support of this publication. Any errors — and the views
represented here — are the responsibility of the authors alone.