District Y aims to develop a high-quality instructional program while facing declining revenues and rising costs, resulting in a projected budget gap of $1 million and $2.5 million over the next two years. To overcome these financial constraints, the district plans to realign resources, enhance teacher compensation, and redesign schools to improve student outcomes. Despite being perceived as well-funded, adjustments for student needs reveal District Y is significantly underfunded compared to surrounding districts, necessitating strategic investments in teaching and support systems.

1. District Y Budget Analysis
April 2019

2. Framing for this conversation
2
Our vision: District Y will work collaboratively to create a quality instructional program which empowers students to make
choices, achieve their personal best, be college bound and productive responsible participants in a 21st century global
society.
Our challenge: Make this vision of excellence a reality for all students, while recognizing and working within existing
resource constraints.
This implies:
• Aligning resources – people, time and money – to our highest-priority (and highest-potential) strategies
• Strengthening supports for teachers and students – including fundamentally re-imagining legacy structures and
practices for how we educate our students
• Making targeted, judicious trade-offs to support these strategic investments

3. 3
Executive Summary
• District Y is committed to – and will – find a way to invest in strategic priorities, including (but not limited to), (1) improving our
value proposition to District Y employees through more competitive compensation and through professional learning support, (2)
expanding time for teachers and students, at least in one school to start, and (3) redesigning our schools to better meet the needs
of our students and our teachers.
• We continue, however, to face a challenging budget situation:
• Like many districts, we are facing a “triple squeeze”: (1) our revenue is declining; (2) costs continue to rise eating into our overall budget; (3) performance must
improve.
• Despite the fact that we appear to highly funded on a per pupil basis compared to others in our county, if we adjust for need, we are essentially the lowest
funded district. This means that our additional funds are going to personnel other than teachers: Special Education personnel, personnel required to serve our
higher needs population (VP’s, Support Staff, after-school coordinators), and personnel related to the fixed costs of running a district with smaller schools due to
dramatic enrollment decline.
• We’ve managed to balance the budget for SY19-20, however, the two years after that, we expect a gap of $1M and $2.5M that we will have to close
• Over the past few years, we’ve made meaningful reductions to our spend; we’ve reduced staff across all levels – central office
and schools – and have reconfigured schools.
• Given those reductions, additional budget downsizing will be even more painful:
• In this order, we are going to look at (1) redesigning staffing, structure, and roles in central office, (2) managing contracted spend closely and (3) making
targeted reductions at some schools

4. 4
District Y has identified the following investments
to support students, teachers and our community
4
$2M+
Est. Annual Cost Range
$2.6M+
TBD
Improve the teacher value proposition to be competitive with other local districts
• Increase compensation strategically by “steepening the comp curve” to reduce teacher attrition
• Connected Professional Learning: Provide more robust professional growth opportunities that deepen content expertise and
support student social-emotional competency-building
• Teacher Leadership: Expand opportunities for teacher leader roles
• New Teacher Supports: Continue to strengthen supports through strategic student and teacher assignment
Extend the school day/year
Create opportunities to support both students and teachers and make school offerings more competitive
For students
• Offer intervention and/or tutoring blocks
• Increase enrichment time to improve student
engagement and connectedness to schools
For teachers:
• Increase teacher professional development days to support deeper
professional learning
• Add collaborative planning time to facilitate job-embedded learning
• Configure all schools such that they can support teachers and students effectively
• Redesign schools to make the teacher job more fun and manageable
• Attract high-quality principals and provide integrated school planning support
• Provide supports for all students and align social-emotional resources to student needs by engaging local partners (i.e. City-Connects)
Improve the teacher value proposition to be competitive with other local districts
Extend the school day/year with outside partner support
Redesign schools to improve student achievement

5. Like many districts across the country, District Y is facing a “triple
squeeze”
A higher bar for
student learning and
greater needs
Unsustainable cost
structures
Flat or decreasing
revenue

6. As enrollment continues to decline, so will our revenue
6
3,547
2,386
1,747
0
500
1,000
1,500
2,000
2,500
3,000
3,500
4,000
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
TotalEnrollmentExcludingCharters
Approximate current and projected enrollment for District Y Schools
-50%
from 2013-33%

7. 7
100% of District Y students experience high concentrations of
poverty, in stark contrast to other county districts
(Sources removed): ERS analysis of Pupil Counts for Grades K-12 (2017-18).; chart excludes the following school types: charter, continuation high school, juvenile court schools,
N/A, blank. “Poverty” refers to UnduplicatedFRPM Eligible Count
Other County Districts

8. 8
Concentrations of poverty create significant challenges
for all students, including ours
Research and our data from districts across the country show that concentration of need drives performance
220
230
240
250
260
270
280
290
300
1-5% 6-10% 11-25% 26-34% 35-50% 51-75% 76-99% 100%
Avg Scale Score on 2017 NAEP Reading Assessment by School % FRL
Eligible
Not eligible

9. 9
While District Y is among the highest funded districts in the
area…
$10,305 $10,450 $10,541 $11,216 $11,695 $12,011 $12,378 $12,555 $13,299 $13,403
$16,941 $17,444
$18,566
$20,017 $20,696
$25,696 $26,084
All Funds Expenditures per Pupil (SY 2017-2018)
Source: http://www.ed-data.org
Other County Districts

10. 10
…controlling for student need, District Y has ~$1,400 less per
pupil than the median surrounding district
Source: http://www.ed-data.org; ERS analysis of per weighted pupil funding based on weights of 1.2 for FRPM/EL/Foster, and 1.5 for Concentration Weight (above 55%).
$10,313 Median: $11,756
$0
$5,000
$10,000
$15,000
$20,000
$25,000
$30,000
$35,000 All Funds Expenditures per Weighted Pupil (SY 2017-2018)
This difference is equivalent to
about $5M of revenue each year
Other County Districts

11. 11
There are three cost drivers in District Y that limit our ability to
increase spend on teachers to the level of surrounding districts
1. Special education
a. On average in districts, it costs about 2.5x more to education a student with disabilities than
a general education student. District Y’s higher % of students with disabilities than other
districts means we require more special education personnel and contracted staff (teachers,
TA’s, therapists) than other districts.
2. Higher student needs
a. District Y’s student needs require additional personnel in schools such as reading recovery
staff, school support staff, a psychologist and guidance counselor, and additional teachers.
3. Small school fixed costs
a. Each school requires some fixed staff (a principal, secretary, librarian, custodian) that in
smaller schools takes up a greater % of the budget than in larger schools

12. 12
Despite projections of flat per-pupil funding, cost drivers continue to increase,
meaning fewer resources are available for instruction
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
%oftotalbudget
Illustrative Example of Budget Constraints under Flat per Pupil Funding
Pension contributions and healthcare benefits have increased
by x% and are projected to keep rising.
Special education costs as a % of budget have increased as
the student population has become higher need.
Illustrative
data
School based fixed costs will continue to take up a higher % of our resources if we do not
continue to restructure schools.
Remaining dollars available for general education and district
operations.

13. 13
With no changes, we are facing a gap
between budget and revenue of:
$1M in 2020-2021
$2.5M in 2021-2022
District Y has the following financial constraints as we decide
how to operate successfully and sustainably for the future
Investing in our highest priority
needs would require:
$5.6M+ in 2020-2021
$7.1M+ in 2021-2022

14. 14
School & Program
Reconfigurations:
• Shift from K-8 model
to K-5 and 6-8
models
• School A and B
Academy
• School C & D
• Child Development
Center
We have been tackling our financial constraints over the past several
years through school reconfigurations and staff reductions
202 192 173
135
231 263
234
171
36
37
32
24
2015 2016 2017 2018
# of Employees Over Time
Note: Classified contract positions include custodians, drivers, librarians, and office assistants – all of which operate more as fixed costs than variable costs
Note: Using count of individual employees as a proxy for employee FTE
Sources: District Y 2015-2018 HR Snapshot Data
Enrollment 3,278 3,034 2,693 2,386
%
Reduction
in #’s
from 2015
Superintendent
Confidential
Classified Management
-33%
Certificated
Management
-26% Classified Contract
-33% Certificated Contract
-27% Enrollment

15. We must transform & build on our strengths to enable longer
term sustainability and avoid the cycle of yearly cuts
15
Make annual cuts that balance
the budget and preserve legacy
investments
Make cuts and identify
existing people, time &
money that can be
repurposed
Reinvest people, time
and money in strategic
priorities
FROM: Status Quo
Expenses
Revenue
TO: Strategic Reduction & Reallocation
Expenses
Revenue
By mapping out strategic reallocation opportunities, we will build toward sustainability over time

16. Continuous Improvement to Drive Operational Efficiency
• Central Office: Opportunities to right-size given declining enrollment
• Contracted Services: Continue to get transparency into efficiency and effectiveness of this spend
Myth Busters
• Special Education: Until District Y can consider new models of services, staffing ratios are already fully utilized
• Equity: School funding appears equitable given the existing constraints of size
• Non-Instructional Staff: District Y’s staffing per school is in-line with peers, provided the district continues to pursue
consolidation
• Transportation: District Y’s spending appears to be efficient
Cost Neutral
• English Learner Education: Consider expanding dual immersion model to serve more students
• High-quality Teacher PG and Onboarding: Create quick-wins to improve adult culture and learning opportunities for
teachers
Continuous Improvement to Drive Operational Efficiency
Bright Spots
Myth Busters
Where should we seek opportunities to be better
stewards of our limited resources?
16
1

17. Central Office
17
District Y spends a slightly higher % of its budget on central
office than districts of a similar size
11%
13%
10%10%
11-13%
8% 7%
6%
9%
7%
6%
7%
8%
13%
9%
12%
10%
11%
10%
7% 7%
10%
7%
11%
9%
7%
8% 8%
7%
9%
5%
7% 7%
6%
% of Operating Budget on Central Office
(SY 2018-2019)
Enrollment
Continuous Improvement
*Assumes an average total compensation for central office positions of $125k
Note: districts that show up more than once have multiple years of data.
Source: Budget Summary Report by Object, April 8th, 2019, merged with All Staff data uploaded April 8th, 2019; ERS Comparison Database.
Reducing this spend by 1%
of the budget (to 10-12%) is
equivalent to about 3 FTE*
National Comparison Districts

18. Central office staffing considerations
Antiquated systems create the need for
disproportionate percentage of clerical vs.
professional positions
Lack of professional and technical expertise limits
the ability to redesign the systems:
District Y will need a short term injection of technical
expertise as it transitions 18
1 Examine our management
structures to create operating efficiencies
2
vs.
Central OfficeContinuous Improvement

19. Contracted Services
19
Almost half of all District Y contracts last year were for special
education services
Potential Follow-up Analyses:
• Where are contracts more
efficient and effective than
district staff?
• Where do contracts overlap
with existing District Y
functions?
• When was each contract last
negotiated?
• What additional ways can you
continue to collect feedback
on contracts?
Continuous Improvement
SPED, $3,846,258
Operations,
$2,430,090
Pupil Services,
$1,273,205
Central Office
Contracts, $313,520
Instruction, $139,890
PG, $116,420
All 2017-18 Contracts by Use
Source: 2017-18 list of contracts

20. School designs for SY19-20 must address our SPED delivery model
Early findings suggest that within the current inclusion model there is not room to reduce special
education staffing while still meeting the needs of all students.
Recommendations are to support principals to:
• Analyze current inclusion case loads for GE and IS teachers and identify opportunities to
balance across need types, grade levels
• Create more strategic scheduling and grouping strategies, including co-teaching
• Encourage more teachers to earn dual certification (e.g., provide a stipend/bonus or otherwise
increase compensation for dual cert training)
• Provide more professional learning support for Tier I and II interventions
• Redouble focus on the whole child by building teacher skills to support strong social, emotional,
and academic development (SEAD)
Special EducationMyth Busters
20

21. Equity
21
School size drives most of the variation in staffing across schools
25.3 25.1 25.1 27.2 25.2 25.3
12.6
9.0
4.5
3.9 7.4
2.0
4.6
3.3
3.8 3.3
4.3
2.8
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
LOS ROBLES
DUAL
IMMERSION
COSTANO
ELEMENTARY
SCHOOL
BELLE HAVEN
ELEMENTARY
SCHOOL
BRENTWOOD
ACADEMY
WILLOW OAKS
ELEMENTARY
SCHOOL
RAVENSWOOD
MIDDLE
SCHOOL
#FTEper500students
General Education Staffing per 500 across District Y Schools
(SY 2018-2019)
Vice Principal
Principal
Custodian
​Coordinator/Manager
​​Sec/Clerk/Other Admin
Other
Teacher
Enrollment
Note: Other positions include child nutrition and education, after school program coordinators and leaders, tinkerer (STEM)
Source: ERS analysis of State Department of Education data from SY17-18.
Myth Busters
We will reconsider staffing across schools through an equity lens
# students 257 358 368 386 416 474
School: 1 2 3 4 5 6

22. Having small schools (and therefore small grade sizes) can limit the
flexibility available to schools to make creative designs
22
Limits Teacher Teaming: Teacher teams led by teacher leaders (in blue) are a key part of a strong professional learning
strategy. School A will have to combine teachers across grades to get teams, which splits their focus.
Limits Effective Feedback: Teacher leaders at School A will be observing and giving feedback to teachers outside the
grade they teach, where they might not have the same content expertise.
Limits Time to Meet: Teams typically meet when their classes have specials. School A does not have enough specialists to
give all four of the 2nd and 3rd grade teachers a prep at the same time so that they can meet.
Limits Ability to Flexibly Regroup Students: With fewer degrees of freedom within a grade level, it becomes more
challenging to dramatically reduce grade size through flexible regrouping.
1
2
3
22 23 1
2
3
23 23
21 21
22
22
Art (0.5)
P.E.
P.E.
Art
Music
School A School B
With District Y average class sizes and K-
5 schools:
• 3 sections per grade is about 415
students
• 4 sections per grade is about 550
students
With our enrollment projections continuing
to decline, we may want to design schools
now that would allow for continued
enrollment decline while still maintaining
at least 3 sections per grade.
EquityMyth Busters

23. The ultimate objective is to re-define the learning
experience for students and teachers
Strategy Focus From: To:
Expert-led Collaboration
& Professional Learning
Teaching as an individual
enterprise.
Teams of teachers who work together to
execute a collective vision for excellent
instruction, and their own professional
improvement.
Talent Management &
Teacher Leadership
A “one-size-fits-all”
teaching job.
Roles and assignments that match each
individual’s unique skills and expertise to
needed roles.
Personalized Time &
Attention
Standardized class sizes
in “one-teacher
classrooms.”
Groups of teachers and students that
vary across subjects, activities and
students.
Rigid time allocations.
Flexible schedules that allow time to vary
with needs of students.
Responsive Learning
Community; Empowering
Curricula
Investments in culture
and social-emotional
support that remove
resources from core
instruction.
Investments that are embedded within
and reinforce the school’s core
instructional work.
23

24. [CELLRANGE]
[CELLRANGE]
[CELLRANGE]
[CELLRANGE]
[CELLRANGE]
[CELLRANGE]
[CELLRANGE] [CELLRANGE]
[CELLRANGE]
[CELLRANGE]
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
300 350 400 450 500 550 600 650 700 750
#Administrators(FTE)PerSchool
Average School Size
Ratio of Administrators (Principals & VPs) vs. Average School Size
Non-Instructional Staff
24
While our ratio of administrators per school appears on par with peers, our
school size may not support this level staffing right now
Source: ERS analysis of State data from SY17-18 and data from ed-data.org.
Average: 1.54
Myth Busters
As District Y continues to
pursue right-sizing all
schools, the current model
for staffing school
administration will fall in-line
with other local districts.
District I
District H
District G
District DDistrict C
District F
District A
District E
District B
District Y

25. Transportation
25
District Y is transporting students efficiently, but as the district
consolidates, student assignment could impact expenses
6%
7%
11%
9%
3%
6%
6%
7%
8%
6%
7%
8%
12%
10%
6%
5%
3%
5%
8%
4%
6%
3%
4%
3%
4%
4%
4%
5%
7%
6%
6%
6%
3%
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
14%
% of Budget on Student Transportation (SY 2018-2019)
Enrollment
Myth Busters
Note: districts that show up more than once have multiple years of data.
Source: Budget Summary Report by Object, April 8th, 2019, merged with All Staff data uploaded April 8th, 2019; ERS Comparison Database.
Other County Districts

26. English Learner Education
26
EL students at the dual immersion school out-perform their
peers at other schools with similar student:teacher ratios
Source: ERS analysis of State Test results from SY17-18. Data from ed-data.org.
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
School
A
School
B
School
C
School
D
School
E
School
F
School
G
School
H
School
I
State Test-ELA Met or Exceeded
Standard (SY 2017-2018)
English Learners All Students
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
School
B
School
F
School
E
School
C
School
G
School
I
School
A
School
D
School
H
State Test-Math Met or Exceeded
Standard (SY 2017-2018)
English Learners All Students
Bright Spots
SCHOOL F SCHOOL G SCHOOL E SCHOOL C SCHOOL B
SCHOOL H -
DUAL
IMMERSION
20 20 18 20 20 20Student: teacher ratios

27. Teacher PG & Onboarding
27
There are some things we can do now to improve adult culture
Bright Spots
• Have stay conversations with the
‘irreplaceables’
• Continue to expand the reach of the
most effective teachers through teacher
leader roles and market the career path
to early career teachers
• Help principals find creative ways to
preserve teacher collaboration within
the school day
• Work with principals on their master
schedules to reduce the load for
novice teachers through smaller class
sizes and/or more release time

28. Appendix

29. We can make three types of investments to
transform student outcomes
29
Capacity-Building Partnerships Transitional Investments Ongoing Investments
Invest in partnerships to rethink district
structures
One-time investments to catalyze
improvement
Invest in long-term priorities
School design
• Engage school leaders and teams to
create school redesign plans that
transform the use of resources to most
effectively meet their student and teacher
needs
• Cohort
• Annual planning process
improvement
• Identify opportunities to realign the
central office calendar (budgeting, hiring,
strategic planning, etc.) to best support
schools
Central office redesign
• Engage district leaders to restructure
central office roles and positions to align
with district strategy & theory of action
• Gather information from school leaders &
other stakeholders to identify the central
office structures that are most needed
Math curriculum
• Evaluate curriculum on quality of
text, instructional tasks, and
usability to determine the
professional learning required to
implement successfully or
consider replacing with higher
quality curriculum
• Provide robust professional
learning to support implementation
Instructional expert development
• Bring in trainers to further build
TOSA capacity to coach teachers
Technology infrastructure
• Update district reporting systems
to make important data readily
accessible to central office &
school leaders
Teacher compensation
• Increase compensation overall to compete with neighbors
• Change compensation curve – make it steeper in the early
years – to incentivize new teachers to stay for several years
Instructional expertise
• Increase the number of instructional experts (Teachers on
Special Assignment, coaches, etc.) to divide responsibilities
by grade/band content area (ex. a K-2 expert & 3-5 expert or
a 6-8 math expert & 6-8 ELA expert)
New teacher support
• Shelter novices from the hardest roles to improve retention
• Develop novices through coaching, co-teaching, and
collaboration to improve effectiveness
Extend the school day
• Expand partnerships with Boys & Girls club to provide
enrichment to students
• Negotiate a longer teacher day for collaborative planning

30. What can District Y do to transform and sustain
student learning in the long term?
30
$2M+
Est. Annual Cost Range
$2.6M+
TBD
Improve the teacher value proposition to be competitive with other local districts
• Increase compensation strategically by “steepening the comp curve” to reduce teacher attrition
• Connected Professional Learning: Provide more robust professional growth opportunities that deepen content expertise and
support student social-emotional competency-building
• Teacher Leadership: Expand opportunities for teacher leader roles
• New Teacher Supports: Continue to strengthen supports through strategic student and teacher assignment
Extend the school day/year
With outside partner support – to create opportunities to support both students and teachers and make school offerings more competitive
For students
• Offer intervention and/or tutoring blocks
• Increase enrichment time to improve student
engagement and connectedness to schools
For teachers:
• Increase teacher professional development days to support deeper
professional learning
• Add collaborative planning time to facilitate job-embedded learning
• Configure all schools such that they can support teachers and students effectively
• Redesign schools to make the teacher job more fun and manageable
• Attract high-quality principals and provide integrated school planning support
• Provide supports for all students and align social-emotional resources to student needs by engaging local partners (i.e.
City-Connects)
2
Improve the teacher value proposition to be competitive with other local districts
Extend the school day/year
Redesign schools to improve student achievement

31. 31
District Y has more teachers than other districts
15.7
18.8 19.6 20.1 20.5 21.0
23.4 24.7 25.1
27.2
25.3
33.00.7
0.4
1.4 0.9 1.3 1.7
0.4
3.4
2.2
2.6
0.4
1.9
0.4 1.7
2.3
2.1
2.3
2.7
4.8
2.2
5.5
3.1
0.6
1.0 1.0
1.6
1.2
2.0
1.9
2.3
2.6
1.5 1.9
3.2
0.0
5.0
10.0
15.0
20.0
25.0
30.0
35.0
40.0
45.0
# FTE Per 500 Students
Administrator
Itinerant or Pull-
Out/Push-In
Teachers
Pupil Services
Teachers
Source: ERS analysis of State data from SY17-18 and from ed-data.org
Other County Districts

32. Increase Compensation
32
However, District Y pays teachers $10-$30K less annually than
surrounding districts at any point along the schedule
Source ed-data.org SY17-18, Salary comparison to other districts in the county.
$48,158
$70,809
$89,971
$127,030
$60,855
$98,524
$-
$20,000
$40,000
$60,000
$80,000
$100,000
$120,000
$140,000
Lowest Salary Offered BA60 Step-10 Highest Salary Offered
Teacher Salaries in the County
Teacher Value Proposition

33. Increase Compensation
33
And District Y is losing 1 out of every 2 novice teachers each
year
6%
9% 9%
14% 14% 14%
18%
24%
8%
14% 15% 13%
26% 26%
52%
NYC Cleveland New Haven Denver Aldine DCPS TPS Ravenswood
Cross-District Teacher Force Attrition
All Teachers Novices(0-2 yrs exp)*
% Teachers
Exiting Before
4th Year**
22% 35% 39% --- 34% 59% 59% 59%
* Of all teachers in their first two years of teaching, 52% left the district.
** Of all the teachers that left the district between 2015 and 2018, 59% have not yet reached their 4th year of teaching.
Sources: SY 12-13 - SY 15-16 HR Data; ERS analysis and comparison database
Teacher Value Proposition
District YNational Comparison Districts

34. Increase Compensation
34
District Y must consider changing their salary schedule to
address their biggest pain points
$0
$20,000
$40,000
$60,000
$80,000
$100,000
$120,000
Across the Board Increases Higher Entry Level Salary Higher Raises for Novice
Teachers
Est. Additional Annual Cost
$1,300,000+
Est. Additional Annual Cost
$250,000+
Est. Additional Annual Cost
$600,000+
Notes: total amounts are sized for ~100 teachers on the certificated salary schedule; assumes District Y is compensating the current distribution of staff
Sources: District Y 2018 HR Data; ERS analysis
Step 1 Step 23 Step 1 Step 23 Step 1 Step 23
Teacher Value Proposition
Modeled Scenario Current Schedule
A critical next step for District Y is to play out detailed compensation models that account for increased retention, transitional and other rising costs

35. 35
But salary is just one piece of developing a strong value
proposition for teachers
SALARY
BENEFITS
WORKING
CONDITIONS
CAREER
OPPORTUNITIE
S
GROWTH
OPPORTUNITIE
S
REWARDS
Teacher Value Proposition

36. Connected Professional Learning
District Y can build on current professional learning strength by
creating a Connected Professional Learning model
36
• System provides rigorous and coherent curricula, assessments, and other instructional resources aligned
to College-and-Career-Ready Standards
• Teachers spend most of their prep time anticipating students’ need for additional support
• Content-focused teacher teams prepare lessons, analyze data, and adjust instruction, for at least 90
minutes each week
• Teachers spend at least 8-10 dedicated PL days per year with content experts that provide resources,
tools, and skills they can use and practice immediately
• Principals organize content-focused teaching teams that are explicitly focused on improving instruction
and have access to content-specific experts
• Teachers are observed at least bi-weekly and receive growth-oriented feedback from content experts
• Teachers regularly observe each other via formal and informal classroom visits as well as videos, and
have dedicated time to debrief and learn from each other
• Principals act as “leaders of leaders” distributing leadership to lower observers’ spans of review to <12
and ensuring all teachers have access to at least biweekly, content-specific feedback based on informal
observations
Teacher Value Proposition

37. Connected Professional Learning
Building out a CPL strategy will ensure District Y maximizes
current professional growth investments
37
District Y Current Practice Room for Reprioritization & Investment
• District-wide focus on ELA, with
outside training support
• New math curriculum adopted in
SY17-18
• Determine the types of curricular adaptations that are needed: there are 3 “gateways”
that EdReports scores that roll up to an overall score, which include Quality of text, i.e. is
it sufficiently complex and on grade level; Quality of instructional tasks; Usability for
teachers. The nature of the weakness will help indicate what action(s) to take, e.g. if text
quality is ok but instructional tasks are not rigorous, that indicates they can work with the
texts provided but will need to adapt nature of task during CPL. If all are weak, seems
like shift to another curriculum would be needed asap if they can tolerate that from
political/cost perspectives.
• Create and share sample lesson plans across classrooms and schools
• Weekly professional development
and collaboration time during
Wednesday early-release days (2
hours/week)
Ensure CCRS alignment of coaching by:
• Partnering with an outside instructional specialist organization (e.g., SAP) to support
Teacher coaches and other teacher leaders
• Providing opportunity for a group of teachers to attend UnboundED’s Standards Institute
• Teacher coaches provide
collaboration support
• Given small school size, identify opportunities for cross-grade collaboration as needed in
schools with < 2 teachers per grade level
• Time for principal observations is
often crowded out by need to
respond to emergent situations
• Teacher coaches seen as valuable
coaching resources
• Build principal content and coaching expertise so principals can more effectively coach
teachers
• Further increase the value of Teacher coaches by creating regular cycles of formative
observation and feedback for teachers
Teacher Value Proposition

38. New Teacher Support
38
Driving effectiveness and retention for rookie teachers comes
from enabling both shelter and development
Shelter Development
Definition Simplifying the job Training and learning
Theory of
action
Rookie teachers are more likely to
stay in the job if their workload is more
manageable, giving them more time
and space to improve their craft
Rookie teachers will become more
effective, faster with coaching and
support from experienced, highly
effective teachers
Example
approaches
• Rookies teach a reduced load,
giving them fewer students and
more free periods to reflect and
prepare
• Rookies have reduced independent
lesson plan responsibilities
• Rookies are observed by instructional
experts weekly, followed by 1:1
feedback and coaching
• Rookies have protected time weekly
to observe a mentor teacher modeling
excellent teaching practice
Source: ERS
Teacher Value Proposition

39. 39
New Teacher SupportTeacher Value Proposition

40. 40
Expanding the school day/year can create more opportunities
to support both teachers and students
The Change: Expanded school day/year
• Engage the support of outside partners to aid with programming, e.g., enrichment
and academic supports (cost-effective strategy to lengthen the day)
• Increase teacher compensation accordingly
Benefits for Teachers
• Increased teacher professional development
days to support deeper professional learning
• Added collaborative planning time to facilitate
job-embedded learning, reduce teacher isolation
Benefits for Students
• More electives during the school day
• More opportunities for learning recovery through
targeted interventions, tutoring
• Additional focus on socio-emotional learning
Outcomes for District Y
• School day is more competitive with KIPP, making the school more attractive to parents
• Teachers become more effective through collaborative planning
• Value proposition for teachers increases, improving retention
Extend the School Day/Year

41. Looking forward, District Y
must change the odds by
“doing school” in new
ways.
STRATEGIC
SCHOOL DESIGN

42. 42
Creative use of staff may allow schools to provide small group instruction as
well as much needed “time-outs” for staff throughout the day
Grade-level lead teacher
Family model
Teacher Lead Teacher
Teacher
Teacher
SWD teacher
Lead Teacher
Typical classroom
structure
Teacher
Shared Aide
in some grades
Coaches
SWD teacher
= SWD
Additional considerations
 Potential creation of new
dual-certified and teacher
leadership roles
 Greater need for expert
support, access to data,
and time for effective
collaboration
 Requires growth-oriented
adult culture committed
to continuous
improvement to find
solutions that are right to
address the needs of
each school’s students
SWD teacher
Redesign Schools

43. However, small schools can limit the flexibility available to
schools to make creative designs
43
Limits Teacher Teaming: Teacher teams led by teacher leaders (in blue) are a key part of a strong
professional learning strategy. School A will have to combine teachers across grades to get teams, which
splits their focus.
Limits Effective Feedback: Teacher leaders at School A will be observing and giving feedback to teachers
outside the grade they teach, where they might not have the same content expertise.
Limits Time to Meet: Teams typically meet when their classes have specials. School A does not have enough
specialists to give all four of the 2nd and 3rd grade teachers a prep at the same time so that they can meet.
Limits Ability to Flexibly Regroup Students: With fewer degrees of freedom within a grade level, it
becomes more challenging to dramatically reduce grade size through flexible regrouping.
1
2
3
22 23 1
2
3
23 23
21 21
22
22
Art (0.5)
P.E.
P.E.
Art
Music
School A School B
Redesign Schools

44. To make the changes required to catalyze rapid improvement principals,
provide principals with expanded operating flexibilities
Flexibility Type School-based flexibilities for consideration
Staffing and
assignment
• Hiring the individuals desired into open instructional
positions
• Adjusting staffing mix, including position type and
FTE
• Assigning teachers to different positions
• Paying stipends, including re-allocating additional
funding to stipends
• Organizing class size configurations
• Making performance-based terminations
Schedule and
calendar
• Expanding length of day, term and year for
students and teachers
• Determining number and length of student
instructional and non-instructional periods
• Determining model for teacher PD
Curriculum,
instruction and
programming
• Designing content of school-based PD
• Organizing structures and programming re:
student intervention
44
Redesign Schools
District Y supporting actions
Negotiate a thin contract with
the teachers union that
includes:
• Stipends and pay schedule
for additional time
• Mutual consent staffing in
schools
Create internal processes to
facilitate flexibility including:
• Dedicated early hiring
process for high-priority roles
• Budget process that allows
principals to influence
position decisions
• Scheduling / operations
support

45. District Y central office will need to create a revised school strategic planning
process to support schools in developing transformational turnaround designs
45
2
Identify school
leadership and
support
(December)
3
Design School
Turnaround
Strategy
(January-February)
4
Scheduling,
Budgeting, and
Staffing
(March-May)
5
Planning and
Preparation
(June-August)
1
Assess Needs
and Priorities
(October-
November)
*Note: additional detail included in appendix
Redesign Schools

46. Creative scheduling prototypes can help District Y school leaders design
time use to improve efficiency and effectiveness of program delivery
46
Redesign Schools

47. As well as provide guidance for principals on integrating
SEAD practices in their schools
• Embed SEAD within
rigorous, CCR-aligned
instruction
• Explicitly teach SEAD
skills and competencies
• Build culture to ensure
students are safe, known,
and connected to their
school
• SEL curricular resources and the
start-up professional learning
needed to implement well
• Rapid, growth-oriented
observation and feedback cycles
with experts
• Collaborative planning time with
shared content/grade-level
teams
• Shared student teams that
include SEL specialists
• Determine how available curriculum
needs to be adapted to reinforce
SEAD and resources needed to do so
• Organize schedules to include time
for SEL instruction, teacher
collaboration, and collaboration
between teachers and SEL
specialists
• Align SEL specialists’ roles and use of
time with SEAD priorities
• Integrate SEL specialists into teacher
professional learning and support
• Model, reinforce and hold staff
accountable for behaviors that drive
SEAD
In order to… Teachers need… School leaders need to…
Redesign Schools