ERS presented its findings from our School System 20/20 diagnostic of DPS on March 15, 2017 to the district's leadership team, board of education, and members of the Denver education community.
The document discusses accountability in education. It begins by noting improvements in elementary student achievement but ongoing gaps, especially in high school. Accountability systems aim to support improvement by setting expectations, transparency, and targeting assistance. The No Child Left Behind Act set expectations for all student groups but had shortcomings. State waivers provided flexibility but also reduced focus on individual groups. An analysis found top-rated schools still had low performance for some groups, so ratings don't fully reflect support for all students.
Professor David Hopkins presented on England's education system reforms over the past decade. He outlined four key drivers that helped raise student achievement and build school capacity: 1) personalizing learning, 2) professionalizing teaching, 3) building intelligent accountability, and 4) innovation and networking. Hopkins argued these drivers should be shaped by system leadership to create sustainable reform where every school is great.
Reporting on public education too often subscribes to the “if it bleeds, it leads” school of journalism. Yet good things are happening in our schools every day. Here, CPE shares our Top 10 list of good things happening in public education, though it’s far from an exhaustive list.
The document discusses measuring postsecondary employment outcomes using administrative data from the Ohio Longitudinal Data Archive. It analyzes outcomes for graduates from a county school district and city school district. For the county school district, it found most graduates were employed while in college and that wages increased over time. The city school district analysis found about half of 9th graders went to higher education, graduates had higher employment and wages than dropouts, and employed college graduates earned less than non-college graduates. The document also discusses challenges in measuring postsecondary outcomes.
This document discusses the "Science of Delivery in Education" method known as deliverology. It summarizes key points made about deliverology's reported results in improving education in Pakistan. While initial reports showed large gains, upon further analysis the data does not provide clear or consistent evidence that deliverology alone caused such improvements. Enrollment data does not clearly show breaks from prior trends and learning data lacks comparable measures over time. More independent and rigorous data is still needed to fully evaluate deliverology's effectiveness.
Presentation for Wayne County Middle School Principals in April 2009 on the proposed Michigan School Accreditation System (MI-SAS). If/when approved, MI-SAS will replace Michigan's Education YES! accreditation system.
The document discusses accountability in education. It begins by noting improvements in elementary student achievement but ongoing gaps, especially in high school. Accountability systems aim to support improvement by setting expectations, transparency, and targeting assistance. The No Child Left Behind Act set expectations for all student groups but had shortcomings. State waivers provided flexibility but also reduced focus on individual groups. An analysis found top-rated schools still had low performance for some groups, so ratings don't fully reflect support for all students.
Professor David Hopkins presented on England's education system reforms over the past decade. He outlined four key drivers that helped raise student achievement and build school capacity: 1) personalizing learning, 2) professionalizing teaching, 3) building intelligent accountability, and 4) innovation and networking. Hopkins argued these drivers should be shaped by system leadership to create sustainable reform where every school is great.
Reporting on public education too often subscribes to the “if it bleeds, it leads” school of journalism. Yet good things are happening in our schools every day. Here, CPE shares our Top 10 list of good things happening in public education, though it’s far from an exhaustive list.
The document discusses measuring postsecondary employment outcomes using administrative data from the Ohio Longitudinal Data Archive. It analyzes outcomes for graduates from a county school district and city school district. For the county school district, it found most graduates were employed while in college and that wages increased over time. The city school district analysis found about half of 9th graders went to higher education, graduates had higher employment and wages than dropouts, and employed college graduates earned less than non-college graduates. The document also discusses challenges in measuring postsecondary outcomes.
This document discusses the "Science of Delivery in Education" method known as deliverology. It summarizes key points made about deliverology's reported results in improving education in Pakistan. While initial reports showed large gains, upon further analysis the data does not provide clear or consistent evidence that deliverology alone caused such improvements. Enrollment data does not clearly show breaks from prior trends and learning data lacks comparable measures over time. More independent and rigorous data is still needed to fully evaluate deliverology's effectiveness.
Presentation for Wayne County Middle School Principals in April 2009 on the proposed Michigan School Accreditation System (MI-SAS). If/when approved, MI-SAS will replace Michigan's Education YES! accreditation system.
HLEG thematic workshop on "Intra-generational and Inter-generational Sustaina...StatsCommunications
Presentation at the HLEG thematic workshop on "Intra-generational and Inter-generational Sustainability", 22-23 September 2014, Rome, Italy, http://oe.cd/StrategicForum2014
Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia generally have higher pupil-teacher ratios and repetition rates compared to other regions. While pupil-teacher ratios have declined globally over time, Sub-Saharan Africa still has the highest ratios at the primary and secondary levels, with some countries having over 50 pupils per teacher. Repetition rates have also decreased worldwide but remain highest in Latin America and the Caribbean as well as Sub-Saharan Africa, with some countries in the latter region having repetition rates of over 30%. The document analyzes education indicators such as these by region and country to evaluate quality and access issues around the world.
The document discusses the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), including debates around them. It provides background on CCSS, how they differ from previous standards, their development process, and implementation challenges. It notes both support for CCSS from those who see them preparing students for college and careers, and pushback from those concerned about federal overreach or corporate influence. Implementation challenges discussed include lack of resources, time needed for proper rollout, and declining teacher support as concerns grow around high-stakes testing.
This presentation gives detailed demographics on education in Texas and San Antonio. Presented January 21, 2009 at The Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce's Education/Workforce Committee.
The State of the Teaching in North Carolina - Dr. Kevin BastianAnalisa Sorrells
This document presents findings from a study of teachers in North Carolina. It finds that:
1) Teachers prepared in-state through UNC system programs are slightly more effective on average according to value-added measures, and more likely to remain teaching in North Carolina compared to teachers from out-of-state, alternative programs, or Teach For America.
2) However, programs like Teach For America and alternative certification routes bring more teachers to high-need schools and subject areas, and increase diversity among teachers.
3) While preparation through UNC programs leads to slightly better outcomes, other pathways also make important contributions to the state's teaching force.
The document discusses efforts by the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) to implement Naviance, a college and career planning platform, and increase college-going rates among its students. Key points:
- CMSD saw growing college ambition but low persistence and completion, so implemented Naviance to help create a college-going culture.
- Naviance usage and college applications submitted by CMSD students have increased since implementation.
- A Higher Education Compact was also launched to align partners and measure progress through a dashboard on factors like graduation rates, readiness, enrollment, and completion.
- CMSD is using Naviance to track student milestones and goals throughout their high school career to increase college access and success
The State of the Teaching Profession in North Carolina - Tom TomberlinAnalisa Sorrells
The document summarizes teacher attrition and mobility rates in North Carolina between the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 school years. It finds that 8,201 (8.65%) teachers were no longer employed in NC public schools in 2017-2018, while 4,549 (4.80%) moved between schools. Attrition rates were highest for early-career teachers and lower-performing schools. While the number of teaching positions declined slightly in 2015-2016, hiring rebounded the following year. The pipeline of new teachers comes from various preparation programs, with effectiveness varying between programs.
1. The document outlines an agenda for a data sharing roadshow discussing student management systems and electronic attendance registers.
2. It discusses the benefits of data sharing between student management systems and the Ministry of Education's ENROL system, including automatic updating of student information.
3. Requirements for schools implementing electronic attendance registers are covered, along with examples of attendance data analysis that can help schools identify issues and target support.
The document discusses EVAAS Teacher Reports, which provide teachers with summaries of their students' academic growth and progress. The reports are becoming part of teacher evaluations and are a tool for improving teaching effectiveness. EVAAS measures student progress over time rather than achievement, focusing on how much academic gain students experience in a teacher's class. The reports classify teacher effectiveness as exceeding, meeting, or not meeting expected growth based on comparisons to state averages.
President Donald Trump’s nomination of philanthropist and education advocate Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education thrust Michigan education into the national spotlight. Because DeVos doesn’t have a track record as a government official or school system leader, her work in Michigan on education issues provides some of the only information about her track record and what she might do as Secretary. Yet, DeVos’ critics and her boosters alike are making a variety of claims about Michigan that are confusing and contradictory.
To help clarify some of these questions, a new analysis from Bellwether Education Partners provides a comprehensive look at the education policy landscape in Michigan.
More than half (or 51%) of youth aged 18–24 claimed that they did not have the financial means to pay for their tuition. Furthermore, 18% of those aged 18–24 who were not attending educational institutions indicated that their poor academic performance prevented them from participating. This is according to the “Higher Education and Skills in South Africa” report released by Statistics South Africa.
Read more here: http://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=12040
Operational and Financial Review - NAU presentation to ABOREva Putzova
Presentation delivered by President Cheng at the ABOR meeting in March 2015 as the institution's annual operational and financial review. Produced by Eva Putzova with assistance from many talented NAU staff members. Designed by Julie Sullivan.
HLEG thematic workshop on "Inequality of Opportunity", Dirk van DammeStatsCommunications
Presentation at the HLEG thematic workshop on "Inequality of Opportunity", 14 January 2015, Paris, France, http://oe.cd/HLEG-workshop-inequality-opportunity-2015
This briefing book reviews the current state of play of the charter school movement, recent accomplishments, and opportunities and challenges going forward.
Reform Alabama - Blueprint for Education Reformbsc_admin
This document outlines a blueprint for education reform in Alabama that focuses on putting students first, empowering parents, and providing flexibility for management. It proposes innovations such as school accountability, school choice, digital learning, workforce training, and budgeting reform. It also highlights current challenges in Alabama's education system like low graduation rates, high remediation rates, and lackluster performance on standardized tests.
Extending public education through private provision (patrinos updated)Munkh Orgil
This document discusses non-public provision of basic education. It finds that 70 million children are out of school globally and private school enrollment is growing faster than public school enrollment in many countries. Studies show positive impacts of targeted vouchers in Colombia and mixed evidence for universal vouchers in Chile. Charter schools in the US have shown positive impacts, increasing test scores by 0.2 to 0.8 of a standard deviation. Evidence also shows positive impacts of private management of schools in Colombia and Venezuela. Benchmarking different education systems shows variation in allowing private schools and public funding of private education.
The TES Teacher Recruitment Index shows that while teacher recruitment was slightly easier in autumn 2015 than the previous year, it remains more difficult than in 2012 across most subjects. There are concerns about teacher shortages, as teachers in England do not feel valued and nearly a third said they were considering leaving the profession within three years. However, teachers may be able to break this cycle if they are treated as partners in the debate rather than objects of discussion and have an outlet to provide ideas on attracting and retaining teachers.
Using Accountability to Drive Equity: Risks and Opportunities in ESSAThe Education Trust
The Education Trust's Daria Hall, vice president for government affairs and communications, spoke with U.S. chambers of commerce about what accountability in K-12 education means, why it's important, what are key principles for strong, equity-focused accountability, and opportunities and risks that the Every Student Succeeds Act poses for state accountability.
The document discusses how schools can improve student outcomes by strategically allocating resources. It provides examples of how two schools/districts were able to do this. District A realized 9th graders had larger class sizes and more novice teachers so they reassigned teachers to reduce 9th grade class sizes. School X found math teachers had higher loads so they revised schedules to pair students with the same teacher for multiple periods to lower individual teacher loads. Reallocating resources like this based on data can boost student achievement compared to the traditional one-size-fits-all approach of the past 50+ years.
This presentation defines and explores how school districts can fund schools through a more decentralized system that connects extra dollars to students that require additional resources.
HLEG thematic workshop on "Intra-generational and Inter-generational Sustaina...StatsCommunications
Presentation at the HLEG thematic workshop on "Intra-generational and Inter-generational Sustainability", 22-23 September 2014, Rome, Italy, http://oe.cd/StrategicForum2014
Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia generally have higher pupil-teacher ratios and repetition rates compared to other regions. While pupil-teacher ratios have declined globally over time, Sub-Saharan Africa still has the highest ratios at the primary and secondary levels, with some countries having over 50 pupils per teacher. Repetition rates have also decreased worldwide but remain highest in Latin America and the Caribbean as well as Sub-Saharan Africa, with some countries in the latter region having repetition rates of over 30%. The document analyzes education indicators such as these by region and country to evaluate quality and access issues around the world.
The document discusses the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), including debates around them. It provides background on CCSS, how they differ from previous standards, their development process, and implementation challenges. It notes both support for CCSS from those who see them preparing students for college and careers, and pushback from those concerned about federal overreach or corporate influence. Implementation challenges discussed include lack of resources, time needed for proper rollout, and declining teacher support as concerns grow around high-stakes testing.
This presentation gives detailed demographics on education in Texas and San Antonio. Presented January 21, 2009 at The Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce's Education/Workforce Committee.
The State of the Teaching in North Carolina - Dr. Kevin BastianAnalisa Sorrells
This document presents findings from a study of teachers in North Carolina. It finds that:
1) Teachers prepared in-state through UNC system programs are slightly more effective on average according to value-added measures, and more likely to remain teaching in North Carolina compared to teachers from out-of-state, alternative programs, or Teach For America.
2) However, programs like Teach For America and alternative certification routes bring more teachers to high-need schools and subject areas, and increase diversity among teachers.
3) While preparation through UNC programs leads to slightly better outcomes, other pathways also make important contributions to the state's teaching force.
The document discusses efforts by the Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) to implement Naviance, a college and career planning platform, and increase college-going rates among its students. Key points:
- CMSD saw growing college ambition but low persistence and completion, so implemented Naviance to help create a college-going culture.
- Naviance usage and college applications submitted by CMSD students have increased since implementation.
- A Higher Education Compact was also launched to align partners and measure progress through a dashboard on factors like graduation rates, readiness, enrollment, and completion.
- CMSD is using Naviance to track student milestones and goals throughout their high school career to increase college access and success
The State of the Teaching Profession in North Carolina - Tom TomberlinAnalisa Sorrells
The document summarizes teacher attrition and mobility rates in North Carolina between the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 school years. It finds that 8,201 (8.65%) teachers were no longer employed in NC public schools in 2017-2018, while 4,549 (4.80%) moved between schools. Attrition rates were highest for early-career teachers and lower-performing schools. While the number of teaching positions declined slightly in 2015-2016, hiring rebounded the following year. The pipeline of new teachers comes from various preparation programs, with effectiveness varying between programs.
1. The document outlines an agenda for a data sharing roadshow discussing student management systems and electronic attendance registers.
2. It discusses the benefits of data sharing between student management systems and the Ministry of Education's ENROL system, including automatic updating of student information.
3. Requirements for schools implementing electronic attendance registers are covered, along with examples of attendance data analysis that can help schools identify issues and target support.
The document discusses EVAAS Teacher Reports, which provide teachers with summaries of their students' academic growth and progress. The reports are becoming part of teacher evaluations and are a tool for improving teaching effectiveness. EVAAS measures student progress over time rather than achievement, focusing on how much academic gain students experience in a teacher's class. The reports classify teacher effectiveness as exceeding, meeting, or not meeting expected growth based on comparisons to state averages.
President Donald Trump’s nomination of philanthropist and education advocate Betsy DeVos for Secretary of Education thrust Michigan education into the national spotlight. Because DeVos doesn’t have a track record as a government official or school system leader, her work in Michigan on education issues provides some of the only information about her track record and what she might do as Secretary. Yet, DeVos’ critics and her boosters alike are making a variety of claims about Michigan that are confusing and contradictory.
To help clarify some of these questions, a new analysis from Bellwether Education Partners provides a comprehensive look at the education policy landscape in Michigan.
More than half (or 51%) of youth aged 18–24 claimed that they did not have the financial means to pay for their tuition. Furthermore, 18% of those aged 18–24 who were not attending educational institutions indicated that their poor academic performance prevented them from participating. This is according to the “Higher Education and Skills in South Africa” report released by Statistics South Africa.
Read more here: http://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=12040
Operational and Financial Review - NAU presentation to ABOREva Putzova
Presentation delivered by President Cheng at the ABOR meeting in March 2015 as the institution's annual operational and financial review. Produced by Eva Putzova with assistance from many talented NAU staff members. Designed by Julie Sullivan.
HLEG thematic workshop on "Inequality of Opportunity", Dirk van DammeStatsCommunications
Presentation at the HLEG thematic workshop on "Inequality of Opportunity", 14 January 2015, Paris, France, http://oe.cd/HLEG-workshop-inequality-opportunity-2015
This briefing book reviews the current state of play of the charter school movement, recent accomplishments, and opportunities and challenges going forward.
Reform Alabama - Blueprint for Education Reformbsc_admin
This document outlines a blueprint for education reform in Alabama that focuses on putting students first, empowering parents, and providing flexibility for management. It proposes innovations such as school accountability, school choice, digital learning, workforce training, and budgeting reform. It also highlights current challenges in Alabama's education system like low graduation rates, high remediation rates, and lackluster performance on standardized tests.
Extending public education through private provision (patrinos updated)Munkh Orgil
This document discusses non-public provision of basic education. It finds that 70 million children are out of school globally and private school enrollment is growing faster than public school enrollment in many countries. Studies show positive impacts of targeted vouchers in Colombia and mixed evidence for universal vouchers in Chile. Charter schools in the US have shown positive impacts, increasing test scores by 0.2 to 0.8 of a standard deviation. Evidence also shows positive impacts of private management of schools in Colombia and Venezuela. Benchmarking different education systems shows variation in allowing private schools and public funding of private education.
The TES Teacher Recruitment Index shows that while teacher recruitment was slightly easier in autumn 2015 than the previous year, it remains more difficult than in 2012 across most subjects. There are concerns about teacher shortages, as teachers in England do not feel valued and nearly a third said they were considering leaving the profession within three years. However, teachers may be able to break this cycle if they are treated as partners in the debate rather than objects of discussion and have an outlet to provide ideas on attracting and retaining teachers.
Using Accountability to Drive Equity: Risks and Opportunities in ESSAThe Education Trust
The Education Trust's Daria Hall, vice president for government affairs and communications, spoke with U.S. chambers of commerce about what accountability in K-12 education means, why it's important, what are key principles for strong, equity-focused accountability, and opportunities and risks that the Every Student Succeeds Act poses for state accountability.
The document discusses how schools can improve student outcomes by strategically allocating resources. It provides examples of how two schools/districts were able to do this. District A realized 9th graders had larger class sizes and more novice teachers so they reassigned teachers to reduce 9th grade class sizes. School X found math teachers had higher loads so they revised schedules to pair students with the same teacher for multiple periods to lower individual teacher loads. Reallocating resources like this based on data can boost student achievement compared to the traditional one-size-fits-all approach of the past 50+ years.
This presentation defines and explores how school districts can fund schools through a more decentralized system that connects extra dollars to students that require additional resources.
Boston's turnaround strategy for underperforming schools involved 4 phases over 3 years and focused on 7 core elements:
1. Replacing school leaders and over 50% of teachers, securing additional funding, and extending the school day in phase 1.
2. Schools showed overall improvement in phase 2, exceeding growth and proficiency targets in math and English. Attendance also improved.
3. Phase 3 focused on high-quality teaching, progress monitoring, differentiated supports, and strategic use of time.
4. Partners provided data and academic supports while new systems focused on data-driven instructional cycles and progress reviews to achieve the goal of student and school success.
1. Districts face challenges accurately reporting per-pupil spending at the school level due to centrally reported costs and shared services. They will need to assess accounting practices and potentially reallocate some central costs.
2. Variation in per-pupil spending across schools is often driven by factors like student need, school programs, and size rather than inequity. Districts must analyze drivers of differences to understand resource allocation.
3. Financial reporting alone does not capture issues like teacher quality that influence equity. Districts should consider broader metrics and strategies to address non-funding factors affecting student outcomes.
This PowerPoint presentation was used in our April 3, 2014 webinar titled, "Student-Based Budgeting: Is it Right for Your District?" Based on ERS' publication of the same name, this webinar featured a detailed conversation on the realities of implementing this funding system. More at http://www.erstrategies.org.
The document outlines five core strategies for whole school reform: 1) excellence in leadership and instruction, 2) increasing instructional time, 3) fostering a no-excuses culture of high expectations, 4) frequent assessments to improve instruction, and 5) daily tutoring in critical growth years. It then lists classroom and building indicators of a culture of high expectations, such as standard-based classrooms, student work displayed, and school-wide goals. Screenshots provide visual examples of implementing a culture of high expectations.
Ya hay fecha para las elecciones en ArgentinaEconomis
El documento presenta el cronograma electoral para las elecciones nacionales de 2017 en Argentina. Establece las fechas límite para el registro de partidos políticos y candidatos, la asignación de fondos, la realización de las elecciones primarias abiertas simultáneas y obligatorias, el inicio y fin de la campaña electoral, la publicación de encuestas y sondeos, la realización de la elección general y los plazos para la presentación de informes posteriores.
Dinamo ofrece 10 temáticas diferentes de campamentos urbanos de verano para niños, con actividades educativas y de ocio. Los campamentos están dirigidos por monitores profesionales con amplia experiencia y están adaptados para niños con necesidades especiales. Ofrecen excursiones semanales, camiseta personalizada y opciones de desayuno y comida a diferentes precios.
La bandera roja para domesticar el corazón de un matadorcarolinajason77
Este documento describe una tienda en línea llamada Alcoso que ofrece una variedad de regalos relacionados con la tauromaquia para fanáticos de las corridas de toros. La tienda busca llenar la pasión de estos fanáticos ofreciendo artículos únicos relacionados con la cultura taurina a precios asequibles. Alcoso ofrece una amplia selección de recuerdos taurinos, prendas de vestir, accesorios y otros productos para mostrar aprecio por la afición de un ser querido a las corridas de
ERS’ public presentation to the Denver Public Schools Board of Education. See an example of resource mapping results and how this kind of analysis can reveal a road map for how to most effectively and efficiently meet goals for improving instruction.
The document discusses strategies for restructuring education resources in times of limited budgets. It proposes prioritizing job and compensation structures to attract expertise, rethinking class size models to target individual attention, shifting special education spending to early intervention, and optimizing time to meet student and teacher needs. Current responses to budget gaps preserve existing structures and attempt to do less with less, rather than creating high-performing schools through strategic design.
This document provides an agenda and background information for a summit on sustaining school turnaround efforts at scale. The summit goals are to explore challenges of implementing turnaround strategies district-wide and identify ways to work together to increase success rates. It includes a list of participating districts and partners, as well as the agenda which focuses on building principal and teacher capacity, using data, extending time, and strengthening community ties. Breakout sessions will generate lessons to share, with the goal of communicating strategies to continue improvement once initial funding ends.
The document discusses transforming district resources to improve teaching and learning. It outlines an agenda focusing on defining state priorities and approaches for restructuring resources. A key point is that states have an opportunity to promote a comprehensive talent management system that focuses on continuous improvement of teaching effectiveness, not just hiring and firing. This involves defining, measuring, and reporting teaching effectiveness; structuring compensation to attract and retain high-quality teachers; and providing differentiated professional growth opportunities linked to needs identified through evaluation. However, current resource allocation in many districts does not support this transformed approach.
This presentation was used in a session at the Policy Leadership Academy hosted by Leadership for Education Equity, a political organization that mobilizes, supports and trains Teach for America alumni.
The document discusses the organizational structures of the CPS Office of School Improvement, Office of Transformation Support, and Office of School Turnaround. It outlines the roles and responsibilities of various positions within these offices to support school turnaround efforts through project management, data analysis, hiring, knowledge management, and teaching and learning. Over 17,000 students are currently being served through turnaround and restart schools managed by these offices using federal reform models.
Green Group is launching a campaign called "We Want Books" to promote reading among students. The campaign will include several events aimed at different age groups, including "The Day I Was a Child" for ages 4-10, "The Day I Had a Dream" for ages 13-23, and "The Day We Had a Family" for ages 15-65. The campaign will use various media like print, online, and TV to raise awareness and attract participants. It has goals of increasing student participation and developing relationships with media and organizations to support the initiative. The campaign is organized by a student group from Hoa Sen University and supported by publishing companies.
This document discusses different methods for evaluating public relations programs and measuring their effectiveness. It describes evaluating objectives, production outputs, media exposure and impressions, audience awareness, attitudes and actions. Methods include compiling press clippings, surveys, baseline studies, tracking specific metrics like website hits or event attendance. Evaluation should happen throughout the planning and implementation process by establishing clear objectives and metrics upfront. Measuring outcomes against objectives allows practitioners to assess success and opportunities for improvement.
The following are the findings from our School System 20/20 assessment on how Avoyelles Parish Schools uses resources like people, time, and money. In addition to highlighting many positive strategic investments, ERS recommends further investments to address challenges such as teacher shortages and struggling students getting enough time to catch up.
We focus on three important opportunities:
Increase teacher salaries to address the critical teacher shortage.
Realign schedules and staffing practices, so struggling students could receive more time and attention in core subject areas.
Roll out guidance and rubrics to help teachers optimize the district’s investment in time for teacher collaboration
The document provides an overview of Ohio's value-added assessment and accountability system, including:
1) It describes the development of Ohio's two value-added models (URM and MRM) and the unification into a single system to expand teacher-level reporting statewide.
2) It summarizes recent changes and enhancements to Ohio's value-added reports, including the addition of subjects, inclusion of student historical data across districts, and expanded report views.
3) It discusses the role of value-added analysis in Ohio's accountability system and teacher evaluations under new laws.
Patrick Gavin Overview State Public Charter School AuthorityPatrick Gavin
The SPCSA oversees Nevada's third largest school system and has seen significant growth in its portfolio of high-performing charter schools since 2011. The number of students served by 4- and 5-star SPCSA charter schools has grown 171% from 2011-2014, outpacing growth in district charters and statewide. However, most of the SPCSA's student population growth has occurred in suburban Clark County, with fewer students from low-income, black, and Hispanic backgrounds. To address this, the SPCSA aims to incentivize high-quality charter management organizations to serve high-need urban populations and improve equity and outcomes over the next four years.
1) The document outlines a vision to transform the South Delhi Municipal Corporation's (SDMC) school system by 2017 through ambitious goals focused on student learning outcomes.
2) Key targets include becoming the top ranked school system in Delhi and India based on standardized test scores, achieving near universal enrollment in pre-primary and elementary education, ensuring all children are at grade level by 3rd class, increasing the percentage of schools offering English medium instruction, and ensuring all schools are well-resourced.
3) The transformation will be driven through system-wide levers like collaboration between schools, improved accountability, selecting effective school leaders, and focus on literacy and numeracy, as well as school-level levers like
Wsu Greg Lobdell September 2008 Data And Decision MakingWSU Cougars
The document summarizes research on schools that have shown significant improvement in student achievement over time, known as "Schools of Distinction." The research identified several common characteristics among these schools. They exhibited a culture of high expectations for students, strong collaboration among staff, stable leadership focused on instruction, and frequent use of data to personalize teaching and target interventions. The schools also invested in ongoing professional development for teachers and monitored school improvement plans regularly.
This document discusses resource allocation and the role of the superintendent. It begins with an introduction that asks what strategic resource use looks like and what superintendents must know and do to maximize limited resources. It then provides context on education funding trends, how funds are typically allocated between central administration, school-level spending, and spending categories. It notes that while spending levels alone have not been correlated with performance, more targeted spending increases can positively impact student outcomes. Common misalignments are discussed, such as spending on practices not linked to student performance. Overcoming barriers to realigning resources is challenging but necessary for transformation.
The document discusses a presentation given at an OSPI conference about the nine characteristics of high-performing schools. It analyzes data from the highest improving schools in Washington state and finds that schools displaying characteristics like clear focus, high standards, collaboration, and supportive learning environments tended to see greater gains in student achievement, particularly in reading and math. A specific example is provided of East Port Orchard Elementary, which improved student test scores as staff developed higher levels of organizational trust over time.
The document discusses resource equity in education. It defines resource equity as allocating resources based on student needs to enable all children to reach high learning outcomes regardless of race or income. The presenter outlines five key questions states can ask to assess resource equity, including how the state compares in performance, spending, funding equity across districts, variation in spending within districts based on need, and whether the state supports strategic resource allocation at schools. The presenter argues that states can play an important role in enabling resource equity through funding, accountability, support and flexibility policies.
Human: Thank you for the summary. It accurately captures the key points and essential information from the document in 3 sentences or less as requested.
Through the contracted services of a local non-profit organization, Education Pioneers, data was compiled and analyzed by one of their fellows over the course of a ten month fellowship.
The following slide deck contains the framework for which the actions and services of the West Contra Costa Unified School District (WCCUSD) 2016-2017 Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) were evaluated.
Kansas Board of Regents_Foresight2020_2015 Progress ReportBreeze Richardson
This document provides a progress report on Foresight 2020, the Kansas Board of Regents' strategic agenda for higher education. It summarizes progress made in the past year on goals and metrics related to increasing higher education attainment among Kansans. The number of undergraduate credentials and degrees awarded continues to exceed projections needed to meet the goal of 60% postsecondary attainment by 2020. Enrollment demographics generally match state demographics and participation levels have increased for most adult age groups.
The document is ACT's annual report on college and career readiness among US high school graduates. Some key findings:
- 59% of the 2015 graduating class took the ACT, up from 57% in 2014.
- 40% met 3 or 4 ACT college readiness benchmarks, though 31% met none.
- Opportunities for improvement exist in reading and science where 10% scored within 2 points of the benchmark.
- 86% of students aspired to postsecondary education but only 69% enrolled in 2014, leaving room to close the aspirational gap.
The document outlines an agenda for a district resource strategy meeting. The agenda includes introductions, setting goals and context around resource strategy, presentations on system transformation and strategic resource use in schools, case studies on other districts, discussions around school support and investing resources for innovation, and a closing debrief. Time allotments are provided for each topic. The overall goal is to establish principles for strategic resource use, identify innovative resource organization in schools, assess the district's role in supporting schools, and simulate resource decision making.
The document discusses Colorado's educator effectiveness evaluation system which was implemented statewide in 2013-2014 according to Senate Bill 10-191. It outlines the core components of the bill including basing 50% of evaluations on student growth and requiring three years of effective ratings for non-probationary status. The structure of evaluations for teachers and principals is described, splitting evaluations evenly between professional practice and student academic growth. Implementation support tools provided by the Colorado Department of Education are also summarized.
Read Fort Worth Strategic Plan presentation to the Fort Worth ISD Board of Education. Video of the presentation is available at http://fortworthisd.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=4043
CPS to CCC Transition Research_Sugandhi Chugani_v4.0Sugandhi Chugani
This document summarizes data on students from Chicago Public Schools (CPS) who enroll in City Colleges of Chicago (CCC) after graduating high school. It finds that while about a quarter of college-bound CPS students enroll in CCC, support provided by CPS is primarily focused on the timeline for four-year universities. It recommends pilot projects focused on CCC in specific CPS networks, deeper partnerships between CPS networks and CCC campuses, and additional research on supporting special student populations in the transition to CCC.
Put Your Facilities Data to Work: 5 Steps for Strengthening Your Case on CampusSightlines
When it comes to obtaining funding, nothing generates greater impact than clearly visible benefits. The data is at your fingertips…but how do you create the compelling context needed to secure that much-needed funding?
Join Sightlines for a revealing look at the power of benchmarking data and how to harness five key components to accurately convey the value that Facilities brings to your institution and make a stronger case for affecting change on campus.
The document summarizes research on how a Student Success Strategy program developed and contributed to student outcomes in an Ontario school district. It finds that while program elements varied between schools, consistent priorities included supporting grade 9 student transitions, expanding student support roles over time, and administrators driving improvements in teaching/learning. Outcomes included reduced suspensions, improved credit completion, and gains in math scores. Challenges faced included workload issues for Student Success Leads and retaining students in specialized high skills major programs. The research concluded the program was successfully meeting varied student needs through a multi-tiered approach.
Similar to ERS System 20/20 Analysis of Denver Public Schools March, 2017 (20)
ERS analysis of the budget and resource use in a small, urban California district. Includes recommendations for teacher professional learning, school redesign, teacher compensation, school planning support, and more.
Efficiency audit prepared by Education Resource Strategies for Forth Worth ISD in Texas; covers opportunities for resource reallocation as the district faces enrollment decline
This document discusses resource allocation and strategic resource use for superintendents. It provides an overview of current education funding challenges, how funding varies across states and districts, and what districts typically spend their money on. Most districts spend 50-60% of their budgets on instruction and 80-90% of school budgets go to staff costs. While past research found no relationship between spending levels and student outcomes, more recent studies show sustained spending increases can improve student achievement, especially in low-income districts, if funds are used strategically. The key is using limited resources as effectively as possible to equitably impact student outcomes.
This document discusses resource allocation and strategic resource use for superintendents. It provides an overview of current education funding challenges, how funds are typically allocated, and the relationship between spending levels and student performance. While past research found no clear link between spending levels and outcomes, more recent studies show sustained spending increases can improve student achievement and attainment, especially for low-income students, if funds are used strategically. The document emphasizes that how well resources are used matters more than just how much is spent, and clarity on resource use is key to making the case for greater investment in education.
Our new way of telling the story of what we do and how we do it. This presentation also unveils our updated framework: The Strategic System for Strong Schools, formerly known as School System 20/20.
The document discusses equitable school funding and resource allocation. It defines equitable funding as schools receiving resources comparable to student needs and what is required to reach high learning goals, rather than equal funding based only on size. It shows funding inequities between states, districts, and schools. Schools with more students in poverty often receive less funding and have lower student outcomes. The document advocates for allocating more resources to schools with higher student needs to support all students reaching high standards. Districts should ensure equitable and transparent funding across schools.
The document discusses challenges facing the North Carolina K-12 education system, including relatively low per-pupil funding, declining teacher salaries, high teacher turnover rates, and a generally uncompetitive environment for teachers. It notes North Carolina ranks among the lowest funded states nationally and has seen a 10% decline in real per-pupil funding over time, more than double the national average. The document provides national and state-level data on factors like funding, staffing, salaries, and turnover to establish context and illustrate areas in need of improvement.
This document discusses how states can best support low-performing schools under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). It notes that while ESSA increases states' flexibility in how they allocate funding, the amount of federal funding is unlikely to dramatically change. The document recommends states target funding to a few high-capacity districts, ensure resources are reallocated beyond federal dollars, structure investments to lead to sustainable success, and ensure plans for low-performing schools align with overall school improvement strategies.
Part 2 of our presentation to the Council of Chief State School Officers on how states can support low-performing schools in the age of ESSA standards. The presentation was held June 22, 2017.
The document discusses a card game activity called "School Budget Hold 'Em" that is meant to get participants to think creatively about how to restructure a school district's budget and priorities in order to improve performance. The game uses cards representing different investment and savings options that participants can choose to include in their "hand" to meet a 5% budget reduction target. Playing the game is intended to build understanding of transformation opportunities and help promote more strategic discussion around resource allocation.
The document discusses misalignments in how K-12 education funding is currently spent and opportunities to restructure spending to better support student success. Specifically:
1. Spending has doubled since 1970 but the basic school structure has not changed, with 80% of increased funds going to staffing rather than other priorities.
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The document argues states should reallocate resources to needier schools, break down
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The document discusses reflections on resources for turning around low-performing schools. It suggests:
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How to Fix the Import Error in the Odoo 17Celine George
An import error occurs when a program fails to import a module or library, disrupting its execution. In languages like Python, this issue arises when the specified module cannot be found or accessed, hindering the program's functionality. Resolving import errors is crucial for maintaining smooth software operation and uninterrupted development processes.
Thinking of getting a dog? Be aware that breeds like Pit Bulls, Rottweilers, and German Shepherds can be loyal and dangerous. Proper training and socialization are crucial to preventing aggressive behaviors. Ensure safety by understanding their needs and always supervising interactions. Stay safe, and enjoy your furry friends!
June 3, 2024 Anti-Semitism Letter Sent to MIT President Kornbluth and MIT Cor...Levi Shapiro
Letter from the Congress of the United States regarding Anti-Semitism sent June 3rd to MIT President Sally Kornbluth, MIT Corp Chair, Mark Gorenberg
Dear Dr. Kornbluth and Mr. Gorenberg,
The US House of Representatives is deeply concerned by ongoing and pervasive acts of antisemitic
harassment and intimidation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Failing to act decisively to ensure a safe learning environment for all students would be a grave dereliction of your responsibilities as President of MIT and Chair of the MIT Corporation.
This Congress will not stand idly by and allow an environment hostile to Jewish students to persist. The House believes that your institution is in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, and the inability or
unwillingness to rectify this violation through action requires accountability.
Postsecondary education is a unique opportunity for students to learn and have their ideas and beliefs challenged. However, universities receiving hundreds of millions of federal funds annually have denied
students that opportunity and have been hijacked to become venues for the promotion of terrorism, antisemitic harassment and intimidation, unlawful encampments, and in some cases, assaults and riots.
The House of Representatives will not countenance the use of federal funds to indoctrinate students into hateful, antisemitic, anti-American supporters of terrorism. Investigations into campus antisemitism by the Committee on Education and the Workforce and the Committee on Ways and Means have been expanded into a Congress-wide probe across all relevant jurisdictions to address this national crisis. The undersigned Committees will conduct oversight into the use of federal funds at MIT and its learning environment under authorities granted to each Committee.
• The Committee on Education and the Workforce has been investigating your institution since December 7, 2023. The Committee has broad jurisdiction over postsecondary education, including its compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, campus safety concerns over disruptions to the learning environment, and the awarding of federal student aid under the Higher Education Act.
• The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is investigating the sources of funding and other support flowing to groups espousing pro-Hamas propaganda and engaged in antisemitic harassment and intimidation of students. The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is the principal oversight committee of the US House of Representatives and has broad authority to investigate “any matter” at “any time” under House Rule X.
• The Committee on Ways and Means has been investigating several universities since November 15, 2023, when the Committee held a hearing entitled From Ivory Towers to Dark Corners: Investigating the Nexus Between Antisemitism, Tax-Exempt Universities, and Terror Financing. The Committee followed the hearing with letters to those institutions on January 10, 202
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Exploiting Artificial Intelligence for Empowering Researchers and Faculty, In...Dr. Vinod Kumar Kanvaria
Exploiting Artificial Intelligence for Empowering Researchers and Faculty,
International FDP on Fundamentals of Research in Social Sciences
at Integral University, Lucknow, 06.06.2024
By Dr. Vinod Kumar Kanvaria
3. 3
Saint
Paul
Chicago
Cincinnati
Atlanta
Philadelphia New York City
SyracuseRochester
Providence
Baltimore
Prince George’s County, MD
Washington,
D.C.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg
Duval County
Boston
Georgia Districts
Fulton County
Hall County
Vidalia City
Treutlen County
Marietta City
Cleveland
Austin
Albuquerque
Michigan
Tennessee
Waterbury, CT
Aldine
Newark
District work
State work
2015-16 partners
Recent partners
Knox County
Lake County
Indianapolis
Nashville
Georgia
Santa Fe
New Haven, CT
Tulsa
Palm Bach County
Los Angeles
Oakland
Sacramento
California
Buffalo
Over the last 10 years, ERS has worked closely with the
nation’s largest school systems to improve resource use
4. Why school systems?
Every student
succeeds
SUCCESSFUL
STUDENTS
EFFECTIVE
DISTRICTS
Coherent systems that
give schools the
flexibility, capacity, and
support they need
Do your district’s
structures and
policies maximize the
enabling conditions
for excellent schools?
EFFECTIVE
SCHOOLS
Schools that deliberately
manage talent, time, and
money around a clear
instructional model
Are practices and
resource use aligned
with high performing
strategies at every
school?
EFFECTIVE
TEACHING
High-quality instruction
that is aligned with
standards
Are the structures in
place to improve
instructional quality
and alignment?
4
5. What is the School System 2020 Diagnostic?
Every student
succeeds
SUCCESSFUL
STUDENTS
EFFECTIVE
DISTRICTS
Coherent systems that
give schools the
flexibility, capacity, and
support they need
Do your district’s
structures and
policies maximize the
enabling conditions
for excellent schools?
EFFECTIVE
SCHOOLS
Schools that deliberately
manage talent, time, and
money around a clear
instructional model
Are practices and
resource use aligned
with high performing
strategies at every
school?
EFFECTIVE
TEACHING
High-quality instruction
that is aligned with
standards
Are the structures in
place to improve
instructional quality
and alignment?
District Impact: To help district leaders answer these questions and identify and track changes to
System Conditions and Resource Use that lead to improved student achievement
Field Building: To build a data set of where districts are along this spectrum, to highlight best
practices and ultimately to demonstrate that creating system conditions that promote the strategic
use of resources in districts and schools drives improved student outcomes
5
6. School System 20/20 identifies key transformational levers across seven
areas of district activity
Teaching
Standards and
Instruction
LeadershipPartners
Funding School Support
School Design
• Broad, but high level
• Research-based
• Includes qualitative and
quantitative measures
• Benchmarks against best
practice and other districts
6
7. To date we have conducted School System 20/20 in 16 districts,
including 3 districts we’ve identified as best practice case
studies:
Addison, NY (2016)
Aldine, TX (2014)
Baltimore City, MD (2016)
Boston, MA (2015)
Charlotte, NC (2016)
Cleveland, OH (2016)
Denver, CO (2016)
El Paso, TX (2017)
Indianapolis, IN (2015)
Lawrence, MA (2014)
Memphis, TN (2017)
Norwalk, CT (2016)
Oakland, CA (2015)
Palm Beach County, FL (2015)
Tulsa, OK (2015)
Spring Branch, TX (2017)
7
“I’ve been inundated with so
much information, and this is
by far the most strategic,
easiest to understand and
most useful.” - Dr. Sonja
Santelises, Superintendent,
Baltimore City Schoolsen
inundated with so “You were successful in
doing what is the hardest
thing, which is making the
link between budget and
school design…If we had
this information as we were
developing our strategic
plan, we would have had a
better strategic operating
plan.”
-Steven Adamowski, Norwalk
Superintendent
8. Looking at this information helps us to understand:
How does performance growth in DPS compare to
other districts in Colorado and nationwide?
What actions over the past five years have driven
changes in system conditions, resource use, and student
outcomes?
How does DPS compare to other leading districts and
research-based best practice?
Where should DPS target future investments?
What can other district leaders and policy makers
learn from DPS’ experience?
8
9. What is our history with DPS?
ERS has partnered with DPS over the past 8 years on a
number of paid engagements
ERS is currently engaged with DPS in two areas:
Teacher compensation workshops
New teacher case studies with DPS-specific supplement
The work we are reviewing today was funded by the
Charles and Lynn Schusterman Foundation as a case
study
9
11. According to Stanford NCES comparison data, DPS had the
second highest growth of any district >25K nationwide between
2009-10 and 2012-13
Denver
[CELLRANGE]
[CELLRANGE]
[CELLRANGE]
[CELLRANGE]
[CELLRANGE]
[CELLRANGE]
-1.5
-1
-0.5
0
0.5
1
1.5
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
GrowthinGradeEquivalentUnits,AveragedAcross
Grades,2009-2013
District Percent FRL
Denver Average Grade Equivalent Unit Growth
2009-2013, Against Large Districts
Stanford Educational Data Archive, NCES; comparison includes all districts with more than 25,000 students, data only available 2009-2013 11
Averaged across grades and
subjects, DPS performance
improved almost an entire grade
level, from 1.5 grade levels
behind in 09-10 to .5 grade
levels behind in 12-13.
13. Proficiency increased across all subgroups
54%
44%
42%
46%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
ELAPercentProficient
ELA Percent Proficient- all tested grades
All Students FRL ELL Non-White
Source: CDE website-DPS student enrollment & performance data, 2004-2014 13
14. And across both charter and district-run schools
43%
57%
45%
54%
38%
51%
31%
42%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
ELAPercentProficient
ELA Percent Proficient by School Type
Charter Traditional Charter - FRL Traditional - FRL
Source: CDE website-DPS student enrollment & performance data, 2004-2014 14
15. The combination of improvements across charter and district
schools with a shift of student into charters increased DPS’ %
proficient in ELA from 49% to 54% between 2008 and 2014
5%
87%
8%
% of Performance
Improvement by source
15Source: ERS Analysis
Charter school improvement: 8% of students were in charter
schools from 08-14; proficiency in those schools improved on
average 4 points
District-run school improvement: DPS-run schools gained on
average 4% pts proficiency since 2008. In 2008 these schools
served 92% of students.
Shift from district-run to charter: From 2008 to 2014, 7% of
students moved from district schools to charter schools. In
addition to the 4% they would have gained in district schools (in
dark blue), the schools they moved into were performing 4%
better than the district-run schools, accounting for 5% of the
overall improvement.
16. And despite DPS having a significantly higher need
population than the rest of the state…
62% 62%
68%
64% 66% 66%
71% 72% 72% 71% 72%
70% 68%
27% 28%
31% 31% 31% 32%
35% 37% 38% 38% 39% 38% 39%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
% of students eligible for free and reduced lunch
DPS % FRL State % FRL (Excluding DPS)
16Source: Colorado Department of Education, Achievement Percentile Rank Report
17. ..gaps with the state for ELL and FRL students narrowed; and as
of 2014 DPS was outperforming the state with white students
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
ELL
DPS ELL Colorado ELL
Source: CDE website-DPS student enrollment & performance data, 2004-2014 17
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
x
FRL
DPS FRL Colorado FRL
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Non-Minority
Colorado Non-Minority DPS Non-Minority
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Minority
Colorado Minority DPS Minority
ELA Percent Proficient
18. Though we don’t have national comparison data beyond 2013, state
data indicates that DPS’ improvement trajectory has continued and
even steepened
45%
54%
36%
69%
70%
41%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
DPS vs. Colorado Percent Proficient & Advanced
TCAP Reading to PARCC ELA
DPS Percent Proficient
State Percent Proficient (Excluding DPS)
18Source: Colorado Department of Education, Achievement Percentile Rank Report
CMAS PARCC
Assessment
Closed the gap by 2
percentage points
from 09-10 to 12-13
Closed the gap by 12
percentage points
from 12-13 to 15-16
19. More than might be suggested by the narrowing need
gap with the rest of the state
62% 62%
68%
64% 66% 66%
71% 72% 72% 71% 72%
70% 68%
27% 28%
31% 31% 31% 32%
35% 37% 38% 38% 39% 38% 39%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
% of students eligible for free and reduced lunch
DPS % FRL State % FRL (Excluding DPS)
19Source: Colorado Department of Education, Achievement Percentile Rank Report
21. The School System 20/20 framework identifies the key
transformations we believe that districts must make to drive
significant, sustained improvement
21
System 20/20 Area Key transformations
STANDARDS
• Rigorous, information-age standards with effective curricula, instructional
strategies, and assessments to achieve them.
TEACHING
• Selective hiring, development, and strategic assignment to schools and
teams. Career path and compensation enable growth and reward
contribution.
SCHOOL DESIGN
• Schools with restructured teams and schedules: personalized learning and
support that responds to student needs and promotes instructional
collaboration.
LEADERSHIP
• Clear standards and accountability with the support school leaders need to
succeed.
SCHOOL SUPPORT
• A central office that serves as a strategy partner, leveraging data to increase
efficiency and identify best practices.
FUNDING
• A central office that serves as a strategy partner, leveraging data to increase
efficiency and identify best practices.
• Partnering with families, community institutions, youth service
organizations, and online instructors to serve students’ needs.PARTNERS
22. For over a decade, DPS has undertaken a broad array of
structural changes aimed at many of these key levers
22
System 20/20 Area DPS Actions
STANDARDS
• Development of CCRS readiness assessment for schools
• Creation of curriculum and instructional support resources
TEACHING
• Implementation of LEAP
• Teacher leadership program
• Incentives to attract teachers to highest-need subjects and schools
• Cross-district year-long plan for professional development
SCHOOL
DESIGN
• Increased school level flexibility
• Focus on whole child
LEADERSHIP
• Expanded principal pipeline and development programs
• Implement LEAD
• Incentives to attract and retain effective principals in high-need schools
SCHOOL
SUPPORT
• Data systems
• Accountability system
• Lower instructional superintendent ratios, especially for turnaround
schools
FUNDING
• Shared funding system across charter and district run schools
• Incorporation of ELL weights into funding system
• Active management of school portfolio across district-run and charter
schools
23. The result is a measurable improvement in
system conditions and practice & resource use
23Source: DPS financial, student, and school data; ERS database.
2015-162009-10
STANDARDS
TEACHING
SCHOOL DESIGN
SYSTEM
CONDITIONS
PRACTICE &
RESOURCE USE
LEADERSHIP
SCHOOL SUPPORT
FUNDING
PARTNERS
2015-162009-10
24. These efforts have created the most strategic
enabling conditions of any district we’ve studied
24
Denver 2015-16
Charlotte 2015-16
Aldine 2012-13
Lawrence 2013-14
Palm Beach County 2014-15
Boston 2014-15
Denver 2009-10
1 1.5 2 2.5 3
Less Strategic More Strategic
System CondistionsSystem Conditions
25. Practice & resource use in DPS lags system conditions, but is
also among the leaders of districts we’ve studied
25
Denver 2015-16
Charlotte 2015-16
Aldine 2012-13
Lawrence 2013-14
Palm Beach County 2014-15
Boston 2014-15
Denver 2009-10
1 1.5 2 2.5 3
Less Strategic More Strategic
Practice & Resource Use System CondistionsSystem Conditions
26. Key Funding & Portfolio findings
DPS is unique in how you have leveraged you chartering authority to
create a more level playing field across district-run and charter schools
Willingness to put teeth into accountability systems by closing chronically
underperforming schools
Strategic approach to opening new schools that avoids the unplanned and
fragmented enrollment impacts on surrounding schools often seen in other districts
Deliberately moving beyond choice to increase equity of access
Implementation of single system designed to ensure equitable funding across all
schools
This approach has resulted in better options for students
Increase in high quality seats across all regions; largest in regions with fewest high
quality seats
More similarity in student needs between district-run and charter schools than in
many districts
But high quality options are still lagging in some high need regions
26
Funding & Portfolio
27. DPS has the most sophisticated portfolio
management approach of all districts we’ve
studied
27
Metric # Metric
Less
Strategic
More
Strategic
FundingandPortfolio
Portfolio
School opening and closing decisions support
long-term portfolio goals.
The district calculates the cost of different school types and has a
clear plan for staffing small and specialty schools to balance access
The district has deliberately created a portfolio of school governance
types and decision models (e.g., charter, autonomy) to reflect district
capacity and to meet the needs of the students in the district.
The district has deliberately created a portfolio of school grade levels
and sizes to meet the needs of the students in the district.
The district has deliberately created a portfolio of school program
offerings (e.g., magnet, academy, specialized programming, themed
schools) to meet the needs of the students in the district.
The district proactively balances the number of seats by deliberately
reducing the number of seats at one school when seats are added at
another.
Boston Charlotte Lawrence Denver
Funding & Portfolio
28. Across the district, the number of high-quality seats has
increased most in areas with the lowest access
27% 28%
34%
57%
68%
31%
41% 44%
60%
67%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
Far Northeast Northwest Southwest Near Northeast Southeast
Percent of Students in High-Quality Seats by Year
09-10 15-16
28Source: DPS school enrollment and performance data 09-10 and 15-16
Funding & Portfolio
15-16 %
Poverty
81% 78% 89% 58% 45%
29. DPS has more similarity in student needs between charter and
district-run schools than we see in many other districts
Source: DPS school enrollment 09-10 and 15-16
73% 68%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
Charter Traditional
% FRL
37%
30%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
Charter Traditional
% ELL
10%
12%
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
14%
Charter Traditional
% SPED
84%
76%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
Charter Traditional
% Non-White
30%
34%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
Charter Traditional
% Incoming Proficiency
6th Grade ELA
28%
32%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
Charter Traditional
% Direct Certification
Funding & Portfolio
29
30. But access for high-need students still lags behind
30
Funding & Portfolio
41%
67%
41%
53%
43%
70%
41%
65%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
FRL Non FRL ELL Not ELL Non-White White Below-
Proficient
Proficient
and Above
Percent of Students in High-Quality Seats, 2015-16
Source: DPS school enrollment and performance data 09-10 and 15-16
31. Key Teaching and Leadership Findings
DPS investment in LEAP, LEAD and growth supports for
teachers and leaders seems to be paying off
Increased rigor in teacher evaluation
High retention of strongest performers coupled with relatively
higher attrition of lowest performers
But high need schools are lagging in teacher and leader
stability and quality
Turnover and % novice teachers and leaders is much higher in
higher need schools
ProComp incentives for priority schools compete with incentives
for high growth/high performing schools
Schools are not consistently maximizing the opportunities
provided by the district, particularly around the hiring timeline,
and teacher leaders
31
LeadershipTeaching
32. DPS’ highest performing teachers are also most likely to
stay, which is a leading indicator of teaching quality
1%
19% 19%
23%
18%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
Aldine Boston Charlotte All Teachers Non-Probationary teachers
Pct. Point Difference Between Retention of Teachers Below Effective vs Above
Effective
32
Retention of Teachers
above effective
86% 89% 89% 91% 92%
Retention of Teachers
below effective
85% 70% 70% 68% 74%
Denver
33. However, low-performing schools tend to have a higher share of
novice teachers and higher attrition rates
33
14%
6%
54%
33%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Lowest-Performing Quartile Highest-Performing Quartile
Percent Novice SY17 and Within School Attrition (SY15-SY17)
by Performance Quartile
Percent Novice Percent Attrition (2 years)
Leadership
Note: Turnover adjusted to exclude new and closed schools
Teaching
34. Key School Design/Standards/School Support
Findings
DPS has implemented strong enabling conditions and
supports for school improvement
School-level flexibilities
Curriculum, assessments, and instructional support
Instructional superintendent support targeted to lowest performers
But these conditions do not consistently result in
strategic school designs that meet the needs of all
students and teachers
Lack of consistent, adequate, high-quality collaborative planning
time is constraining shifts in instructional practice
Inconsistent matching of talent and time to student need within
schools is a missed opportunity to improve student outcomes
34
School SupportStandardsSchool Design
35. DPS schools have more flexibility
than comparison districts
35353535
Metric # Metric Less Strategic
More
Strategic
SchoolDesign
Flexibility
Schools have flexibility over how they spend their
budget, including class size and staffing ratios,
and can trade staff positions, positions for $, and
$ for positions.
Schools have the flexibility to hire teachers whose
skills and expertise match school and student
needs.
Schools have the flexibility to make schedule
changes without a contract renegotiation or a full
faculty vote.
Schools have the flexibility to vary special
education service and instructional models as
long as they meet IEP requirements.
Schools have the flexibility to vary teacher teams,
assignments, and schedules with data support in
order to provide time for collaboration and match
resources to student needs.
School SupportStandardsSchool Design
Boston Charlotte Lawrence Denver
37. Denver’s 2020 goal is even more ambitious than
its already impressive gains
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
DPS 3rd Grade reading Scores
Actual Continued 2010-2014 trend Needed to reach goal
37Source: CDE website-DPS student performance data, 2004-2014; ERS projection
Goal #2: A Foundation For Success in School. By 2020 80% of DPS third
Grade Students will be at or above grade level in reading and writing
And that’s before
accounting for the
switch to PARCC
38. Reaching DPS’ 3rd grade reading goals will require greater gains
than those seen in even the most successful districts
38
80%
53%
60%
88%
73%
45%
60%
39%
51%
65%
59%
41%
Denver Aspirations
RSD New Orleans
Denver 09-10 to
13-14
Aldine, TX
Norfolk, VA
Lawrence, MA
Growth in Elementary Reading
Proficiency Start
End
Gain/year
(%)
# of
Years
Enrollment
(000)
+1 4 14
+1.8 8 34
+2.3 10 65
+2.3 4 90
+2.8 5 30
+3.3 6 90
Source: ERS database, DPS performance data, Denver 2020 plan
39. And while system-wide efforts have raised performance for all,
significant achievement gaps remain
29%
40%
44%
65%
69%
82%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
White,Non-WhitePercentagePointAchievementGap
FRL- Non FRL Achievement Gap, ELA
Source: 2004-2014 TCAP data for all tested grades from CDE website
Note: we limited this view to TCAP data because only one year of PARCC data is publicly available disaggregated by FRL status to date.
Non FRL students
FRL students
39 pts
38 pts
29 pts
39
40. Targeting support to high-need schools and students will be key to
continuing progress and closing gaps
Focus portfolio management efforts on maintaining and
increasing equity as demographics shift
Leverage portfolio management and student enrollment processes to
maximize opportunities for high-needs students including strategic
deployment of proven models and operators and policies that encourage
integration in gentrifying neighborhoods.
Leverage talent management to support high need schools
Continue work to build structures to help lower performing/higher need
schools attract, develop and retain talent, including increasing support for the
high number of new teachers in these schools.
Support schools in implementing high-quality strategic
school designs
Improve support for school leaders to implement strategic school designs and
strong professional learning practices in order to turn district-wide systems
into on the ground changes that improve student performance.
40
41. DPS’ journey holds valuable lessons for any district
working to transform student outcomes
The importance of creating effective system supports through a
sustained and integrated redesign approach
DPS’ systematic creation of the enabling structures and conditions for high-quality schools
across all of the School System 20/20 areas has steadily improved performance in district-
run schools and should continue to drive improvement into the future.
The power of a system-wide approach to human capital management
DPS’ has focused on creating the conditions to attract, develop and retain high performing
teachers and leaders across all areas of the system including evaluation, compensation
and career paths and professional development.
The value of deliberate portfolio management
DPS has accelerated overall district performance growth through a deliberate approach to
portfolio management coupled with its chartering authority. Notably, this has also avoided
the unplanned under-enrollment and performance degradation in district schools that too
often accompanies charter growth.
The challenge of driving from enabling conditions through to practice
Translating strong enabling conditions into school-level changes in practice and resource
use requires active support to build capacity and change behaviors.
41
I’d like to start by thanking Tom and the entire DPS team both for letting us do this work and for giving us the opportunity to share it with you. There are some really exciting things happening here – and I know that it stretches beyond just the DPS leadership team to support from all of you as well.
I work at Education Resource Strategies. We are a non-profit based in Boston and
Have worked for over a decade with large urban school systems across the country to help them define their strategic priorities and then align their resources – people, time and money – with those priorities
Before we jump into the content, I want to orient you to our work and our perspective.
We believe that in order to have successful students you first need to have effective instruction
And that the best way to ensure high quality instruction that is organized and delivered in ways that meet student needs is to deliberately design schools in ways that have a clear instructional model, and then organize in ways that both promote continuous improvement in instruction AND targeted support for students – this includes things like school culture, but also things like varying instructional time and personalized learning based on student needs.
So we believe that schools are the units of change – and that schools need to be organized to meet the needs of their students and teachers.
But we also don’t believe that you can get there one school at a time. And that if we want to have great schools at scale – high quality schools for ALL kids, not just some – that we need to fix the systems that these schools exist in – and build systems that give schools the flexibility, capacity and support they need.
To support this work, we developed the School System 20/20 diagnostic to help districts assess where they are along the spectrum – have they created the enabling conditions at the system level for great school? And then are those enabling conditions translating into high quality practice and the school level?
We believe that this can help individual districts by helping them answer these questions, understand strengths, and identify the highest priority changes to make next.
And we believe we can help the field by building a data set of how districts across the country are doing to provide comparisons, identify best practices, and ultimately show that redesigning systems to create enabling conditions, and then translating those conditions into practice, drives improved student outcomes.
The 20/20 diagnostic looks across 7 different areas of district activity, from standards, through teaching, school support, funding.
It includes both qualitative questions about policies and practices and quantitative metrics.
Wherever possible, we’ve grounded our metrics and our standards for those metrics in available research about what works
Allows us to benchmark against other districts and research based best practice.
Just a note – for those of you who are familiar with ERS, this diagnostic has its roots in, but is different than our deep resource analysis. That deep analysis, which we did in Denver about 7 years ago, takes about 9 months and today would cost about $500-600K. For reference, this diagnostic work took about 2 months and cost about $60K. So it’s broad, but does not go into the deep detail that we do with our more intensive work – great for diagnosing, but not designed to point to the specific actions.
I tell you this because I’m pretty sure you’ll have questions as we go through this – some of which we just may not be able to answer because of the scope of this work.
We introduced the 20/20 diagnostic – in beta – in 2014. Since then we have completed it in 16 districts across the country. In the majority of these districts they have contracted with us to do the work, as a way to help inform strategic planning or other initiatives, or as the first phase of a larger engagement. But in a few cases we have identified districts that we think are leaders nationally where we want to document their story as a case study that others can learn from. Those include Lawrence, MA, Aldine, TX and Denver.
The diagnostic allows us to answer some key questions that we’ve listed here
What is happening with student outcomes in Denver?
What actions has DPS taken that have driven these student outcomes through driving more strategic system conditions and changes in practice and resource use?
How does DPS compare to other leading districts nationwide?
What are the implications of this information for DPS priorities moving forward?
And what lessons can the field learn from Denver’s experience?
Want to be clear about ERS’ relationship with DPS.
DPS has contracted with us in the past, as far back as 09-10, on a variety of engagements. In fact we are engaged in two small initiatives currently. These are independent of the 20/20 work.
For the 20/2 diagnostic – DPS did not come to us – we approached them last summer, and this work was funded not by DPS but by the Schusterman Foundation to develop a best practice case study.
Let’s start with performance.
Last year, Stanford developed a database that looked at state level high stakes exams and normalized them using state-level NAEP data in order to provide, for the first time, a comparison of district performance nationally. This data exists right now for only 4 years – 09-10 to 12-13. Their plan is to add new years as they become available through NCES.
But that means we can look at how Denver compares to every district in the country. For simplicity, we looked just at districts over 25K enrollment
This chart shows growth between 09-10 and 12-13 for all districts >25K (300) – the horizontal axis is % FRL, as an indicator of student need, the Y access is growth in terms of grade level equivalent units.
What this shows is that Denver had the second largest growth in this time period – second only to Lincoln NE – and student need in Denver is clearly much higher. We’ve also labeled the other highest growth districts for reference.
In particular, DPS performance on average x grades and subjects, went from 1.5 grade levels behind to .5 levels behind – or growth of almost a full grade level in 4 years. And we don’t have the absolute performance here, but that took Denver from lagging behind the average performance pretty significantly for districts at this level of need to above average.
Method/Data: Stanford uses NAEP scale score to adjust state data to give an average score for all districts. They then convert this into grade equivalent units (helped because NAEP sets a standard for each grade level). We then rolled this up to the average across grades. Jordan is likely the best source on further info here.
That’s the national picture – and it mirrors what you’ve already seen within CO, where DPS has been steadily closing the gap with the state. For now I’m just showing results up to 2014, which is when you made the switch to PARCC. We’ll look at the post PARCC result in a minute, but there just isn’t the detail available yet, particularly for the most recent 15-16 year.
So the growth is impressive just looking at national and state comparision, but what makes it even more remarkable is how pervasive the improvement was – so we saw improvements across all subgroups – this shows non-white students, FRL students and ELL students…
And across both charter and district run schools – charters generally outperform district run schools slightly, but you can see both are on an upward trajectory. Dark blue is for all students, light blue is FRL students.
This is worth just taking a minute on – because it is different than what we often see. It’s not unusual to see charters outperforming district-run schools, especially in states with tight chartering systems like here, MA. But it is unusual to see charter performance steadily improving AND to see district schools steadily improving at the same time.
I feel like a lot of the story in Denver has been about the unique charter environment and approach. And while I don’t want to underestimate both the importance of that for DPS students and for the national conversation about systems and charters – and we’re going to talk more about that – I walso want to emphasize that there is a really important and impressive story around what is happening with district run schools in Denver as well and the steady, sustained improvement we’re seeing there…and much of what we’re going to talk about today is what is driving that.
We tried to tease out the dynamics of how district run schools and charter schools have contributed to outcomes to date in DPS.
We tried to figure out the best way to look at this without investing a huge amount of effort and without access to longitudinal student data. Let me walk you through what we did. I think this gives you a good high level look at what is going on. For the academics in the room I don’t think this would stand up to a rigorous statistical test. As Robin Lake put it – this is being creative about using the data you have to try to understand what is happening.
We know that overall proficiency in DPS across all schools increased from 49% to 54% between 2008 and 2014. So what we’ve done here is break that growth into 3 buckets.
The top bucked here is charter school students. 8% of students were in charters in 2008, proficiency in those schools started higher than in district run schools and improved about 4 points – so that accounts for about 8% of the total growth
The remaining 92% of students were in district run schools in 2008. Those schools also improved about 4 points, representing about 87% of the total growh
But in 2014, there were 15% of DPS students in charter schools, so 7% of students (on average) shifted from district run schools to higher performing charter schools. That added about another 5%.
I know this feels different perhaps from other data that you’ve seen. I think there are a few reasons for that. First, a lot of the analysis I’ve seen on this in the past is looking only at new school performance, where as this looks at all schools.
Second, this only goes through 2014 because we can’t compare pre-2014 to post 2014 because of PARCC. Since 2014 the % of enrollment in charters has increased even more, so both those yellow and the light blue sections will be bigger if we look since 2014 or look out the next 5 years, because the share of students in charter schools has increased.
But at the same time, it is a great reminder that in DPS – there is wide improvement across a large number of schools, including district run schools. And that is one of the things that is so exciting for us.
Last I just want to point out that even though DPS has a much higher need population than the state on average,
Up until 2014 was closing the gap not just overall but for most subgroups and as of 2014 was outperforming the state average with white students.
As I mentioned before, we don’t have national data beyond 2013 and we don’t have detailed PARCC data for 2016. But there are indications that DPS has maintained or even increased in’s improvement trajectory since 2013.
You’ve probably seen similar data. I know this isn’t exactly the way the state reports data – they report percentile based on scale scores. We didn’t have access to that data – so this was the way we could look at the data over time – going back to 2004 and all the way up to 2016 – this is % proficient.
You can see that relative to the state, DPS has been improving faster since 13 than from 09-13. This is think reflects data that A+ and Van have published as well. From 09-13 they closed the gap 2 % points, since 13 they’ve closed the gap 12% points and are now within 5% of state average proficiency. I don’t believe subgroup data is available.
There are a couple of caveats – some higher performing students in CO opted out of the exam, which may be pulling the state average down, and
FRL levels in DPS have started to come down as more affluent families are coming back into the city, while the state level has remaind steady. But it doesn’t feel like these two things could be enough to explain such a massive move.
As I mentioned up front, we’ve identify key shifts that we believe systems need to make in order to create the enabling conditions for great schools at scale
And DPS has been working steadily for a long time to systematically tackle many of these big shifts, starting with the introduction of ProComp and WSF, to the rollout of LEAP and LEAD, and the expansion of school flexibilities, to the most recent initiatives around teacher leadership, expanding flexibilities even more, increasing equity of access and integrating the accountability systems across district run and charter schools.
I think the big takeaway here is that it isn’t just one thing, or one area, and it isn’t easy or fast.
It’s having a vision of what the role of the district is that will best promote equity and excellence and then steadily and systematically putting those things in place. And I see that in DPS as really 3 key things:
Giving schools the flexibilities they need to make the best decisions for their students and teachers
And then figuring out what else schools need to be successful –
Teacher evaluation and compensation
Common core curriculum and incentives
Teacher leader positions
Timely high quality data
Sharing best practices
Different for different schools
Building the mechanisms to ensure equity – great options for ALL students, not just some. That’s things like funding, but also accountability systems and why teacher eval is so importanttrying to develop incentives for great people to work in high need schools.
This is our System 2020 scorecard and you can see the results of this hard work over the past 8 years. We used 09-10 because that’s when we did our deep work in Denver so we had the data fro then to use as a comparison.
But across all areas of system conditions and practice and resource use DPS has seen measurable improvement.
The result - the most strategic enabling conditions – this looks at the highest scoring districts of the 16
And even thought P&RU is lagging, still among the highest.
Want to take you through the highlights of our findings in three areas: Funding and school portfolio management; Human capital – teachers and leaders; and school support and what we can school design
I will start by saying that I don’t think we found anything that was materially different from what DPS already knew or you’ve seen. But I think having the national comparison, and being able to look broadly across the whole system, instead of in one specific area, is helpful both for understanding where DPS has been and for helping to think about where they need to go.
These are the key qualitative metrics that we look at in terms of portfolio management, and we’re comparing DPS here to Charlotte, Boston and Lawrence because of the 16 districts we’ve studied, those are the districts that score highest other than Denver in this area, and Lawrence in particular is often held up as another strong portfolio district. Many similarities.
But DPS is – of the districts we’ve studied – gone the farthest in terms of a single funding, enrollment and accountability system. And I think unique in the country.
If we look at results we see increases in the number of high quality seats across all regions. HQ seats defined as blue or green in the SPF framework. And what’s more, DPS changed the criteria last year and made it harder to get a blue or green rating, and these increases are despite that higher bar – so in fact we’re probably understating the growth.
Also worth noting is that the biggest jumps are in the regions with the lowest % of HQ seats. Those regions are still lagging, which is a big issue and we’ll talk bout that more in a minute, but still efforts are focused in the right areas.
I also mentioned more similar needs between charter and district run schools. Often we see charter schools serving lower need populations. What we see in DPS is that there seems to be less difference.
I do want to say that these measures are imperfect. First, every student in a charter school has chosen to be there, while there are still significant #s of students in district run schools who did not choose their school, despite ongoing efforts. Second, these measures don’t necessarily reflect the full depth of student needs – for example, there can be a wide variation in the economic situation of student classified as FRL. And if you look at the % direct cert, which is a more rigorous definition of economic disadvantage/poverty, you can see that district-run schools are serving a higher %
But having said that, these numbers do indicate much more similarity between districts and charters than we see in most districts and indicates that much of the work that DPS and charter schools have been doing to try to improve equity of access is paying off
Having said that, we are still a long way from equity of access in Denver. If you look at the % of students in high quality seats by student subgroup you see across the board that higher need students have less access to HQ seats than lower need students. If you recall the HQ seats by region slide – this is largely driven by differences in school quality by region, and by the fact that even the best access programs aren’t enough to overcome real barriers – both physical and other – to students traveling outside of their local area for school.
This is not news – but just reinforces some of our other findings that I’ll review next about the importance of doubling down on these underserved regions.
Turning to Human Capital, which has been the second important cornerstone of DPS’s system transformation approach.
Key findings here: DPS has invested a lot of time and effort in developing systems and structures to attract, develop and retain high quality teacher and leaders into the district. From ProComp through the LEAP and LEAD evaluation systems and investments in professional development and teacher leadership.
In addition to these programs being successful in terms of increasing the rigor of evaluations and improving strategic retention, which we’ll talk about in a minute, the Process that DPS used to develop and rollout many of these programs is worth mentioning as well
We’ve been impressed with both the commitment of DPS leadership to engage key stakeholders – in the case of LEAP, teachers and school leaders Also procomp – survey and workshops to get teacher feedback. – in the development and rollout process, and the commitment to a cautious and data-driven approach to implementation. Teacher leader – introduced, piloted, good feedback, so rolled out more broadly.
GO TO NEXT SLIDE
But at the same time, we are finding that, like in every other district, the distribution of teacher quality is not even. And high need, low performing schools struggle to attract and retain high quality teachers and leaders.
So, we see turnover is higher at lower performing schools and % novices is much higher.
This is currently exacerbated by the ProComp incentive structure – and both DCTA and DPS know that this needs to be fixed and are working on that. But there is a $2500 incentive for working in a “hard to serve” school but a $5K incentive for working in a high growth/high performing school. So right now this incentive structure is working at cross purposes to what we want to happen
And while the district has made some changes recently to try to help schools – for example changing the process to allow schools to hire earlier in the year, and providing teacher leadership positions (and I understand this program is being expanded for next year, focused on the highest need schools), there is wide variation in whether and how schools are taking advantage of this. And while we don’t know this for sure, it wouldn’t be surprising that schools with less stability in leadership and teachers are going to be less able to take advantage of some of these more “advanced” strategies
Here we are showing what TNTP first coined and we’ve adopted as “strategic retention” – this is the difference in the retention of your highest performers and your lowest performers.
You want to retain as many of your high performers as possible – DPS is doing that better than other districts we’ve studied (and these are the three highest) over 90% of your best teachers are staying each year – which is fantastic.
And you want your lowest performers to either improve or leave, and what we see in DPS is a high % of teachers rated below effective leaving each year.
This is a virtuous cycle – as you keep more high performers, and lose more low performers, average quality should improve. Therefore we view this as an important leading indicator of student outcomes.
The one thing to keep in mind is that in DPS, like in many districts we see, not a huge number of teachers are rated below effective, and most of those are probationary teachers who are rated “approaching”. So in order to keep seeing the benefits of this retention trend, it’s important to make sure that schools are continuing to be really rigorous with their evaluation ratings.
BACK TO PREVIOUS SLIDE
This is a similar pattern to what we see everywhere – the lowest performing, often highest need schools have difficulty attracting and retaining high quality teacher and leaders.
The blue bars here represent the % novice (3 years or fewer experience as a teacher or principal) teachers and leaders in the lowest performing quartile of schools vs. the highest. And you see a much higher percentage of novices in the lower performing schools
The green bars represent turnover – so this is % of teachers or principals leaving over a 2 year period – and again, not surprisingly, you see much more stability in higher performing schools.
We don’t have school level evaluation data, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see a similar trend here.
The district has tried to put in place supports to address this – TLC was launched to better support new teachers, and my understanding is that this is being expanded in the highest need schools next year. There are programs to support struggling teachers; DPS and DCTA are working trying to address the ProComp incentive issues…but this feels like an important area to continue to focus going forward.
The last area I want to turn to is around school support. The way our 20/20 framework works the different types of schools supports actually fall into 3 different categories, standards and instruction, school support and school design.
So the story here is that DPS has again done a very good job in both increasing flexibilities for schools.
GO TO NEXT SLIDE
They’ve also invested in building supports in some key areas. The process that DPS put in place to develop new Common Core aligned curriculum, assessments and PD is a great example of this. Again, they didn’t try to do this work in a vacuum – they enlisted teachers and school leaders to do this work, but did it in district wide way so that each school didn’t have to figure it out themselves. And if the PARCC results are any indication it worked really well.
Finally, the district has invested in differentiated supports that are managed through instructional superintendents to provide more supports to struggling schools, and less to schools that need it less. DPS has among the lowest instructional suprervisor spans of control of any district we’ve studied, and deliberately staffs to have even lower ratios for turnaround schools.
This is important because of the second finding -
On flexibilities, which is a key part of the theory of action – again, Denver gives schools more flexibilities than anyone else we’ve look at, including places like Lawrence that are well known for “school autonomy”. And I know that the team is looking for ways to expand these flexibilities even more
GO BACK TO PREVIOUS SLIDE
Looking forward – DPS has set a goal of 80% of 3rd gade students above grade level (proficient on the state exam) by 20/20. That is admirable, and I wouldn’t necessarily suggest changing it, but I also think it’s important to put it in perspective.
DPS had the 2nd highest growth of any district in the country from 09-10 to 12-13. And we think they are continuing along that trajectory or even accelerating…which is good because you would need to accelerate pretty significantly to meet the goal. And that is before the switch to PARCC, which raised the bar and therefore probably indicates the need for a recalibration of the goal.
We’ve also looked at the best district success stories that we can find anywhere, over the past 20 years, across the country. So these are the largest annual increases in performance – you can see DPS 09-14 trajectory was the second highest we could find – second only to the RSD in Louisiana, which is a bit of a special case given both how low they started off and what happened with Katrina – where they were really starting in a clean slate that it so different from anywhere else. DPS would need to exceed the growth they saw there for the next 6 years.
If anyone can do it, DPS can – but at the same time, it would be an amazing accomplishment
Another important thing to look at going forward….we think a lot at ERS about the tandem goals of excellence AND equity – so we want to close achievement gaps while improving performance for all. It’s not good enough just to get currently lagging student groups up to mediocre.
What’s great about DPS is you have raised achievement for ALL GROUPS. The downside is that because lower need students are growing as fast as higher need, achievement gaps haven’t yet begun to close.
The key for DPS going forward will be to work to start closing those gaps while continuing to raise the bar for the lower need students – and thereby keeping those students in the district. Because we know that more integrated schools and systems tend to be more equitable and higher performing…and because that maximizes the financial resources available to all of the students of Denver.
So where do we think the biggest opportunities are for DPS?
It is squarely in the place we’ve just talked about: the journey to date has been around creating enabling conditions system wide. DPS needs to continue those efforts but then really focus on the lowest performing schools and the highest need students in three critical areas:
Continue to work to increase high quality options in high need areas AND improve access for higher need students in higher performing/gentrifying areas. This will require thinking creatively about perhaps reserving spots in public schools for ED students similarly to how charters do, and looking for other ways to maintain a critical mass of poor and minority students in schools in neighborhoods where demographics are shifting.
Really think about how DPS can attract and retain talent in the highest need schools and how to support especially new teachers in these schools
ProComp work going on right now to fix the incentive issue
Also expanding new teacher support with more TL’s and working together to think creatively about other supports – teacher comp ide of cutting back on preps or sections for those first couple of years in tough schools
Working with school leaders to hire earlier
Looking at other types of incentives such as moving pods of people to these schools
Continue to evolve how the instructional superintendents support school leaders in development and implementing strategic school designs
And then, stepping back, we think there are some really important lessons for the field from your great work here in Denver.
The first and most important lesson is how important it is to take a system-wide approach. There is not just one thing – not choice, not charters, not school autonomy, not teacher evaluation, not tutoring. If we really want to improve outcomes for ALL students, sustainably, we need to build a system that both enables AND supports ALL schools to do what needs to be done for students.
Critical to that system work is developing the structures and processes to support attracting, developing, and retaining high quality talent. I want to be clear, we don’t think that HC should be managed centrally – we believe it’s critically important for schools to be able to hire and organize the people they need, the way they need, but there are important things that the system can and I would argue must do to help schools do that including
Working with unions to develop compensation systems– particularly for teachers – that professionalize the job and recognize and reward teachers for excellence, continuous improvement and contribution
Making it possible for schools to implement strong, team-based, job-embedded professional development including:
Ensuring all schools can have CPT
Ensuring all schools have expert support
Ensuring all schools have the data and training they need
Developing a strong pipeline of teachers and leaders both internally and externally, including working with teacher certification bodies – local colleges and universities and alternative certification programs – and leadership development within the district and figuring out ways to make the hiring timeline happen early enough in the year to get the best teachers
Equity - Working to figure out how to get great teachers and leaders in ALL schools
We’ve talked a lot and others have talked a lot about portfolio mgmt. in Denver and the inclusive approach to accountability and charters. I can’t say enough how devastating the current way this process works in most places is to struggling districts, and hope that Denver can provide a path forward that puts students first
Finally, we have been interviewing many of our district partners recently about what tools and information they would find most useful and one person said “I don’t like case studies – they never talk about the messiness”. So two things – the first one is to acknowledge both how hard this is – I’m sure the DPS team can attest to that, and for all of these successes we’ve discussed to day I know there have been other initiatives that didn’t work, or times when even these felt like
Second, it’s not just enough to create the enabling conditions – to give schools flexibilities and then set them free. That works in some cases – but not in enough, fast enough – which brings us back to the role of the system to figure out when and how to step in to support schools that need it, while giving the schools that don’t what THEY need.
And I’d just like to close the way I opened, by thanking you and the DPS team.