Karen Hawley Miles showed this slideshow as part of her presentation to the school finance class of the University of Tennessee.

1. New Paradigms for High-Performing
Schools: Choices and Trade-offs
Tennessee McIntyre Class
Rethinking Resources
for Student Success May 11, 2012

2. High-performing schools shift the industrial age
school paradigm in 4 ways
To teaching teams with combined
From teachers as widgets expertise and differentiated
responsibilities and rewards
From small one-size-fits-all class size To targeted individual attention to
models match student need
From standard time blocks for all To varied time matching student
students and subjects and teacher needs
From school employees as sole Leveraging outside experts and
provider community resources
Source: ERS
Education Resource Strategies Tennessee School Design Class 2

3. High-performing schools are about team, not just
individual performance
Deliberate assignments
to teaching team
Each school’s
specific
School-based Collaborative
curricular, planning time
expert support
faculty, and
student needs
Formative
assessments
Source: ERS
Education Resource Strategies Tennessee School Design Class 3

4. Most districts spend little to reward increased teacher
responsibility and contribution
TOTAL DOLLARS PER TEACHER
$90,000 $88,052
$80,000
$78,232 Benefits
24%
$70,000 25%
0% Responsibility & Results
$ per teacher
$60,000
2%
27% Longevity
$50,000 20%
$40,000 3% 7% Education
$30,000
$20,000 51% Base
42%
$10,000
$-
District A
Rochester District B
Northeast District A
Balanced work-force Senior work-force
Compensation cost adjusted to District A area
Source: ERS District Aspen District Analysis FY 2009
Education Resource Strategies Tennessee School Design Class 4

5. High-performing schools maximize human resources
through hiring and assignment
 Hiring staff to fit school needs in terms of expertise, philosophy
and schedule
 Organizing teachers to grades and subjects—matching expert
teachers to high need areas
 Creating teacher teams that balance experience, training, and
expertise to build internal capacity
 Using all human resources flexibly and creatively to improve
student achievement
Source: ERS
Education Resource Strategies Tennessee School Design Class 5

6. How does the mix of teachers’ experience and training
match against the hiring needs of the school?
What type of teacher should the school hire?
Source: ERS Analysis
Education Resource Strategies Tennessee School Design Class 6

7. High-performing schools maximize human resources
within their buildings
 Hiring staff to fit school needs in terms of expertise, philosophy
and schedule
 Organizing teachers to grades and subjects—matching expert
teachers to high need areas
 Creating teacher teams that balance experience, training, and
expertise to build internal capacity
 Using all human resources in school flexibly and creatively to
improve student achievement
Source: ERS
Education Resource Strategies Tennessee School Design Class 7

8. Where are the high need areas in the school?
ELA MATH
% Proficient Level of Teacher % Proficient & Level of Teacher
Grades
& above expertise above in math expertise
9 40% Low 44% Medium
10 46% Medium 42% Low
11 59% High 56% Medium
12 63% High 60% High
How should expert teachers be matched to high-need areas?
Source: ERS Analysis
Education Resource Strategies Tennessee School Design Class 8

9. High-performing schools maximize human resources
within their buildings
 Hiring staff to fit school needs in terms of expertise, philosophy
and schedule
 Organizing teachers to grades and subjects—matching expert
teachers to high need areas
 Creating teacher teams that balance experience, training, and
expertise to build internal capacity
 Using all human resources in school flexibly and creatively to
improve student achievement
Source: ERS
Education Resource Strategies Tennessee School Design Class 9

10. Which team of teachers has the greatest capacity?
Grade
Teacher Yrs. Experience Level of implementation Evaluation rating
level
A 2 Low Satisfactory
B 23 Medium Satisfactory
1
C 1 Low Unsatisfactory
D 8 High Satisfactory
E 4 High Satisfactory
2
F 13 High Satisfactory
G 25 Medium Satisfactory
H 32 Low Unsatisfactory
3
I 1 Low Not yet rated
How should teachers be teamed to build internal capacity?
Source: ERS
Education Resource Strategies Tennessee School Design Class 10

11. High-performing schools maximize human resources
within their buildings
 Hiring staff to fit school needs in terms of expertise, philosophy
and schedule
 Organizing teachers to grades and subjects—matching expert
teachers to high need areas
 Creating teacher teams that balance experience, training, and
expertise to build internal capacity
 Using all human resources in school flexibly and creatively to
improve student achievement
Source: ERS
Education Resource Strategies Tennessee School Design Class 11

12. High-performing schools shift the industrial age
school paradigm in 4 ways
To teaching teams with combined
From teachers as widgets expertise and differentiated
responsibilities and rewards
From small one-size-fits-all class size To targeted individual attention to
models match student need
From standard time blocks for all To varied time matching student
students and subjects and teacher needs
From school employees as sole Leveraging outside experts and
provider community resources
Source: ERS
Education Resource Strategies Tennessee School Design Class 12

13. Most districts have opportunities to strategically raise
class size…
IN THIS DISTRICT CLASS SIZES ARE FAR FROM MAXIMUM
AND DO NOT VARY BY GRADE 31
Average class size Contract max 28
25
22 22 22 22
21
Grades K-2 Grades 3-5 Grades 6-8 Grades 9-12
Source: Elementary Grades Homeroom file Oct 2009; Includes elementary schools and K-8 schools (grades K0-5); excludes classes that are
special ed 60%+, ELL 60%+; includes Advanced Work classes; excludes schools with Two-Way bilingual program; excludes classes with
“mixed” grade (mainly due to teacher data NA). ERS Analysis.
Education Resource Strategies Tennessee School Design Class 13

14. …and to target class sizes to priority subjects and students
Average GenEd Class Sizes by Subject
G6-8 G9-12
35
30 29
26 27 27 28
26 26 26 26 26
25
Class Size
24 25 24 24
25 24
22
19
20
15
10
5
-
Core Classes Noncore Classes
Source: ERS
Education Resource Strategies Tennessee School Design Class 14

15. Districts have more teaching staff, but use those FTEs
for specialist positions outside of the core classroom
GENERAL EDUCATION CLASS SIZE VERSUS STUDENT-TEACHER RATIO
ERS Estimated Average General Ed Class Size Average Total Student-to-Teacher Ratio
29 29
25 26
22 22 22
20
17 18
16 16 15
14 14 14
13 12
District S District M District E District B District A District C District P District R District G
Source: ERS Analysis
Education Resource Strategies Tennessee School Design Class 15

16. A cycle of isolation and specialization pulls students with
additional needs out of regular education classrooms
Large, diverse classes
Overextended teachers
Provide additional Current
Remove “problem”
support: Structure of
student from
- Social services SWD & ELL
classroom
- Pull-out instruction services
Administration to
coordinate, monitor special
services
Resources and responsibility
move outside regular classroom
Source: ERS
Education Resource Strategies Tennessee School Design Class 16

17. Moving students into rigidly defined programs
diverts dollars from early intervention and targeted
small groups for all students
DISTRICT SPENDING BY STUDENT TYPE
$45 2009-2010
$40
Fully Allocated $ Per Pupil
$35 Poverty
$30 Increment
(Thousands)
$25
$20 $42.6
$15
$10 $19.9
$15.2
$5 $11.7
$0
General Ed LEP
ELL SWD Resource SWD Sub Sep
Enrollment: 37.8K 6.6K 5.4K 5.5K
Weight: 1.0 1.2 1.7 3.5
Note: Excluded are all district Alternative/Adult schools.
Sources: SY10 October enrollment, district budget as of 10/09. Excludes students who did not report;
ELL includes those currently in programs, excludes students who opted-out. ERS Analysis.
Education Resource Strategies Tennessee School Design Class 17

18. High-performing schools shift the industrial age
school paradigm in 4 ways
To teaching teams with combined
From teachers as widgets expertise and differentiated
responsibilities and rewards
From small one-size-fits-all class size To targeted individual attention to
models match student need
From standard time blocks for all To varied time matching student
students and subjects and teacher needs
From school employees as sole Leveraging outside experts and
provider community resources
Source: ERS
Education Resource Strategies Tennessee School Design Class 18

19. Many districts have an opportunity to increase
instructional time by increasing the school day
STUDENT HOURS PER YEAR
National Avg. = 1170
Boston Charters 1476
Leading Edge schools 1276
Atlanta 1260
Philadelphia 1250
Pittsburgh 1250
Baltimore 1210
Denver 1200
Rochester 1180
DC 1170
Milwaukee 1160
St Paul 1138
Seattle 1125
Boston 1120
LA 1110
PG County 1080
Chicago 963
Sources: District figures are from Time and Attention in Urban High Schools: Lessons for School Systems (Frank, 2010) and from ERS
analyses for the Aspen CFO network. Leading Edge school figures are from Shields, R. A., and K. H. Miles. 2008. Strategic Designs:
Lessons from Leading Edge Small Urban High Schools. Watertown, MA: Education Resource Strategies. Charter school figures are from
The Boston Foundation report (May 2010) “Out of the Debate and Into the Schools.” ERS Analysis.
Education Resource Strategies Tennessee School Design Class 19

20. But there is huge opportunity to make better use of
existing time…by reducing unassigned or non-
instructional time
12TH GRADE STUDENTS: RANGE IN UNASSIGNED TIME
(As % of Total School Day)
40% 1/3 of 12th graders 1/3 of 12th graders 1/3 of 12th graders
35% have <6% of their have 6-17% of have 17-40% of
school day their school day their school day
30% unassigned
unassigned unassigned
25%
20%
15% Average = 12%
10%
5%
0%
-5%
-10%
Source: ERS Analysis of district course file
Education Resource Strategies Tennessee School Design Class 20

21. …by varying time by grade and subject
TYPICAL DISTRICT PERCENT OF STUDENT TIME
BY GRADE & SUBJECT
100% PE
90%
80% Electives
70% Foreign Language
60%
50% Science
40% Social Studies
30%
Math
20%
10% ELA
0%
ES 7-9 10-12
Source: ERS Analysis
Education Resource Strategies Tennessee School Design Class 21

22. …by matching instruction to student needs so that
course time isn’t wasted
Because student B repeated the same course, this district invested 400% more per
distinct math class in Student B, AND achieved a significantly worse outcome
STUDENT A STUDENT B
Proficiency at end of 8th
Below proficient Below proficient
grade
Semester-long math • Algebra 1A • Introductory Math
classes in grades 9-10 • Algebra 1B • Introductory Math
• Technical Math 1 • Introductory Math
• Geometry
Cumulative investment $1,362 $1,341
Average investment per
distinct class
$341 $1,341
Status in grade 11 On track/college ready Dropped out
Source: ERS analysis of district data
Education Resource Strategies Tennessee School Design Class 22

23. By taking on tough choices, schools can
move toward transformed practice
For the same cost, a typical 25,000-student urban district can:
Pay the top contributing
Reduce class sizes
grades 4-12 by 2
OR 15% of teachers 10K
more
Add 60 minutes of
Allow benefits spending school day in the 25%
OR lowest performing
to increase by 10%
schools
Provide half-day pre-K
Give all teachers annual
step increase OR for 50% of Kindergarden
students
ERS’ District Reallocation Modeler (DREAM)
Education Resource Strategies 23
Tennessee School Design Class 23

24. Lessons Learned
 Educational vision and design come first
 “All money is green”
 Find your friends
 Not all budget decisions are democratic
 “Just say no”
We can do anything we want,
Just not everything
Source: ERS
Education Resource Strategies Tennessee School Design Class 24