Starting a school chain: key factors to consider Spring 2014

Introduction This is an executive summary of our guidance on starting a school chain. It provides an overview of the key decisions you will need to make when considering the nature of your chain. This summary should be used in conjunction with the full guidance available on NSN’s website. This provides more information about what you need to consider when making these decisions and examples of how Academy chains in the UK and Charter School Management Organisations in the US have approached them. The full guidance has been developed by Meera Shah, MBA candidate at Harvard Business School, in association with New Schools Network and with the generous support of a number of school chains in both the US and the UK. If you have any questions about this guidance or about how NSN can help you develop your plans further, please contact us through

Issues to consider when establishing a chain Before you commit to starting a chain, make sure you are doing it for the right reasons… Genuine desire to improve educational opportunities for children directly through the school system  Financial sustainability  Personal legacy  Improved career trajectories for existing staff  Greater voice in the educational debate  Improved access to philanthropic funds  Help build a better brand (enabling improved staff recruitment and retention)

Scale, variance and control When starting a school chain, you need to consider 3 key issues: Scale How large do you want your chain to become? Variance How large do you want your chain to become? Control How large do you want your chain to become? 3 You can use the decision grid in the ‘Tools’ section to help record your choices to these questions.

Your approach to these 3 issues will affect the nature of your chain and how it is organised in a number of ways (I) Culture Norms and behaviours in the organisation; everyone’s shared understanding of “how things work around here” —Examples include attitudes about accountability, orientation towards students and staff, conflict resolution methods, the approach with stakeholders Defines how work gets done; includes how people are organised, who has responsibility and accountability for results and who makes or influences decisions —Formal structures are deliberately established forms that can be either relatively permanent or temporary (eg, organisational chart, task forces, cross- functional teams) —Informal structures and power are garnered and reinforced through social networks; usually earned or developed through tenure, expertise or competence Structures

Your approach to these 3 issues will affect the nature of your chain and how it is organised in a number of ways (II) Systems Processes and procedures through which work gets done; purpose is to increase efficiency and effectiveness in implementing strategy —Often built around functions such as career development and promotion, compensation, student assignment, resource allocation, accountability Organisational resources includes areas such as human capital, physical assets (e.g. technology) and finances —People are the most valuable asset representing ~80% of a school’s budget —Technology is important both to fulfil external reporting demands as well as to support organisational processes (e.g., enabling teachers and administrators to use data to make better instructional decisions) Leaders must allocate the full range of resources in ways which are coherent with their organisation’s strategy in order to implement it effectively Resources

Your approach to these 3 issues will affect the nature of your chain and how it is organised in a number of ways (II) Stakeholders People and groups inside and outside the organisation who have a legitimate interest in the system and can influence it’s effectiveness —Examples includes teachers’ unions, parents, students, governors, community and advocacy groups, local politicians and policymakers Measure of an organisation’s success in formulating and delivering an integrated strategy —Includes areas such as student test scores, Ofsted reports Performance

Scale: How large do you want your chain to become? A Small Chain (>10 schools) — Set up as a small collection of individual schools with limited central resource — Can operate on existing systems and within existing structures — May have some variance from original school(s) – eg, different grade levels, or different student needs served Examples include: A Large Chain (<10 schools) — Diverse set of schools (eg, different geographies, grade levels, student needs etc.) often bound together by multiple layers of central resource — Requires considerably more support, structures and systems than for a single (or a small number of) school(s) Examples include:

Variance: How much do you want your schools to differ? Key Questions Geographic Variance — In what range of geographic locations do you aim to establish your schools - close or disparate? — How will this evolve as your grow? Age Range Variance —What grade levels will you initially serve? —Will you only focus on these or will you expand? —At what size will you expand? Variance in student need — Will you aim to serve particular types of students? —If so, what will you focus on (eg, minority, low-income, faith etc.)? Example Range High variance Low variance Disparate geographies; multiple single site operations Few geographic clusters, each with multiple schools Multiple grade levels served; students aged 5-18 Focused on a narrow set of grade levels Wide array of students (eg, special education, English as a second language etc.) Actively targeted towards a particular demographic / type

Control: How much do you want your chain to control the governance, resources and pedagogy of individual schools a Permissive Schools in the chain collaborate but there is no shared governance Each school has its own separate governance but share governance of some resources, services, support and leadership Schools with shared governance with shared executive leadership, management, support and back office services. Schools with shared governance with shared executive leadership, management, support and back office services and a shared pedagogical model. Schools with shared governance and some shared support and services but each separately accountable to distinct boards. May operate on a geographical basis or may be linked by a shared educational ethos and mission Prescriptive Pedagogical chain Executive chain Non-executive chain Family or Partnership Informal collaborative May or may not be located on a close geographical basis Schools either located on a close geographical basis or organised into geographical clusters Source: National College a 3

11 Tools: Decision Making Grid What is your proposed approach? What are the associated challenges? How do you plan to mitigate against these? Type of network -Extension of single school vs. multiple schools Degree of variance -Geographic, age range, student need Control balance between central office and individual schools You can use the grid below to think through how your decisions will affect the type of school chain you create:

Further Information Full Guidance This executive summary is designed to be used in conjunction with the full guidance we have produced on starting a school chain, which can be found here. Other guidance This guidance focusses mainly on the operational infrastructure of school chains. NSN has produced a number of guidance documents which you will find helpful when thinking about how the governance model which sits behind your school may need to change, including: —Governance Structures: Multi-Academy Trusts – which sets out the key questions Multi-Academy Trusts need to consider when deciding on governance structures; and —Governance models and challenges for Free Schools - which sets out the governance options open to those who wish to start a Free School chain. Individual support NSN’s operations specialists are available to speak to Free Schools in the initial stages of starting a Free School chain. Please contact for more details. Academy sponsorship One way to grow a school chain is by sponsoring existing schools through the DfE’s Academy Sponsorship programme. There are also opportunities for Academy sponsors to receive funding to expand their operation through the Sponsor Capacity Fund. Please contact for more