GBioo MEETING THE TURNAROUND CHALLENGE Partnership Zone Presentation PPT Partnership Zones: A research-based strategy to scale up school turnaround – and establish a model for district reform William Guenther Achieve/ADP Panel Washington, D.C. September 10, 2009

Within five years, turnaround schools should match the average achievement levels of non-poverty schools within their state Achievement Turnaround: a dramatic and comprehensive intervention in a low-performing school that a) produces significant gains in achievement within two years; and b) readies the school for the longer process of transformation into a high-performance organization 2 ©2009 Mass Insight Education & Research Institute Achieve/ADP Panel 9/10/09

What makes it possible: Some schools dramatically beat the odds 2004 data Achieve/ADP Panel 9/10/09 ©2009 Mass Insight Education & Research Institute 3

How high-performing, high-poverty schools do it: They foster students’ readiness to learn; focus staff’s readiness to teach; and expand their readiness to act Achieve/ADP Panel 9/10/09 ©2009 Mass Insight Education & Research Institute 4

How do we take the DNA of high-performing, high-poverty schools, and embed it within the systems that serve struggling high-poverty schools? The key intervention question: Achieve/ADP Panel 9/10/09 ©2009 Mass Insight Education & Research Institute 5

Achieving the goal at scale: Three Cs shape zones, partnerships, and school clusters Achieve/ADP Panel 9/10/09 ©2009 Mass Insight Education & Research Institute 6

Partnership Zones: Model conditions, capacity through partners, scale through clusters School Cluster Supporting Partners Lead Partner StateDistrict Partnership Zones with flexible operating conditions  Supported by state policy (targeted funding, compliance streamlining) and state turnaround office  Flexibility to make mission-driven decisions and establish model systems for people, time, money, school programs Partnership Zones with flexible operating conditions  Supported by state policy (targeted funding, compliance streamlining) and state turnaround office  Flexibility to make mission-driven decisions and establish model systems for people, time, money, school programs Lead Turnaround Partners working with districts to support clusters of 3-5 schools  New-model partner with accountability for student achievement and responsibility to support school staffing on behalf of the district or state  Lead partner aligns the work of all outside programs and partners, builds capacity for the district and schools Lead Turnaround Partners working with districts to support clusters of 3-5 schools  New-model partner with accountability for student achievement and responsibility to support school staffing on behalf of the district or state  Lead partner aligns the work of all outside programs and partners, builds capacity for the district and schools Achieve/ADP Panel 9/10/09 ©2009 Mass Insight Education & Research Institute 7

Conditions Change: Outside-the-system approaches, applied inside the system Achieve/ADP Panel 9/10/09 ©2009 Mass Insight Education & Research Institute 8

Lead Turnaround Partners increase capacity and create coherent support Currently“project-itis” results in a plethora of partners, who can get in the way of schools channeling energy into coherent, radical transformation. Lead Turnaround Partners coordinate the work of all partners so overstretched principals don’t have to. “Old World” Intervention Capacity & Roles: Fragmented, Competing Improvement Projects State Consultants District Mandates One School Many Providers & Partners Partnership Zones: High-capacity Lead Partners to align programs Achieve/ADP Panel 9/10/09 ©2009 Mass Insight Education & Research Institute 9

Lead Partners align authority with accountability for school clusters Signs a three-to-five year performance contract for student achievement with the district or state. The agreement assigns the Lead Partner responsibility for a small ‘intentional” cluster of schools in which systems and programs will be aligned, and holds the Lead Partner accountable for improving student performance. Assumes authority for decision-making on school staffing (as well as time, money, and program). In particular, the Lead Partner: Hires a new principal or approves the current one Supports the principal in hiring and replacing teachers, and has responsibility for bringing in a meaningful cohort of new instructional staff Provides core academic and student support services directly or aligns the services of other program and support partners, who are on sub-contracts with the Lead Partner. The Lead Partner also works to build internal capacity within the schools and, by extension, the district. Has an embedded, consistent, and intense relationship with each school during the turnaround period (5 days per week) Lead Partners are non-profit organizations or central offices units on contract with the district or state for the management of small clusters of 3-5 schools. The Lead Partner: Achieve/ADP Panel 9/10/09 ©2009 Mass Insight Education & Research Institute 10

Lead Partners add a hybrid option to the portfolio, combining district efficiencies & charter autonomies Districts Economies of scale over key infrastructure (e.g. facilities, transportation) Mobility of students and teachers is facilitated by having common elements across the district Credibility with the community Charter Management Organizations Autonomy over the core elements of a school:  People  Time  Money  Program School level accountability for student results The Lead Turnaround Partner model offers the potential of rapid scale and efficiency, while allowing for the freedoms needed for school turnaround. Achieve/ADP Panel 9/10/09 ©2009 Mass Insight Education & Research Institute 11

How Partnership Zones can improve whole districts Address remainder of district in sequence Add Clusters 3 and 4 Partnership Zone – Stage 1 Add Cluster 2 Zone – Stage 2 Zone – Stage 3 Extension of Zone Model to District Redesign Cluster 1 Clusters should be manageable in size, not typically to exceed three to five schools per cluster Managing turnaround clusters requires new skills– such as project management and monitoring of implementation metrics — for which lead partner expertise can augment central office experience. Clusters could be based on: Feeder Patterns (Mix of elementary, middle, & high schools) Need-Based (high ESL/recent immigrant population) Support/Mentoring models (50/50 high and low capacity schools, to allow for mentoring) Achieve/ADP Panel 9/10/09 ©2009 Mass Insight Education & Research Institute 12

District operational reforms parallel Partnership Zone work For the Partnership Zone work to be effective, and to maximize whole district transformation, core district operations will need to be reformed in parallel with the Zone efforts. Districts should be assisted in this work by Strategic Partners -- regional or statewide non-profits providing leadership for the state, district, and partners on fundraising, coalition-building, advocacy, alignment of public and private resources, and operational improvement. District operations central to reform include : Human Resources Budgeting Governance and Reporting Structures Data and Assessment Information Technology Systems Business Practices and Procurement ©2009 Mass Insight Education & Research Institute Achieve/ADP Panel 9/10/09 13

The School Turnaround Strategy Group Mass Insight Education & Research Institute, Inc. 18 Tremont Street, Suite 930 Boston, MA g  This presentation is based on over four years of research and development on scaling up school turnaround, including: analysis of higher-performing high-poverty school; research on best practice in turnaround initiatives at the state, district and school levels; the development a framework for scaling up turnaround. Partners in this work include Education Counsel, Holland + Knight, and The Parthenon Group.  For more on the topics included in this presentation, please visit our Turnaround Resource Center to see a variety of resources, including:  The Turnaround Challenge: Why America’s best opportunity to dramatically improve student achievement lies in our worst performing schools  Partnership Zones: Using school turnaround as the entry point for real reform – and reinventing the district model in the process  A New Partnership Paradigm: Developing strong partnerships to tackle turnaround – and increase capacity in public education  A series of case studies, tools and other resources to help operationalize the Partnership Zone framework.  The research & development and resulting reports were generously funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. A Partnership Zone Initiative pilot is currently underway with initial funding from the Carnegie Foundation.  This presentation is based on over four years of research and development on scaling up school turnaround, including: analysis of higher-performing high-poverty school; research on best practice in turnaround initiatives at the state, district and school levels; the development a framework for scaling up turnaround. Partners in this work include Education Counsel, Holland + Knight, and The Parthenon Group.  For more on the topics included in this presentation, please visit our Turnaround Resource Center to see a variety of resources, including:  The Turnaround Challenge: Why America’s best opportunity to dramatically improve student achievement lies in our worst performing schools  Partnership Zones: Using school turnaround as the entry point for real reform – and reinventing the district model in the process  A New Partnership Paradigm: Developing strong partnerships to tackle turnaround – and increase capacity in public education  A series of case studies, tools and other resources to help operationalize the Partnership Zone framework.  The research & development and resulting reports were generously funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. A Partnership Zone Initiative pilot is currently underway with initial funding from the Carnegie Foundation. Achieve/ADP Panel 9/10/09 ©2009 Mass Insight Education & Research Institute 14