After a lovely Fourth of July weekend I came back to the office ready for the work ahead. My plan for this week was to dive into my research on turnaround strategies. I've been picking at it here and there since I arrived, but I wanted to really dig deep this week.
What I've learned has been fascinating so far. Usually when we think "turnaround" we think of the radical changes some districts are implementing where the entire staff has to reapply for their jobs and a new principal is brought in. I plan to investigate those attempts as well, but I also want to learn about specific strategies used in those turn around efforts. For instance, I read this case on Charlotte-Mecklenburg's Strategic Staffing model, which essentially describes how the school district incentivized working in the school district's lowest performing schools. Like with the radical change approach, the school district hires a new principal. However, they recruit a principal who had a track record of results and then give her the ability to select the administrative team she wants to move to the school with her. The principal also gets to hire a team of teachers to join the school. The teachers also have to have a track record of results and are compensated for working at a higher need school. They receive additional supports from the district such as targeted professional development and a training during the summer. The initiative is young, but the results have been promising so far. They are learning a lot as they go and are being very disciplined about improving the program at every step of the process.
Yesterday I read reports on New York City's Small Schools initiative. Today I tried to learn more about Chicago's turnaround method and the Academy for Urban School Leadership (AUSL). I found what looks like a promising resource--a list of reports on turnaround strategies, each with a different focus. This toolkit on competencies for turnaround success seemed especially interesting. It reminded me of TFA's TAL (Teach as Leadership) rubric and essentially how we assess students. There are a set of standards students must meet and we assess them in order to determine if they have met those standards. Similarly, if we can specify the standards (aka "competencies") we want leaders that are turning around schools to meet we can better assess if they have attained them and if they are up for the challenge of turning around a low-performing school.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Friday, July 2, 2010
Partnership Schools and Door Knocking Campaign
Today we had an Ed Strategy meeting, which included the team here in the office (there are four other interns, my boss, and her assistant), but also representatives from other units in the Mayor's Office and a representatives from the Mayor's Partnership for Los Angeles Schools.
I've gotten to learn more about the Mayor's Partnership these past few days. I had known about the Mayor's attempt at mayoral control in 2005, but by the time I began teaching the talks about it had subsided. In a nutshell, instead of getting full mayoral control the Mayor was able to establish a separate organization called the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools. The Partnership manages 15 schools in its network and is implementing several reforms in its attempt to raise student achievement. Before a school entered the Partnership, its staff had to vote on entering the network. The Partnership tried to target feeder schools so that students who attended an elementary school in the network, moved on to a middle school and high school that were also part of the network. The Partnership's strategy is summed up in the five focus areas below (from website):
I had a chance to meet some of the Partnership staff at a reception this week and was eager to learn more about their work. The people I met were equally eager to answer questions and talk about their work. I met a fellow Yalie who just finished law school and is now working for the Partnership. Although we had met six years ago and only once, one of the members of the Partnership's Communications team remembered me! In the summer of 2004 he was participating in a youth program at a South LA organization called Community Coalition. I was getting ready to start my senior year of college and was working as an intern at a neighboring organization called the Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research. I visited Community Coalition to announce an event that the library was hosting the following weekend. I remember staying for the afternoon and talking to the students about the event, the program, and about college in general. Well, he was one of the students I spoke to! What a great memory. You just never know what interactions will stay with people. It was great to learn about how he is doing now. He's working at the Partnership and graduated from the University of Wisconsin in Madison, which he got to attend with a scholarship from the Posse Foundation. I just felt so encouraged that folks like him are involved in this important work.
At the Ed Strategy meeting today we talked about some of the projects that are coming up for the Partnership and one that really excited me was a Door Knocking Campaign set to start this summer. The plan is to visit as many Partnership families as possible. This is huge! When I was a teacher I tried to visit my students and their families. I was never able to visit all of them, but when I was able to visit I noticed that it made a big difference. Students and parents know that you are invested and they appreciate the extra effort. If the Partnership is able to reach every family that would be fantastic. They are still ironing out the details, but the organizer in me was so inspired by just the prospect of mobilizing enough volunteers to reach all those families. I signed up to volunteer and will be inviting others to join as well.
We also talked about how to better coordinate city services with the needs that arise at Partnership schools. This as well was exciting. Imagine if when a parent has a question about city resources, right there on the school site you can answer the question! Or imagine if there's a street light malfunctioning and being able to call the city agency responsible for repairing it and addressing it right away. Better collaboration means schools could be better served, but it also means that students and parents may also feel more connected to their municipal government. That's the part that's really exciting. If students and parents feel a closer link to their local government because their school provides that connection for them, that would be a tremendous accomplishment! I'd love to see it happen.
I've gotten to learn more about the Mayor's Partnership these past few days. I had known about the Mayor's attempt at mayoral control in 2005, but by the time I began teaching the talks about it had subsided. In a nutshell, instead of getting full mayoral control the Mayor was able to establish a separate organization called the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools. The Partnership manages 15 schools in its network and is implementing several reforms in its attempt to raise student achievement. Before a school entered the Partnership, its staff had to vote on entering the network. The Partnership tried to target feeder schools so that students who attended an elementary school in the network, moved on to a middle school and high school that were also part of the network. The Partnership's strategy is summed up in the five focus areas below (from website):
- Transforming School Site Leadership and Culture
- Strengthening Quality Instruction
- Accelerating Opportunities for Students
- Engaging Families and Communities
- Optimizing School Structures and Operations
I had a chance to meet some of the Partnership staff at a reception this week and was eager to learn more about their work. The people I met were equally eager to answer questions and talk about their work. I met a fellow Yalie who just finished law school and is now working for the Partnership. Although we had met six years ago and only once, one of the members of the Partnership's Communications team remembered me! In the summer of 2004 he was participating in a youth program at a South LA organization called Community Coalition. I was getting ready to start my senior year of college and was working as an intern at a neighboring organization called the Southern California Library for Social Studies and Research. I visited Community Coalition to announce an event that the library was hosting the following weekend. I remember staying for the afternoon and talking to the students about the event, the program, and about college in general. Well, he was one of the students I spoke to! What a great memory. You just never know what interactions will stay with people. It was great to learn about how he is doing now. He's working at the Partnership and graduated from the University of Wisconsin in Madison, which he got to attend with a scholarship from the Posse Foundation. I just felt so encouraged that folks like him are involved in this important work.
At the Ed Strategy meeting today we talked about some of the projects that are coming up for the Partnership and one that really excited me was a Door Knocking Campaign set to start this summer. The plan is to visit as many Partnership families as possible. This is huge! When I was a teacher I tried to visit my students and their families. I was never able to visit all of them, but when I was able to visit I noticed that it made a big difference. Students and parents know that you are invested and they appreciate the extra effort. If the Partnership is able to reach every family that would be fantastic. They are still ironing out the details, but the organizer in me was so inspired by just the prospect of mobilizing enough volunteers to reach all those families. I signed up to volunteer and will be inviting others to join as well.
We also talked about how to better coordinate city services with the needs that arise at Partnership schools. This as well was exciting. Imagine if when a parent has a question about city resources, right there on the school site you can answer the question! Or imagine if there's a street light malfunctioning and being able to call the city agency responsible for repairing it and addressing it right away. Better collaboration means schools could be better served, but it also means that students and parents may also feel more connected to their municipal government. That's the part that's really exciting. If students and parents feel a closer link to their local government because their school provides that connection for them, that would be a tremendous accomplishment! I'd love to see it happen.
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