We seek to dramatically improve student achievement at scale by fundamentally transforming state and local education systems, structures, and policies. Our work with schools and districts supports our theory of action, a set of deeply held, organization-wide values and commitments about school improvement based on our more than 20-year history of working with school leaders and educators.
If schools have:
Conditions: Sufficient school-level control over people, time, money, and program to address the root causes of low performance;
Planning: Evidence-based, actionable improvement plans that address the root causes of low performance informed by a review of existing conditions and input from school, district, and community stakeholders;
Leadership: A principal who can manage and communicate complexity while maintaining focus on the school’s vision and key priorities;
Focus on Instruction: Processes and supports that help teachers work together to constantly improve and refine standards-based instructional practice so that students can engage in deep learning tasks;
Collective Responsibility: The school faculty and staff ensure there is collective responsibility for both the quality of instruction and student learning and success;
Performance Management: Consistent processes for using data to measure both implementation and outcomes to determine what’s working and inform efforts to improve; and
Partnerships: Partnerships that help the school meet the multiple needs of teachers and students,
Then schools will dramatically improve and student learning will increase.
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