CREATING THRIVING SCHOOLS

Strategic Action Through The Design and Launch of New Schools
Energize your district with a research-backed school turnaround model that works.

Are you ready to create an innovative school model to meet your district’s strategic goals? School Empowerment Network is here to help. 

As a part of the System of Great Schools initiative, TEA is supporting participating districts in their effort to expand the number of high-quality seats through the design and launch of new schools. As a part of this effort, we are excited that TEA has partnered with School Empowerment to design and manage a New School Design Fellowship aimed at ensuring disctricts and leaders get the support they need to create and launch superior new designs. Whether you are still exploring options or ready to take the plunge, we are here to help!

Situation

• The Springfield Empowerment Zone Partnership (SEZP) is an attempt to create a zone within a Massachusetts public school system using conditions which have made many autonomous school models successful. Springfield’s is one of a dozen similar efforts countrywide to create serious autonomy and accountability conditions in district schools

Approach

• SEN supports key strategic priorities of the SEZP by conducting an annual set of School Quality Reviews (beginning Spring 2018). This SQR process yields written reports for each school to inform school-level improvement planning, as well as data sets which help the district plan supervision and support across schools.

Results

• SEZP schools are moving in a positive direction. Compared to baseline SQR data from Spring 2018, nine of 10 participating schools made progress in all turnaround practices of SEZP’s Roadmap for Student Success framework.

• SQR recommendations have been formally rolled into the annual strategic planning process across the district and feed into each principal’s performance framework.

• SEN now provides the Massachusetts Department of Education with a comprehensive, statewide package of support and school monitoring visits which includes the generation of goals and benchmarks to guide school improvement work.

Situation

• Families’ demand for charter seats in NYC continues to exceed supply, with more than 48,000 children on wait lists. This need is concentrated in neighborhoods with a dearth of options. In partnership with the Walton Family Foundation, SEN both designed and launched the NYC Charter Leader Fellowship (est. 2016) to identify and mobilize NYC’s next cohort of visionary charter school leaders.

Approach

• SEN recruited entrepreneurial leaders and coached them through the three-year process of writing charters, planning for opening, and launching new schools. Through the fellowship, each aspiring leader was guided to generate a clear mission and vision for both instruction and school culture and to then build a detailed school design for bringing their vision to life. This program also focused on helping them develop the leadership skills needed to effectively build a new school and manage a staff to high standards of quality.

Results

• Brooklyn Emerging Leaders Academy (BELA), a STEAM-focused high school for girls, opened in Brooklyn in 2017. From within BELA’s inaugural class, 93% of students earned the required number of credits to graduate with a NYS Regents Diploma.

• A second CLF school, Elm Community Charter School, opened in Queens in 2018. A NYCDOE survey shows that 95% of teachers responded positively to questions about effective school leadership and that 95% of families feel the principal works to create a sense of community in and around the school.

• Three additional fellowship schools opened in 2019 and 2020: Hellenic Classical (2019), University Prep (2019) and Walkabout Bronx High School (2020). Results from these schools will be reported in 2021.

Situation

• Michigan Governor Rick Snyder created the Education Achievement Authority (EAA), in 2011, with the aim of revitalizing Michigan’s most persistently failing schools.

• One of the EAA’s main strategies was to identify and train the state’s greatest educational leaders in order to dramatically improve outcomes in related schools.

Approach

• During SYs 2015-2016 and 2016-2017, SEN launched a Leadership and Design Institute which prepared leaders and turnaround teams to launch Small Learning Communities (SLCs) in chronically failing schools.

• The establishment of a career ladder complemented these efforts by recognizing and training outstanding teachers across the district, using them to staff turnaround teams, and creating long-term stability by preparing developing leaders for the future.

• Identified leaders were trained to generate “reset” moments and replace entrenched cultures of low expectations with effective, sustainable structures and practices.

Results

• SQR data reported by Class Measures for SYs 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 showed steady improvement for all school quality scores across all 11 EAA schools.

• Between 2015 and 2017, the percent of EAA students meeting their growth targets on the NWEA assessment increased substantially, rising from 43% to 55% in math and 44% to 51% in reading. Furthermore, average growth in the percent of students meeting their NWEA targets was even stronger for SLCs–rising from 42% to 62% for math and 42% to 58% in reading.

Situation

As part of the Systems of Great Schools (SGS) initiative, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) is supporting participating districts as they expand the number of high-quality seats through the design and launch of new schools. TEA sought out SEN to design and launch the New School Design Fellowship to ensure aspiring leaders get superior support for school design. The first NSDF cohort was launched in Fall 2019. Since then SEN has supported the development and launch of 9 new schools in 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 in Lubbock, Aldine, and Victoria.  In 2021-2022 we welcomed 13 new leaders from 7 different Texas districts into the Texas New School Design Fellowship.

Approach

• Districts apply a rigorous internal selection process to identify and name entrepreneurial passionate leaders to design and launch new schools.
• In the first year of the New School Design Fellowship, participants spend the fall semester exploring the assets and needs of their community, examining effective school models, and crafting the vision for their school’s model. During this time they plan how they will provide high-quality academics, a vibrant and inclusive school culture, and a talented team of teachers committed to continuous improvement. In the spring semester, participants focus on bringing their vision to life by building out the enabling systems and their own leadership skills to implement the model with fidelity.
• Participating districts support each new school by ensuring key autonomies, providing facilities, and facilitating startup funding. In addition, they provide supervision and support aligned with the design and expectations for the new school model.
• After the school design process, Districts have the opportunity to apply for Continuation Coaching from the SEN team which includes two years of 1:1 leadership coaching, twice yearly school reviews that assess the school’s development toward the stated mission, andregularFellow convenings focused on developing leadership skills and reflecting and improving on school outcomes.

Highlights

• Nine out of ten participants in the first two NSDF cohorts completed a high-quality School Design Guide and opened a new school on time (August 2020 or August 2021).
• 100% of participants in the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 NSDF cohorts rated the following aspects of their experience effective or highly effective: a) professional development sessions, b) 1:1 coaching on school design and 1:1 coaching on leadership skills, c) centering each design topic on issues of equity
• 100% of the schools who completed the Planning year successfully applied for and earned Continuation grants from the Texas Education Agency of $1,000,000 over two years

Situation

• In line with its mission to create 25,000 quality seats by 2025, Detroit Children’s Fund created the DCF Team Fellows program to help leadership teams raise the bar for student achievement and rise among Michigan’s top-performing schools.

• DCF chose to partner with SEN to offer an intensive development opportunity for  select school leadership teams.

Approach

• SEN selected three schools on the cusp of strong performance and worked with their existing leadership teams to move their students’ growth from “good” to “great.”

• SEN coaches conducted baseline SQRs and led the development of comprehensive Achievement Plans outlining ambitious goals connected to school leadership, culture, and improved instruction–along with actions steps and benchmarks.

Results

• Mumford Academy (a school SEN helped launch in 2016) had an average SAT score of 822, which put it above all other non-selective Detroit high schools. Student behavioral reports entered for positive actions grew 17%, the school saw a 39% decrease in student referrals, and overall student attendance climbed to 91%.

• Based on NWEA assessments, between fall 2018 and spring 2019, the percent of Detroit Achievement Academy students performing at grade level or above increased substantially, rising from 24% to 49% in math and 37% to 43% in reading.

Situation

• In January 2016, the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education voted to designate the Southbridge Public Schools (SPS) as chronically underperforming, placing the district in state Receivership.

• To support the implementation of its turnaround plan, in 2019 SPS chose to partner with SEN to support the development of tools, systems, and professional development to help Southbridge Middle School realize its vision for strengthening school culture.

Approach

• The SEN culture coach supported the development of school leaders’ and teachers’ capacity in relation to culture building. This included an assessment of teacher needs, design of a professional development plan to address identified needs, as well as facilitation of teacher training sessions to meet those needs.

• In addition, the SEN culture coach worked closely with the administrators of the Southbridge culture team to support, troubleshoot and develop plans to further culture goals.

• Currently, SEN coaches continue to provide monthly school culture coaching including strategic planning with appropriate staff, co-observation of and feedback on classroom management, SEL activities for advisory, as well as support with design, monitoring, and refinement of systems and structures to support improvements to school culture.

Results

• Leaders articulated a vision for high levels of student engagement, participation, and demonstrations of respect for learning time across all physical and virtual classrooms.

• At faculty PD, leaders introduced a schoolwide vision for culture with priorities around increasing student attendance and implementing teacher use of “direct praise” as a strategy to increase student engagement during lessons

• Mid-year results:

– Average daily student attendance increased from roughly 70% to 83% by early spring.

– SSC referrals (classroom removals) fell from 2.44 per day in November 2020 to 1.88 per day in March 2021

– December 2020 staff survey show the vast majority of teachers report positive feelings about gains in:

– overall perception of school climate

– staff connectedness and safety

– culture systems and structures in place

– Select Student Survey Results (Dec ‘20):

– Teachers treat me with respect (93%)

– Adults in this school treat all students with respect (89%)

– All students are treated fairly by the adults in my school (87%)

– Students are frequently recognized for good behavior (85%)

– The behaviors in my classroom allow teachers to teach so I can learn (82%)