ICEF Public Schools and Teach For America LA

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ICEF Public Schools and Teach For America ? LA

• An example of a partnership focused on student
  achievement
• Kate Farrar, Managing Director of Alumni Affairs,
  TFA ? LA
• Robert Schwartz, CAO, ICEF Public Schools

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In CCSA break out sessions, people in the room
are the greatest resources
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Participants in this break-out session will be
able to

• Understand the genesis of, context for, and value
  of the TFA ? LA/ ICEF Public Schools Partnership

2) Analyze opportunities for collaboration with
organizations in their school community
3) Identify potential community partners
through the CCSA network and create pathways to
becoming a formal partner
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TFA and ICEF have fostered a true professional
learning community
For system change to occur on a larger scale, we
need schools learning from each other and
districts learning from each other. We call this
lateral capacity building and see it as
absolutely crucial for systemic reform. -
Fullan, 2006
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Teach For America LA Info

• Teach For America was founded in 1990 Teach For
  America ? Los Angeles was a founding region
  today we are one of 32 regions across the country
• We currently have 350 first and second year
  teachers, or corps members teaching in 120
  different pre-K through 12 schools in the Greater
  Los Angeles region
• Our district partners include Baldwin Park,
  Compton, LAUSD, Lynwood, Pasadena
• Our charter partners include ICEF, Alliance,
  Aspire, Bright Star, Camino Nuevo, Green Dot,
  KIPP, PUC
• Our ECE partners include LACOE Head Start
  Delegate Agencies, The Accelerated School, Hope
  Street Center, and Westside Childrens Center
• We currently have over 1000 alumni living in the
  Greater Los Angeles Region, over 67 of whom are
  still working within education
• 42 are currently principals or school executive
  directors
• 4 are currently elected officials, including 1
  school board member
• Approximately half of those alumni still working
  in k-12 education are still serving as classroom
  instructional leaders

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ICEF is creating an Education Corridor in South
LA

• 13 current ICEF Schools
• 2 graduating classes with 98 of students
  enrolled in college 73 in 4 year universities
• Expanding to 35 schools in the next 4-6 years
• Each school will be fully enrolled
• Elementary 400 students
• Middle School 300 students
• High School 500 students
• Each school will produce 125 college grads per
  year gt 1,500 total additional college grads per
  year for the area by 2020

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TFA and ICEF Public Schools share missions
focused on student equity
One day, all children in this nation will have
the opportunity to attain an excellent education.
All students will attend and compete
academically at the top colleges and universities
in the nation.
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Not only is there mission alignment, but
alignment of strategic objectives

• Teach For Americas Short-term objectives
• Maximize corps member impact on student
  achievement and the belief that all students can
  achieve at a high level
• Maximize number of alumni actively engaged in our
  work of closing the achievement gap through
  building school leadership pipelines, interest in
  elected office, and overall engagement through a
  variety of professional and volunteer efforts

• ICEFs Short-term objectives
• Maximize teacher impact on student achievement
  and the belief that all students can achieve at a
  high level
• Maximize effectiveness of instructional leaders
  in closing the achievement gap through building
  school leadership pipelines, improving current
  practice, and creating a results oriented culture
  around college success

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Not only is there mission alignment, but
alignment of strategic objectives

• Teach For Americas long-term objectives
• Ensure that alumni are assuming leadership
  positions in a variety of fields and are making
  decisions with the conviction that the
  achievement can be closed
• Act as a critical talent pipeline to regional
  organizations that are focused on eliminating
  education inequity
• Through this work, facilitate a change in the
  prevailing ideology such that the broader
  community truly believe that all children can and
  will achieve at high levels

• ICEFs long-term objectives
• Expand to 35 high performing charter schools in
  the South LA area focused on college success for
  traditionally underserved communities
• Work as a professional learning community to
  ensure we scale with quality
• Through this work, facilitate a change in the
  prevailing ideology such that the broader
  community truly believe that all children can and
  will achieve at high levels

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The partnership began with small initiatives and
has evolved and grown
Formal Alumni Partnership
around School Leadership
ICEF used as TFA Summer
Training Institute Site
Placing TFA CMs at ICEF
schools
Referring TFA alums to ICEF
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The more time we spent learning about each other
the stronger the partnership
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ICEF currently employs a large number of former
TFA teachers and staff

• Eight percent of Teach For America Corps Members
  are placed at ICEF Schools
• 16 of ICEF staff are Teach For America corps
  members or alumni

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Current Corps Members
Department Chairs or Deans
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TFA Alums
Key Central Office Staff Board Member
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School Principals or APs
Aspiring Administrators
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The partnership was formalized and celebrated in
each organization
Formal and informal presentation and updates for
regional staff, regularly
National Teach For America team support of formal
regional partnership
Regional and national marketing of teaching and
leadership opportunities for Teach For America
alumni at ICEF campuses.

• Champions for each other pushing it within the
  organization

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The partnership is strong because we always see
opportunities for growth
TFA-LA be more proactive and ICEF take advantage
of promoting the partnership in the TFA network
Align ICEF and TFA support for new corps members
to provide continuity
Need more time to inform and invest ICEF School
Directors
Ensure there is no sense of entitlement
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Both TFA-LA and ICEF have other strategic
partners in the community

• Teach For America Partners
• LMU for teacher credentialing/masters
• CSUN for administrative credentialing
• Charter (KIPP and BES) and district partners for
  corps member and alumni placements
• LACOE Head Start for ECE placements
• Education Pioneers for building talent pipeline
  (informal)

• ICEF Partners
• USC
• Alliant for Credentialing
• UC Santa Cruz for evaluation
• Charter partners for serving as thought partners
  and sharing best practices
• Teacher Recruitment Services (RISE, EnCorps,
  foreign countries)
• Education Pioneers for building talent pipeline
  (informal)

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We have learned a lot along the way to pass on to
you
Flexibility

• Goals should be tight-loose
• Learn and adapt goals along the way

Entrepreneurship

• Do it yourself. If its important - dont
  delegate
• Dont be constrained by bureaucracy. Carpe diem.

Evolution and Organic Growth

• Start small and let things happen
• The more you tend to it the fastest it grows

Supportive of Each Others Growth

• Be each others vocal champion
• Hook each other up with other like minded folks

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Everyone in here is looking for strategic partners

• Based on the green and yellow index cards, try to
  get BINGO by going around the room and meeting
  others who meet the criteria on the BINGO card.

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Take concrete steps today before you return to
the day to day grind

• Spend the remainder of the time networking with
  others in the room and setting times to visit and
  meet with each other in the next couple of weeks.