Warren Simmons

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Taking District Reform to Scale The Role of the
Central Office and the School Board
A Presentation to the First Annual Symposium of
the National Center for Urban School
Transformation

• Warren Simmons
• Executive Director, Annenberg Institute for
  School Reform

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Annenberg Institute for School Reform

• Established in 1993 with a 50-million gift from
  Ambassador Walter Annenberg
• Mission To generate, share, and act on knowledge
  that will improve practice and outcomes in urban
  schools
• Core Initiatives
• Teaching and Learning Supports
• District Supports
• Civic Supports
• Support for Multi-Site Urban School Reform
  Initiatives

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Recent Work Relevant to the Topic

• Central Office Reviews for Results and Equity
• Portland, Sacramento, Hamilton County/Chattanooga,
  Newport, East Providence, Mobile
• Aspen Urban Superintendents Network
• Aspen/Annenberg Institute Case Study of Boston
• Teaching and Learning Reviews Baltimore,
  Portland
• Mid-South Project in Chicago
• The Learning Partnership
• Schools for A New Society

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Transformed Schools ProminentFeatures

• World class standards realized through core
  curricula in literacy and mathematics
• Content-focused/school-embedded professional
  development
• Distributed leadership/multiple roles for
  teachers
• Schools redesigned to support small communities
  of practice for educators and students
• Evidence-Based Practice
• Extended Learning Opportunities
• Performance-based autonomies for schools

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Characteristics of Improving Districts

• Strong focus on teaching and learning
• Support for instructional leadership
• Focus on alignment of policies and practice
• Strong support for continuous learning throughout
  the system and the broader community
• Use of evidence to inform decision making and to
  foster reciprocal accountability
• Boston, Aldine, Houston, Charlotte-Mecklenberg,
  Norfolk, Atlanta, Long Beach, Plainfield

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New Challenge for Urban Districts

• Transforming teaching and learning to move
  students beyond basic skills to proficient and
  advanced levels of performance
• Taking reform to scale to engender equity and
  excellence
• Depth,Breadth,Sustainability, Ownership
• Cynthia Coburn, 2005

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Are Todays Districts Up to the Task?
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Student Voices

• Lack of clarity about what it takes to succeed
  grades, complete work, behave well
• Many feel not much is expected of them
• Curriculum is repetitious and not challenging
• Little support for grappling with issues of race,
  ethnicity, gender, culture, class, sexual
  orientation

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Teacher Voices

• Lack of clarity about what good instruction looks
  like
• Lack of support for providing differentiated
  instruction for English language learners,
  students with disabilities, and students with
  major gaps in achievement
• Lack of system support for identifying and
  sharing local expertise and promising practice

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Principals Voices

• Pressed by competing reform demands
• Pressure to focus on immediate test scores gains
  vs. continuous improvement in teaching and
  learning
• Limited opportunities to work with colleagues to
  address common challenges
• Frequent changes in leadership and direction,
  combined with limited resources hinder ability to
  maintain focus

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Historical Roots of TodaysDistrict in the Past

• Most school districts are not suited for 21st
  century demands
• Designed for a different economy
• Guided by what are now outmoded assumptions about
  the nature of intelligence
• Created to deliver multiple standards
• Human and fiscal resources distributed to reflect
  student potential
• Reliance on authority to spur improvement
• Insulated system from community assets that
  support learning

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Districts and Reformin the Future

• Smart School Districts/Systems of Schools
  Redesigned school districts, reformed from
  within or Radical alternative structures and new
  networks
• Involve a much wider spectrum of community
  members, organizations and agencies
• Draw on the resources of the whole community
• Supports Networks or a Portfolio of Schools
• Designed to ensure all students and educators
  receive the supports they need to achieve high
  standards of performance

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Critical Task for School Boards and Central
Office

• Making the Case Why do we need a school district
  or a system of schools?

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Voters recognize there is a greater benefit at
stake, understanding the value good schools bring
to their communities.
Now let me read you a list that some people have
given about the value that good schools bring to
communities. Please tell me which ONE of the
following you think is the best value that good
schools bring to the communities in which they
are located.
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Americans feel we are losing ground on improving
education.
Do you think the problem of...the quality of
public education is about the same as it has
been, that the country is making progress in this
area, or that the country is losing ground?
50
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About the same
Pew Research Center, May 11-25, 2005, 1,502 adults
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Voters volunteer quality teachers, smaller
classrooms, and focusing on the basics to improve
education.
Just in your opinion, what would be the best way
to improve kindergarten through 12th grade
education in the U.S. today?
Gallup national survey, August 8-11, 2004, 1,017
adults. Only results greater than 2 are shown.
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Voters place the lion share of responsibility on
the shoulders of those designated to be in charge
of the school and the parents of children
attending schools.
Now I am going to read you some different groups.
Please tell me how responsible you think each
one is for ensuring quality public schools by
rating it on a scale which goes from 0, not at
all responsible for ensuring quality public
schools to 10 , extremely responsible for
ensuring quality public schools, and you can be
anywhere in between. AND Now I am going to read
you some different groups. Please rate each one
on a scale which goes from 0 to 10, where 10
means it has the most power to change or improve
public schools and 0 means it has no power to
change or improve public schools. (Split Sampled
Questions)
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Voters believe their Mayor or County Supervisor
and their State Legislator should play a greater
role in advocating for quality public education.
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Voters see private school vouchers and increasing
federal oversight as less effective changes.
Would that position make you more or less likely
to support that candidate for President. OR
Would that be very effective, somewhat effective,
a little effective, or not effective at all in
improving public education?
Holding teachers accountable.
Holding principals/administrators accountable.
Supports doing away with tax cuts/increase
spending on public ed.
Increasing funding for school construction/moderni
zation.
Very effective
Increasing federal oversight of local public
schools.
Using pubic tax money for vouchers for private
schools.
Split Sampled Question
Much more likely to support
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Why a District or System of Schools?

• Ensure that good schools exist for all children
• Make sure that all students learn what they need
  to fulfill individual, family and community
  aspirations, spur economic growth, and advance
  democracy (equity in results for students)
• Allocate public funds and other resources
  equitably
• Protect children and communities against bad
  schools
• Ensure a common education if not a common
  school
• Ensure that some schools at least work together
  to support a Pre-K16 educational pathway

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The Case Against Districts
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Most District Efforts Falter

• Many initiatives, often poorly coordinated
• Fads or trends dominate evidence
• Weak mechanisms for organizational learning
• Weak implementation support
• School churn leadership, personnel, students,
  plans
• District churn leadership, personnel, goals,
  initiatives
• Conflicting and unclear goals
• Mishandling of cultural and political components
  of reform

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Getting from the Present to a Reformed or
Reinvented System

• What are the key functions districts or systems
  of schools should serve?

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Becoming a Smart District School Communities
That WorkEssential Function 1

• 1. Provide schools, students, and teachers with
  needed supports and timely interventions
• Acknowledges that as strengths and needs vary, so
  must resources, supports, and strategies
• Maintain clear, high, and consistent expectations
  for all schools and students
• Ensure goodness of fit between school and
  district capacity and reform models/approaches

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Becoming a Smart DistrictEssential Function 2

• 2. Ensures that schools have the power and the
  resources to make good decisions
• Distributes resources equitably (human, fiscal,
  and community)
• Provides resources based on the needs of schools,
  students, and teachers, with standards for
  achievement held constant

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Becoming a Smart DistrictEssential Function 3

• 3. Make decisions and hold people throughout the
  system accountable by using indicators of school
  and district performance and practices
• Includes multiple organizations, agencies, and
  individuals, not just students and schools
• Employs leading as well as lagging indicators

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District Supports for Excellence and Equity
Supporting Smart

• Common Expectations
• Ongoing Feedback
• Collective Problem-Solving
• Opportunities for Continuous Learning
• Room for Variation given Shared Goals but varying
  Capacities

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Common Expectations

• Goal
• Translating Vision and/or Standards into Agreed
  Upon Expectations, Behaviors, Practices,
• Results.

• Tools/Practices
• Localized Standards
• Curriculum Frameworks
• School Practice Frameworks
• Classroom Practice Frameworks
• Anchor lessons and assignments
• Student Work Exemplars and Rubrics
• Standardized Assessments
• Formative Assessments

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Ongoing Feedback

• Tools/Practices
• Central Office Reviews
• School Self Studies and Reviews
• Analyses of Student and School Work
• Disaggregated Data
• Aligned Supervision Evaluation Criteria and
  Practices
• Leading Indicators
• Expert Panels and Review Groups

• Goal
• Multiple sources of data on practice linked to
  outcomes

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Collective Problem-Solving

• Goal
• Coherent Problem-Solving Opportunities for
  Distributed Leadership

• Tools/Practices
• Embedded Professional Learning Communities
• Study Groups
• Critical Friends Groups
• Subject Matter Networks
• Mentors Coaches
• Teacher Researchers
• Classroom Videos
• Teacher Logs

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Continuous Learning Opportunities

• Goal
• Coherent and Distributed Learning Opportunities.

• Tools/Practices
• Study/Focus Groups
• Action Research Groups
• Professional Networks
• Professional Development Schools/Labs
• School and Classroom-Embedded Coaching
• Reform Support Organizations
• Knowledge Management Systems

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Variation within Parameters

• Goals
• Response variation attuned to needs, values,
  resources and desired outcomes.

• Tools/Practices
• Disaggregated Data
• Decentralized Decision-making
• Differentiated Supports and Equitable Resources
• Distributed Leadership
• Performance-Based Autonomy

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District Standards of Practice Things to See
in Smart Systems

• Alignment and coherence among systems vision,
  goals and framework for action
• Collaborative and evidence-based planning and
  decision making across the system
• Multiple indicators and measures used to assess
  student, school, and system progress.
• Capacity building based on evidence-based
  instructional and organizational strategies
• Mechanisms and processes to promote
  organizational learning
• Internal accountability in discourse and action
• Explicit discussion of race, ethnicity, gender,
  class

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Going to Scale with Equity and Excellence

• Implementation prerequisites
• Greater alignment and coherence
• Systemic use of Gap-Closing Supports
  English-language learners, special education,
  accelerated learning strategies
• Strengthen Fiscal and Human Resource Systems
• All students have access to quality teachers
  Hiring, assignment, evaluation
• All schools have quality administrators
• All schools have equitable financial allocations
• Root out vestiges of old system

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Going to Scale with Equity and Excellence

• Growing importance of District Review Processes
• Council of the Great City Schools
• Education Resource Strategies, Inc.
• McKinsey
• Annenberg Institute
• Stupski Foundation
• Springboard (Bay Area School Reform
  Collaborative)
• Make sure process reflects your theory of action
• Growing importance of district reform networks

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Going to Scale with Equity and Excellence

• Build and sustain political will
• Multiple community partners
• A lead partner to balance demand and support
• Engagement of grasstops and grassroots
• Engagement that continues beyond planning
• Common agreement on indicators of student
  performance
• Common agreement on district/community progress
  indicators
• Access to accurate and understandable data
• Community understanding that results take time

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Action Frameworks for District Reform What
would yours look like?
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Standards-Based District Reform
Human Resources
School Organization
Professional Development
Standards for Learning Standards of
Practice Communities of Practice
Public Engagement
Equity Supports
Research Evaluation
Curriculum Instruction
School Funding
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Community Infrastructure for District Reinvention

• Cross-sector leadership development
• Community engagement partners
• Skunkworks or innovation incubator
• Applied or action research organization or
  consortium
• Communications support (internal and external)
• Cross-sector strategic planning and
  implementation processes

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For PowerPoint Presentation and Additional
Information

• Warren_Simmons_at_brown.edu
• Annenberginstitute.org