Transcript srinivasan-smhc-presentation-creating-urban

SMHC-CPRE Invitational Conference
Creating Urban School Principals
November 18, 2008
LaVerne Srinivasan, President
New Leaders for New Schools
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The role of the principal in human capital strategy
Our organization
Our vision, mission, and goals
Our partnership approach (district and other partnerships)
Our program
Our learning: the Urban Excellence Framework & EPIC
Our results
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The Role of the Principal in a Human Capital Strategy
The role of the principal is key to consider when developing a human
capital strategy because it is:
• Critical: Principals, as human capital managers in their schools,
impact all other human capital initiatives in the district.
• Scalable: While teacher-by-teacher strategies must impact a
relatively large number of teachers (1+ per district classroom), even
in the largest districts, the number of principals is orders of
magnitude less (1 per school.)
• High-Impact: Research shows that a principal’s leadership
accounts for a quarter of a school’s achievement gains.
• High-Leverage: Principals sit close enough to district leadership to
be ambassadors for district-wide initiatives and reform efforts; at the
same time, their impact is felt “on the ground” in the classrooms
where teaching & learning happens.
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Our Organization
Launched in 2000, New Leaders for New Schools is a national
social enterprise dedicated to transforming public education.
• World-class organization with 568 New Leaders serving in 9 cities
nationwide.
• Named NewSchools Venture Fund’s Organization of the Year in
education in 2008.
• Recipient of Fast Company/Monitor Group’s Social Capitalist Award for
5 consecutive years.
• Formed deep partnerships with nine school districts and major
supporters such as the Gates Foundation, Michael & Susan Dell
Foundation, Carnegie Corporation, and dozens of other individual,
corporate, and foundation partners.
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Our Vision, Mission, &Goals
Vision
One day every student will graduate from high school ready for success
in college, careers, and citizenship – in at least 10 US cities by 2020.
Mission
To ensure high academic achievement for every student by attracting and
preparing outstanding leaders and supporting the performance of the
urban public schools they lead at scale.
Goal I
School Performance at Scale
Goal II
World-Class, Scalable, Sustainable Organization and Innovative “Action Tank”
Goal III
Mission-Driven, High-Quality Principals at Scale to Support City-Wide Success
for All Students
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Our New Leaders & Their Schools
WHO WE ARE: OUR NEW LEADERS
Driven, results-focused, and diverse current and former educators
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Age of New Leaders:
24 – 57 years old (average is mid-30s)
Average Years Teaching Experience: 7 years
Percent Female New Leaders: 67%
Percent of New Leaders of Color: 68%
Percent of New Leaders with Advanced Degrees: 87%
SCHOOLS WE SERVE
Our mission is to train leaders to serve in significantly higher-need
schools when compared with the rest of schools in the U.S.
• Percent of Low-Income Students Served in New Leaders Schools: 76%
• Compared to 38% national average
• K-12 education, roughly ½ elementary, ½ secondary
• New Leaders in District Schools: 74%
• New Leaders in Charter Schools: 26%
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Our Partners & Community
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• Baltimore
• Bay Area
• Chicago
• Memphis
• Milwaukee
• New Orleans*
• New York
• Prince Georges County
• Washington, D.C.
New Leaders is in 9 districts nationally—including 5 of the largest
25—and expects to grow to approximately 13 by 2014
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Our Partnerships
Top 10 Reasons Districts Seek To Partner with Us
1. To benefit from the incredible New Leaders we find for their schools to
impact student achievement***
2. To benefit from the presence of our training program & have other principals
learn from it
3. To take advantage of our learning about school leadership & successful
urban public schools
4. To bring financial resources into the district
5. To provide their principals with a national community of best practices
sharing
6. To have us as a major part of the reform efforts / redesign of the school
system
7. To bring our expertise to bear on aspects of reform in the school system
8. To bring a nationally known program to their district
9. To avoid the time, cost, and risk involved in starting up their own leadership
academy
10. To take advantage of our experience and hit the ground running in the start
up process
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Our Program
New Leaders has created a scalable model to drive student
achievement through highly effective school leadership and
management.
Ongoing
Analysis of Data
Recruit
Select
Train &
Develop
Support
Outcomes
Commitment and Capacity to Improve Measurable Student Achievement Results
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Our Program
Selection and Admission of High Quality New Leaders
Our rigorous selection process has proven successful on a national scale
in identifying high quality candidates.
STEP 1:
ONLINE
APPLICATION
STEP 2.
FIRST ROUND
INTERVIEW
STEP 3.
FINALIST
SELECTION DAY
• Submit short-answers
• Approximately 2 hours
• Full day of interviews
• Submit 3 essays
• Case study presentation
• Meet minimum
requirements in becoming
a public school principal
• Deeply explore reasons for
wanting to become an urban
public school principal
• “Day in the Life of a
principal”
STEP 4:
REFERENCE
CHECKS
• Final decisions are not made
without complete materials
(transcripts, certificates,
references, essays)
• Written case studies
Our Process Results in Heightened Selectivity
Nationally
50% of candidates advance to first round interviews
50% of candidates advance to finalist selection day
33% of candidates advance to the finalist round
For a total selectivity nationally of 7%
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Our Program
Selection and Admission of High Quality New Leaders
Our selection process is performance based. The ten selection criteria outlined
below serve as the basis for all of our admissions decisions.
BELIEFS AND ORIENTATION
•Belief & Urgency that All Students Will Excel Academically
•Personal Responsibility & Relentless Drive
•Results Orientation
TEACHING AND LEARNING
•Knowledge of Teaching and Learning
STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
•Problem Solving
•Project Management to Deliver Results
PERSONAL QUALITIES
•Adult Leadership
•Communication and Listening
•Interpersonal Skills
•Self-Awareness and Commitment to Ongoing Learning
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Our Program
Training and Development of High Quality New Leaders
After our rigorous selection process, our program model provides intensive training and ongoing school
support, enabling New Leaders to become outstanding principals of urban public schools focused on
raising the bar of student achievement.
Summer
Foundations
Direct responsibility for student achievement and coaching teachers
Active mentoring from Leadership Coach
Weekly meetings for ongoing development, training and peer support
Work closely with mentor principal and serve on School Leadership Team
Four week-long seminars build on Foundations coursework
Results in administrative certification
Opportunity to learn from national network of colleagues
 Ongoing specialized coaching for novice principals through weekly meetings, and direct support
for day-to-day challenges faced at residency sites.
 Individualized professional development support for principals
and and
leadership
teams
cipals
leadership
teams.
 Access to EPIC knowledge system, UEF
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Access to interim assessment bank and support
Professional development opportunities
Principal Leadership team development support
Community of New Leader principals to share most promising practices and the best
of education research
 Ongoing school diagnostics and action planning
 Access to EPIC knowledge system, UEF
Beyond Yr 2
Beyond First Year
As Principal
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Yr 2
First Year As
Principal
Rigorous five-week summer training program
Additional week focused on new school start-up
Led by outstanding principals and national education and business
busines leaders
Begins skill development in School and Personal Leadership
National community of peers focused on common goals
Yr 1
Residency Year
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Our Learning: Context & Differentiation
We are committed to continuous learning:
- to improve our program’s core functions
- to increase differentiation
- to share with our principals and partners
- to provide evidence that sustainable, scalable outcomes are possible
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Action Tank: Learning from Our Work
Our continuous cycle of learning drives internal and external change.
Program &
Data Areas
Urban
Excellence
Framework
Research
Effective Practice
Incentive
Community
(EPIC)
RAND World
Class
Evaluation
Internal Data:
Selection, Training,
Support,
Achievement
Impact
Organizational
Learning
Plan
Immediate
Program
Improvement
Integrated
Analyses
of
Quantitative
&
Qualitative
Data
Across
Program
Components
Findings
Re-Tested in
Practice
Learning
Shared with
Partners
Learning
Shared with
Policymakers
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Learning Into Action: The UEF
The Urban Excellence Framework
• The Urban Excellence Framework (UEF) is our research-based theory of action about what
happens in schools making dramatic gains and reaching high graduation rates and
proficiency levels.
• The UEF drives the alignment of training, development, and support to ensure high levels
of student achievement.
• In order to reach these student achievement goals and bring the Urban Excellence
Framework practices to life consistently in schools, we are executing on three priority
initiatives:
– Strengthen the Aspiring Principals Initiative to ensure that our Aspiring and First Year
Principals have the knowledge and skills that we have learned are necessary given
our analysis of what happens in dramatic gains schools
– Support school-level transformation in schools led by New Leaders principals
– Support system capacity and context necessary to help reach student achievement
goals in schools led by New Leaders principals
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The Urban Excellence Framework
THE URBAN EXCELLENCE FRAMEWORK
Teaching & Learning
School-wide Culture
High Quality Staff Aligned
with Vision
Systems & Operations
Rigorous, Aligned Curriculum
Inspiring Vision and BeliefDriven Culture of High
Expectations
Recruitment, Selection &
Recognition of Aligned Staff
Strategic Planning &
Information Management
Consistent Approach to
Teaching & Learning
Genuine Adult-Student and
Adult-Adult Relationships
Flourish in the School
Clear Roles, Responsibilities,
Accountabilities for Staff
Strategic & Effective Use of
Time
Use of Data to Drive
Instructional Improvement
Students Embrace Academic
Success, Working Hard, and
School-Wide Beliefs
Performance Management
Budget Aligned to Strategic
Plan
Consistent Feedback and
Professional Learning to
Drive Instructional
Improvement
Parent Engagement in
Student Learning
Professional/Individual
Development
Facility Supports Mission &
Instructional Program
Pyramid of Academic
Interventions
Student Conduct Permits
Focus on Learning
High-Performing Leadership
Team
Effective Systems and Tools
Institutionalize the Key Work
of the School
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The Effective Practice Incentive Community
EPIC and the Urban Excellence Framework
The Urban Excellence Framework identifies key leverage points
that school leaders must address at different stages of a school’s
trajectory, the actions they take to make changes, and the
associated school practices that make a difference for student
outcomes. The Effective Practice Incentive Community (EPIC)
program drives student performance by rewarding educators in
schools making student achievement gains for sharing effective
practices aligned with key leverage points with colleagues in their
own district and with other educators across the country.
The UEF is refined annually by rigorous achievement analysis, fieldwork in high-gaining
New Leaders’ schools, and what is learned in EPIC award winning schools – including
validation of current UEF practices and identification of practices not yet included in
the UEF.
EPIC is a knowledge system and online community that provides real
life examples of practices used by educators driving student
achievement gains at different places on the proficiency continuum,
aligned to the UEF.
The
UEF
The UEF is refined by what
is learned in EPIC awardwinning schools –
validation and or
identification of practices
not yet included in the
UEF.
EPIC..
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Is organized to the UEF
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Provides the opportunity to capture
and distribute practices identified as
critical to school improvement by the
UEF
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Provides the means to inform
refinement of the UEF by what’s
learned in high-gain schools
EPIC
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Our Results
Initial results are positive, and we are working to accelerate this progress
to reach our goal of transformation at scale.
• RAND has found elementary and middle schools led by New Leaders for 3+
years outperform school systems by statistically significant margins.
• New Leaders-led schools show higher graduation rates compared to their
districts, and RAND found the difference to be statistically significant.
• While most New Leaders outperform their district counterparts, a third of New
Leaders’ principals have achieved breakthrough achievement gains of 20+
points a year.
• 5 schools were the highest achieving or improved schools in their cities; 2 of
these were the most improved in their states, and two others have received
federal honors.
• In one of these schools this past spring, 100% of seniors graduated and
went on to 4-year colleges.
• Seven New Leaders-led schools have been identified through
independent assessments as EPIC award-winning schools for
achievement gains
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