Redesigning the District Operating System
How ingrained district operating systems practices can interfere with policy goals and school-level initiative, and why we need to retool the DOS to enable dynamic problem-solving.
The Case for Coherent High Schools
This paper explains why personalized high schools are hard to get and keep, and shows how we can make them more broadly available through changes in policy and philanthropic investments.
Next Generation School Districts: What Capacities Do Districts Need to Create and Sustain Schools That Are Ready to Deliver on Common Core?
This paper argues that district-wide systems changes are necessary to encourage and free up schools to innovate, in order to implement personalized learning at scale and meet the challenges of Common Core.
Title I: Time to Get It Right
This brief presents five clear principles on which Title I formulas should be based and progress measured.
Accountability and the Federal Role: A Third Way on ESEA
In this paper, two different “camps” on school reform find common ground on how to improve educational accountability.
In-Depth Portfolio Assessment: Spring Branch Independent School District, Texas
This report examines Spring Branch Independent School District’s progress on implementing the portfolio strategy.
The Portfolio Strategy CEO: The Job and How to Prepare for It
This primer for portfolio strategy leaders identifies the main challenges of the job and how to approach them.
Making Sense of Charter School Studies: A Reporter’s Guide
This guide educates the media and decision-makers about what questions to ask regarding charter school research, and provides them with information about the limits of any new research.
Principals: The Lead Communicators in the Portfolio Strategy
This brief outlines how empowered principals can be assets for public engagement in school systems using the portfolio strategy.
Special Education in New Orleans: Juggling Flexibility, Reinvention, and Accountability in the Nation’s Most Decentralized School System
This paper looks at new efforts to ensure special education functions effectively in New Orleans’ full-choice public education landscape.
