School Budget Hold’em:ERS, November 3rd, 2011
Education funding decisions should never be left to chance. School Budget Hold ‘em is more than a game…it’s an interactive exploration of the thoughtful trade-offs school administrators have to make in these challenging budget times.
Resource Mapping Summary Report:Education Resource Strategies, January 17, 2012
ERS’ public presentation to the Denver Public Schools Board of Education. See an example of resource mapping results and how this kind of analysis can reveal a road map for how to most effectively and efficiently meet goals for improving instruction.
Sustaining Turnaround at Scale - Session Summaries
A brief description of every panel presentation from the ERS Summit, Sustaining Turnaround at Scale.
Memphis White Paper:ERS, October 27, 2010
If your school district is facing a budget issue, it might surprise you to learn that the solution might very well lie in a game of cards. That certainly was the case earlier this year for the city schools of Memphis, Tennessee.
Act Now to Transform School Systems by Karen Hawley Miles and Karen Baroody
PIE Network, September 2011
This article identifies seven priorities that could help districts invest in transformation. It then reviews the barriers that prevent change and the steps state policy makers can take to overcome the barriers.
Restructuring Resources for High-Performing Schools: by Karen Hawley Miles and Karen Baroody with Elliot Regenstein
Education Resource Strategies
At this time of continued budget shortfalls when every dollar spent on education must yield maximum returns in student outcomes–states’ policies and regulations often inadvertently trap precious resources—making decision-making for districts even more difficult. Education Resource Strategies with EducationCounsel identifies four areas where state policymakers can make a big difference…
A Strategic Spending Review of Syracuse City School District: by Stephen Frank
ERS, May 2011
ERS final report summarizing research on the Syracuse City School District (SCSD) and the participative community “work-out” process that was held in response to research results. The report shows how SCSD is in a strong position to improve and deliver on its promise for all children, but that to succeed,…
Seven Strategies for District TransformationERS, September 2010
Learn about the seven key strategies for districts to improve student performance at scale.
School Design:ERS, October 2010
See how to align your resources with strategic school designs across your district.
Turnaround Schools:ERS, September 2010
Help ensure that efforts to turnaround the worst performing schools lead to sustainable improvement for the students.
School Funding Systems:ERS, September 2010
Use existing resources more effectively by shifting spending, targeting cuts, and laying the groundwork for long-term change.
The Strategic School: by Karen Hawley Miles and Stephen Frank
Corwin Press 2008
Learn how schools can best use the resources they already have.
Education Resource Strategies, January 13, 2011
With escalating education costs in a time of declining school budgets, ERS articulates for state leaders opportunities to shift scarce funds toward the most critical areas. ERS Executive Director Karen Hawley Miles gave this presentation in Chicago at the conference Moving Forward with a Transformative Education Agenda hosted by the…
Turning Around the Nation’s Lowest Performing Schools by Karen Baroody
Center for American Progress, January 2011
Released with the Center for American Progress, this paper will help district leaders systematically implement a district-level turnaround strategy.
At times, students with similar backgrounds can achieve markedly different results. One student may graduate and go on to college. Another may drop out. Learn how seemingly insignificant differences in instruction and district investment can make a huge difference in a student’s ultimate performance.
The Annenberg Institute for School Reform’s Voices in Urban Education publication, produced in partnership with ERS, grew from the ERS-convened Fair Student Funding Summit in March 2010. The summit brought together more than sixty urban education leaders from fourteen school districts that use student-based budgeting. The issues explores student based…
ResourceCheck™ Tool:ERS, July 2010
Take an online self-assessment to learn how your district’s resource use measures up to best practice.
On March 25-26, 2010, urban education leaders gathered in Baltimore, MD for the Fair Student Funding Summit, a conference that brought together districts that use weighted student funding (WSF) as an approach for allocating dollars to schools. Convened by Education Resource Strategies (ERS) and hosted by Baltimore City Public Schools,…
by Regis Anne Shields and Karen Hawley Miles
ERS, 2008
This report illustrates how nine high performing, small urban high schools across the U.S. are thinking about and organizing their resources strategically to best meet their students’ most pressing needs.
In March, 2010, ERS brought together a group of urban education leaders for a two-day summit to explore innovative approaches for allocating student funds based on student need. These summaries came from posters used for an opening gallery walk to the summit. You will find information about each districts size,…
by Karen Hawley Miles
Harvard Education Press, 2010
This chapter of Smart Money: Using Educational Resources to Accomplish Ambitious Learning Goals, edited by Jacob Adams, provides a framework for describing strategic school resource use and the typical sources of resource misalignment. It describes key categories of resource decisions and trade-offs school leaders might consider…
Strategic Professional Development Review by Regis Anne Shields and Karen Hawley Miles
Harvard Education Press, 2009
Before district leaders can expand professional development to better support teachers, they must first determine not only the current investment level but also what that investment is buying. This chapter, from A Grand Bargain for Education Reform edited by Theodore Hershberg and Claire Robertson-Kraft, details…
Before schools can systematically implement a district’s vision for excellent school practices, district leadership must clearly articulate exactly what school strategies they believe will improve student learning. Many districts have gone to great lengths to communicate the “essential school practices” they want to see in their schools. Some use these…
The results of a Resource Use Analysis conducted by ERS for the School District of Philadelphia between 2007 and 2009.
Don Hovey, April 26th 2010
ERS articulates for states what we know about district resource use and how states’ policies can best help district efforts. ERS Director Don Hovey gave this presentation in Miami at the Governors’ Education Policy Advisors (GEPA) Institute for the National Governor’s Association on April 26th, 2010. The presentation focused on…
ERS, April 2010
ERS has partnered with a number of districts on implementing weighted student funding, which is also known as fair student funding or student-based budgeting. This presentation serves as an introduction to this budgeting process.
Breaking the Cycle of Failure in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools by Jonathan Travers and Barbara Christiansen
ERS, April 2010
How one district is harnessing the critical levers of school leadership and teaching excellence to turnaround schools in the context of a larger school system.
by Stephen Frank
ERS, April 2010
ERS, with the National Center on Time & Learning (NCTL), released a paper that doucments how six urban school districts structure time compared to nine Leading Edge high schools.
ERS, November 2009
These are tough times for schools and districts, and they will get tougher. Costs are rising on autopilot, while education revenues are declining. State and local budgets are almost certainly facing deficits over the next few years that will be even more serious than the current shortfalls…
ERS, 2008
Paper and tool that helps leaders understand and manage the drivers of small school spending.
ERS, June 2009
This presentation lays out a powerful process that districts can use to lay the groundwork for the kind of reform that will outlast the short-term funding of the stimulus and lead to dramatic improvement in student achievement.
ERS, January 2009
This tool helps district leaders ask targeted questions about their current resource use and benchmark answers against best practices.
Continuing to Improve Teaching Quality During Tough Economic Times by ERS
WEBINAR for Education Week, March 26, 2009
ERS’ Regis Shields presented at EdWeek’s webinar, “Creating Effective Teacher Professional Development in Tough Economic Times”
by ERS
Case Study, 2008
Case Studies of Leading Edge Small Urban High Schools
by ERS
Case Study, 2008
Case Studies of Leading Edge Small Urban High Schools
by ERS
Case Study, 2008
Case Studies of Leading Edge Small Urban High Schools
by ERS
Case Study
Case Studies of Leading Edge Small Urban High Schools
ERS, 2007
Literature Review:
This document considers the limited research on small high school costs, resource use, and constraints to understand the key questions surrounding the topic and identify further areas for investigation.
ERS, 2008
Do districts have to spend more to create small schools? This report finds that three large urban districts spend more on small high schools than on large high schools—but they don’t necessarily have to. While this higher spending is not necessarily undesirable, it is also not always sustainable, particularly given…
ERS, 2008
Download copies of resource worksheets from the book, The Strategic School: Making the Most of People, Time, and Money to measure how you currently use your resources and consider strategies for improving allocations to better support student learning.
Calculate how you currently use people, time, and money to support…
ERS, 2007
This web-based tool allows district leaders to test a variety of scenarios for resource use, and focus resources more strategically on their highest priority needs.
ERS, 2008
The tool will assist in analyzing the impact of the school design on budgets and schedules as well as other critical indicators such as class size, teacher load, and time spent on core academics. For school redesign the tool can model several years of resource allocation choices and then compare…
by Karen Hawley Miles
New American Schools
This article provides insight into how school systems nationwide are seeking to place more accountability for student performance with educators at the school level.
by Karen Hawley Miles
New American Schools
This article presents a framework for districts and schools to use when examining school infrastructures to better support academic success.
by Regis Shields
New American Schools, 2005
This article provides examples for principals and school leaders of approaches by five K-8 schools in Boston and Cincinnati that have reorganized schedules to allow for common planning time and literacy blocks.
by Karen Hawley Miles
Educational Leadership, September 2001
The focus on creating accountable standards-based schools is pushing districts and schools to more clearly define their goals and priorities for student learning. This analysis focuses on realigning spending and staffing in five ways by defining priorities for student performance.
by M. Roza & Karen Hawley Miles
Center for American Progress, July 2008
This paper released by the Center for American Progress explores the costs involved in expanding learning time for all students.
by Karen Hawley Miles
New American Schools
This article explores how districts can realign spending to support schools in raising student performance.
Center for American Progress and Education Resource Strategies, April 2009
This paper, written with the Center for American Progress, gives state and district leaders 15 concrete ways to use all resources—current and new—for long-term transformation.
by Karen Hawley Miles
Education Week Commentary, February 23, 2009
Schools are bracing for budget cuts of from 5 percent to 10 percent this year, with more to come. At the same time, however, the federal economic-stimulus package being readied for distribution includes more than $100 billion for education. Districts and states will use this emergency federal funding to backfill…
ERS, 2008
Download copies of resource worksheets from the book, The Strategic School: Making the Most of People, Time, and Money to measure how you currently use your resources and consider strategies for improving allocations to better support student learning.
Calculate how you currently use people, time, and money to support…
ERS, 2008
Download copies of resource worksheets from the book, The Strategic School: Making the Most of People, Time, and Money to measure how you currently use your resources and consider strategies for improving allocations to better support student learning.
Calculate how you currently use people, time, and money to support…
by Stephen Frank and Jonathan Travers
ERS, 2007
ERS, 2007
by Karen Hawley Miles
Thomas B. Fordham Institute, June 2006
This manifesto outlines the inequities and inefficiencies of the current school finance system and proposes using a weighted student funding system in which dollars follow individual students, vary according to their needs, and allow flexibility at the school level with results-oriented accountability.
by Karen Hawley Miles
This paper released by the Center for American Progress explores the costs involved in expanding learning time for all students. 2006
by Albert J. Simone, Chairperson, Carlos Carballada, Joan Roby-Davison, Paul Haney, Stephen Jones, Emeterio Otero, Sandy Parker, John Walker, Arthur Walton
This report evaluates RCSD’s fiscal management, budget process, and educational outcomes as they relate to finance and budget. Included are recommendations relating to fiscal management, organization, planning, operations, school-level leadership, resource use, and accountability. June, 2005
ERS, 2005
Upon becoming CPS Superintendent, Rosa Blackwell enlisted ERS to conduct a comprehensive review of professional development needs, spending, and activities in an effort to better integrate professional development activities with district-wide performance objectives. The recent analysis expanded upon many of the issues identified in an audit by ERS in 2000-2001,…
by Karen Hawley Miles
New American Schools
This article compares the different levels of resources between schools within districts and how to change the method for allocating resources to a student-based approach. Published in Peabody Journal of Education, Winter, 2005.
ERS & Annenberg Institute for School Reform, 2004
Prepared by Education Resource Strategies and the Annenberg Institute for School Reform, This report reviews BCPSS’s use of professional development resources and identifies areas for investment as part of a state-specified audit for improving the district’s operations and performance.
by Karen Hawley Miles
Staff Development Journal, Summer 2003
Good professional development is not the same thing as a good professional development strategy. The analysis looks at creating a powerful professional development plan that touches on every aspect of school and district organization.
by Karen Hawley Miles, Kathleen Ware, and Marguerite Roza
Phi Delta Kappan, 2003
Traces the Cincinnati Public School district process of moving to a system of student-based budgeting: funding children rather than staff members and weighting the funding according to the schools’ and student’s needs.
by D. McAdams, M. Wisdom, S. Glover, A. McClellan
Center for Reform of School Systems, 2003
A report written for the Education Commission of the States by the Center for Reform of School Systems. December 2003. Using case studies from Boston, Cincinnati and Houston, authors provide strategies for creation of an effective district accountability system.
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