News
Moving from Plan to Action: An Analysis of Districts’ ESSER Plans
Moving from Plan to Action: An Analysis of Districts’ ESSER Plans November 2021 trends and key considerations for district teams NOVEMBER 30, 2021 School districts across the country have been strategically allocating their ESSER funds to address immediate student need AND invest in long-term sustainability. Political leaders and others are now wondering how district spending…
Five Actions State Education Leaders Can Take to Inspire Transformative ESSER Spending
Here are five ways state policymakers and advocates can take advantage of ESSER funding to shape the path for meaningful change in schools and school districts.
Remembering Dr. Willis David Hawley 1938-2021
Donate to the Willis Hawley Education Excellence & Equity Fund Contributions in celebration of Dr. Hawley’s memory can be made here. Beloved husband, father, activist, and ERS board member Willis D. Hawley (Bill) passed away on Wednesday, November 17th of natural causes, at his home in Bethesda, Maryland, surrounded in the love of his three…
Tending Gardens & Putting Out Fires
Tending Gardens & Putting Out Fires How school districts can reorganize their ESSER plans to do both In most K-12 school districts across the country, the beginning of the 2021-22 school year has been different — in some ways, wildly different — from what school and district leaders expected and were planning for. Many spent…
Two New Partners Join Education Resource Strategies
Collectively, Angela King Smith and Ventura Rodríguez, Jr., bring to the ERS team more than four decades of experience driving equity and excellence in public education
Investing in Sustainability
How Hartford Public Schools is planning strategically to use their ESSER funds
Seizing the Opportunity of More Time in School
Community Spotlight with Dallas Independent School District Finding ways to expand learning time for both students and teachers has become a critical challenge for districts as they reopen schools next fall. Dallas ISD got a fortuitous head start on this as part of a Texas wide initiative, House Bill 3 that provided resources and support…
An equity-centered approach to investing federal education stimulus dollars
How district leaders can meet urgent student needs and change underlying resource inequities With three rounds of federal education relief funding well underway, districts across the country are busy planning how to use these funds to support recovery and redesign.Taking an equity-centered approach to investing these ESSER funds in recovery and redesign is critical to…
Strategic Resource Allocation is the Key to Impact in Schools
3 questions with Desmond Blackburn Desmond Blackburn, former superintendent of Brevard Public Schools and current CEO of the New Teacher Center, recently joined ERS as a member of the Board of Directors. We talked to Desmond about learnings from his time as a superintendent about the importance of using resources strategically; a new campaignfrom the…
Executive Summary: Teacher Turnover Before, During, and After COVID
In some places, teacher turnover dropped in 2020. But a closer look reveals a pressing need to make the teaching job more rewarding, collaborative, and sustainable. New ERS analysis shows that teacher turnover declined during 2020 in six districts we studied. But the same challenges that contributed to teacher shortages before the pandemic remain, and…
Strategies For Advancing Equity Through State Education Budgets During & Beyond COVID
A webinar with the National Governor’s Association ERS Partner Jonathan Travers joined Michael Griffith, Daniel Thatcher, and Dr. Marguerite Roza for a National Governors Association webinar about how governors can maximize new federal funding to plan for both the short- and long-term educational needs of states and school districts and strategies for advancing equity at…
Innovations in Teaching During the Pandemic
A Webinar with ERS, FutureEd, and EducationCounsel ERS Partner David Rosenberg joined FutureEd and Education Counsel for a virtual conversation about how leaders redesigned schools to play to teachers’ strengths, provide them with more instructional support, and better serve students. He spoke with Felecia Evans and Victoria Jackson-Dinkins, leaders in two schools and systems profiled…
Outcomes from Return to In-Person
With new vaccines and an increasing body of research on how to safely bring students and educators back into school buildings, Massachusetts school and district leaders are moving towards models that prioritize in-person learning this spring and into 2021-22. This transition will not occur as a single “flip the switch” moment for all students. Specifically:…
Innovative Schedules that Focus on Teaching Teams
5 Questions with Principal Felecia Evans Felecia Evans is the principal of Lander Elementary School in Mayfield Heights, OH. Find out how Principal Evans and her team transitioned to a bold new schedule that harnessed professional learning communities and teacher leaders to create a flexible school week that allowed teacher planning time and effective learning…
Investing Federal ESSER Funds in Recovery and Redesign
7 crucial principles for investing ESSER funds for sustainable impact As districts continue to serve students for the remainder of this school year, planning for 2021-2022 is well under way. In Six Adaptations to Budget Planning for 2021-22, we described how budget planning for next year should evolve given dramatically increased student need and uncertainty…
Building Relationships Through Coaching
4 Questions with District Leader in Residence Ruthie Quinto For 15 years, Ruthie Quinto was the CFO of Fresno Unified School District, the fourth largest school district in California. Now, she joins ERS as an advisor and 1:1 coach for CFOs in our networks. She talks about what she’s learned from her experiences in Fresno,…
Leading Change in the South Bend Empowerment Zone
4 Questions with Executive Director of Finance and Operations Robert Daigneau ERS alum Robert Daigneau started his role asExecutive Director of Finance and Operations for the South Bend Empowerment Zone in mid-2020. We talked to him about making the transition to his new role, how the South Bend Empowerment Zone plans to handle academic recovery…
K-12 Education Organizations and Leaders Invite Incoming ED Secretary to Prioritize Teacher Learning
A coalition letter to the Secretary of Education, signed by ERS Dear Dr. Cardona, On behalf of the 29 undersigned organizations and researchers, we write to congratulate you on your nomination as U.S. Secretary of Education. We are excited that President Joe Biden has chosen to elevate an accomplished leader for racial equity at a…
Six Adaptations to Budget Planning for 2021-22
We are halfway through the 2020-21 school year. While much work remains in order to support students through the spring semester, school system leaders are also in the process of planning for 2021-22. The uncertainties that schools have faced this year are not going away — revenue projections will continue to fluctuate, enrollment numbers are…
Finance Team Support for Principals
How can the finance & budgeting teams best support principals to be strategic and transformational? The pandemic has forced districts to grapple with a triple squeeze on resources: …and at the center of these tough decisions are school principals. This has made a common question for many central office teams more urgent: How do we…