Springfield Empowerment Zone Partnership: Empowering Principals to Successfully Lead School Turnaround
How the Springfield Empowerment Zone Partnership Improved Principal Support to Turn Around Struggling Schools
Education Resource Strategies, April 16, 2019
Common Challenge
Balancing Principal Autonomy and Support
In 2014, the Springfield Empowerment Zone Partnership (SEZP) was created to turn around nine persistently low-performing middle schools. Principals were given autonomy over school design—but this autonomy wasn’t enough without the information and support they needed to make the best decisions for their students.
SEZP’s Approach
Improving Principal Support With Tools and Guidance
The SEZP team collaborated with principals to strategically design an integrated system of supports, tools, and processes that armed principals with the information and guidance they needed to use their flexibilities to best support their teachers, students, and school communities.
SEZP’s Results
Better Principal Support, Better Schools
Four years later, SEZP schools have dramatically improved school designs and instructional models. Student learning indicators are positive: Three schools increased their state percentile rank for student growth in ELA by 10 or more percentage points, and four schools have accomplished this same feat in math.
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Access tangible materials—such as templates and tools—that leaders inSpringfield Empowerment Zone Partnership used to improve principal support.
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