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“Turnaround Case Studies” is an analysis of strategies to turn around low-performing schools undertaken by six large urban districts and four education management organizations. These...
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In the fall of 2007, Education Resource Strategies (ERS) was invited by Philadelphia’s School Reform Commission to conduct a Resource Use Analysis for the School District of Philadelphia...
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In 2008, the U-46 School District in Illinois faced a budget deficit of $45 million. Instead of deciding to do less with limited funds, the district worked with the school board and...
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In 2006, Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District made a bold move. It began to strategically staff a subset of its lowest-performing schools with its district’s best principals. Five years...
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Despite success turning around many of its lowest-performing schools, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District found that nine of its schools were still struggling. To improve these...
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Denver Public Schools (DPS) took an innovative look at how it could support individual school efforts to restructure and align resources—people, time, and money—to drive student achievement.
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By transforming its central office from a compliance watchdog to a service and strategic partner, Denver Public Schools (DPS) was able to leverage data, technology, and training to...
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Hear from:
Sam Franklin, Executive Director of the Office of Teacher Effectiveness, Pittsburgh Public Schools
Brian Pick, Deputy Chief Academic Officer, D.C. Public Schools
Alyssa...
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The School System 20/20 infographic lets you see the possibilities for system transformation through ERS' seven-strategy framework. It illustrates the challenges to reallocating people,...
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Rethinking the Value Proposition to Improve Teaching Effectiveness explores the complete set of offerings and experiences provided by a school system to a teacher. We explore what the...
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This paper explores typical goals of compensation redesign and implications for five main design considerations, including: base salary, district priority incentives, school roles,...
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Our video illustrates why now is the time to take bold action to transform our school systems. Please share it and join the movement of district leaders dedicated to transforming school...
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These instructions will help leaders organize and play Budget Hold'em.
Use the Budget Hold'em for Districts Facilitator's Guide to play the in-person version of the game, using decks of...
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Our series of School Budget Hold'em winning hands videos illustrates how to reach a target budget reduction while prioritizing different areas. This video shows one way to invest in...
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View videos from ERS’ Sustaining Turnaround at Scale Summit held in October 2011. Panelists from the ERS Summit share some thoughts on successful turnaround. Panelists on the closing...
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Across the country, states and school districts are focusing on turning around the nation’s lowest-performing schools. This focus on school turnaround, while welcome, is not new. And...
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This Getting Started guide is part of a series of publications designed to support your efforts to improve resource use in your district. Use this overview for a quick introduction to...
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Turnaround efforts at individual schools will not result in widespread, sustainable change without fundamental shifts in the way districts evaluate school, student, and teacher needs and...
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In this case study of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Strategic Staffing Initiative, Education Resource Strategies (ERS) and the Aspen Institute tell the important story of how one district is...
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ERS Director Regis Shields presented at EdWeek’s webinar, “Creating Effective Teacher Professional Development in Tough Economic Times.” To turn tough times into opportunity, districts...
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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...
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School districts across the country are redesigning their portfolios of high schools to include more small high schools. Over the past three years, Education Resource Strategies (ERS),...
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How can schools best use the resources they already have? That question is at the heart of this inspiring book for school and district administrators challenged with increasing student...
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This report reviews the School District of Philadelphia’s (SDP) use of professional development resources. Despite Philadelphia’s low and unstable funding of professional development, ERS...
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In the Fall of 2006, Education Resource Strategies (ERS) was invited by Saint Paul Public Schools (SPPS) to study the use of resources in the district and create priority recommendations...
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In 2003–2004, ERS and the Annenberg Institute for School Reform analyzed how Baltimore City Public School System utilizes its professional development resources and examined the alignment...
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Standards-based reform has entered a new phase that puts professional development of teachers at the center of the discussion. Research tells us that intensive, high-quality professional...
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This project began as a result of a concern about how to strengthen the professional development of teachers and leaders throughout the Chicago Public Schools. Leaders of the district as...
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School districts across the country already invest significant sums of money each year in professional development to improve schools and teacher practice. The five districts studied here...
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