Tools & Publications

ERS Tools and Publications are trusted resources for education leaders, practitioners, and policymakers seeking guidance to make transformative change. Looking for something you can’t find? Contact us.

ESSER Hold'em for Districts

ESSER Hold'em for Districts

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Funding & Portfolio School Support & Accountability School Leaders State Partnerships

Three Steps to a Strategic Schedule

We’ve created a set of COVID Comeback Models that include possible student groups, schedules, staff roles and more for district and school leaders planning for a safe shift to hybrid... More »

District Leaders School Leaders School Design Toolkits
July 09, 2020

Education Resource Equity in 2020-21

Go to the Guides Teams of school, district, and community leaders are working tirelessly to identify solutions that respond to budget uncertainties, meet students’ increased needs, and... More »

Publications District Leaders School Leaders School Design
July 09, 2020

Putting Our Money Where Our Values Are

Read Now COVID-19 is affecting everyone — but it is not affecting everyone equally. For students of color and many students with higher needs — including students from low-income... More »

Publications District Leaders School Leaders School Design
Updated June 18, 2020

ERS Briefing: Decision Points for COVID Comeback Models

Everyone agrees that school in the fall cannot look the same as it did before the pandemic. Education leaders must organize people, time, and money to make up for learning losses, help... More »

Publications District Leaders COVID-19 School Leaders School Design
February 18, 2020

ERS Briefing: Opportunities Abound

Read the Briefing The 2019 Student Opportunity Act creates a once-in-a-generation moment for Massachusetts students: the Commonwealth has committed $1.5 billion dollars over seven... More »

Publications Funding & Portfolio State Leaders
November 20, 2019

The Strategic CFO

3 mindsets and 5 core functions to help CFOs align resources to strategy More »

Publications District Leaders Funding & Portfolio
Districts at Work: Tulsa Tales Mini-Podcast

Real stories from real districts: How Tulsa Public Schools supported professional development for teachers — on a budget More »

Presentations Videos District Leaders Professional Learning School Leaders School Design Leadership
January 2019

Transforming School Funding: A Guide to Implementing Student-Based Budgeting

Student-Based Budgeting (SBB) allocates dollars based on enrollment and student need. In this blog, you will find tools and key elements for decision making as you consider SBB for your... More »

District Leaders Equity Funding & Portfolio Student-Based Budgeting
January 02, 2019

School Design Packet

Through years of research and practice around school resource use, we have found that high-performing, high-growth schools are responding to the changing context in education by using... More »

Tools District Leaders School Leaders School Design
December 2018

The Strategic System Snapshot | Mini

A 10-minute self-assessment tool that helps district leaders and others identify which of your strategies are likely to lead to student success—and where there are opportunities to improve. More »

Funding & Portfolio School Design Teaching School Support & Accountability Standards & Instructional Resources Community Engagement
October 01, 2018

What is Resource Equity?

In this working paper, we've identified many - often hidden - "dimensions of equity," and we explain how each links to student outcomes, identify typical sources of inequities within... More »

Publications ESSA District Leaders Equity Funding & Portfolio
August 2018

Weighted Student Funding

Weighted Student Funding has become a popular initiative for district leaders who seek to allocate scarce resources to schools, especially in the face of stubborn achievement gaps,... More »

Funding & Portfolio Student-Based Budgeting Toolkits
Education Resource Strategies

Toolkit: What is Student-Based Budgeting? How can it drive student learning?

SBB is a funding system whereby dollars follow students based on student need, and can help increase funding transparency, equity, and flexibility. More »

Equity District Leaders Funding & Portfolio Student-Based Budgeting Toolkits
June 5, 2018

Bridging the Budget Gap and Accelerating Student Learning in Los Angeles Unified (LAUSD)

The ERS Resource Map for LAUSD analyzes resource allocation across the district, with a special emphasis on distribution of funding; teacher compensation, strategic retention, and... More »

Presentations District Leaders Funding & Portfolio
March 28, 2018

Shared-Content Teaching Teams Prototype

Teacher teams are one of the most important strategies to promote teacher growth and ignite student learning—if done well. But how to make this crucial time as effective as possible? The... More »

Publications Professional Learning School Leaders School Design Teaching
October 2017

Budget Hold’em for Districts

Budget Hold'em for Districts 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. More »

Tools District Leaders Funding & Portfolio
August 15, 2017

Professional Learning Diagnostic Tool

How can your school system better connect professional learning to the everyday work of teaching—and to a systemwide strategy for student success? We studied four school systems that... More »

Tools District Leaders Professional Learning School Leaders Teaching
March 2015 (Updated May 2017)

Designing Schools that Work

Through years of research and practice around school resource use and principal training, we have found that high-performing, high-growth schools are responding to the changing... More »

Publications District Leaders School Leaders School Design
June 20, 2017

Informing Equity

This report is a deep look into K-12 spending and resource allocation in charter and district-run schools in Oakland, comparing them across three dimensions: student need, resource... More »

Publications Equity District Leaders Funding & Portfolio
June 14, 2017

Checklist: Creating a Strategic Master Schedule

Making school schedules is something district and school leaders must do every year — but during COVID-19, that job has just gotten harder. We've created a set of COVID Comeback Models... More »

Tools School Leaders School Design
Education Resource Strategies

School Check

This school assessment tool is based on resource strategies and principles from “The Strategic School: Making the Most of People, Time, and Money” by Karen Hawley Miles and Stephen Frank.... More »

Tools School Leaders School Design Teaching
May 2017

It Takes a System: A Case Study of Denver Public Schools (DPS)

Over the last decade, Denver Public Schools (DPS) became one of the fastest-improving large districts in the country—achieving significant improvement across all student subgroups. Unlike... More »

Publications Special Education Compensation District Leaders Professional Learning School Leaders School Design Teaching Leadership School Support & Accountability Turnaround
March 28, 2017

Targeted Intervention at the Jeremiah E. Burke High School [VIDEO]

The majority of students at the Jeremiah E. Burke High School—located in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood—enter 9th grade significantly below grade level in reading or math. To catch... More »

Videos School Leaders School Design
February 27, 2017

Budget Hold'em for Schools

Hold’em is an ERS tool that’s helped more than 10,000 education leaders better understand the kind of trade-offs that are possible to improve districts and schools while staying within... More »

Tools School Leaders School Design
February 07, 2017

From Financial Transparency to Equity: Part 1

This brief summarizes the insights from a working group that sought to answer: How might we allocate resources to achieve the best outcomes for kids? More »

Publications Equity District Leaders Funding & Portfolio
November 17, 2016

The First Three Steps of Strategic School Design

Strategic school leaders know that October through December can be a fresh start for next year’s school design. More »

School Leaders School Design
October 2016

Building a Talent Decision Map for K-12 Human Capital

School systems can empower all principals to be strategic talent managers—by mapping out the what, who, when, and how, and organizing data, support, and timelines around the most critical... More »

Publications District Leaders Professional Learning School Leaders Teaching
July 18, 2016

Data Decisions Brief #4: How Much Free Time Do 12th Graders Really Have?

Our School System 20/20 series of briefs, Data Decisions, highlights common opportunities school systems have to yield big results for students by adjusting their current resource use. It... More »

Publications Videos School Leaders
June 23, 2016

Are You Ready for TIF 5?

If your LEA or SEA is completing a TIF application for the July 15, 2016 deadline, these free online resources can support your human capital goals. More »

Publications District Leaders School Leaders
May 2016

Transform Now

School System must better meet the needs of all students. And they can. But to succeed, we can't just do more of the same. We need to transform. Building off of One Vision, Seven... More »

Publications District Leaders School Leaders State Leaders

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