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.

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States Turnaround Explore Learn More

September 14, 2022

Bridging the Divide: How Tulsa Built Sustainable Improvement Systems to Connect Vision, Strategy, and Implementation

A Unique Approach to Continuous Improvement At its core, TPS’ continuous improvement work builds off of other familiar approaches from the field of education: It engages a diverse... More »

Publications COVID-19 District Leaders School Leaders School Design Leadership Community Engagement Learn More
August 16, 2022

How to Enable Transformational Change in K-12 School Districts Through a "Do Now, Build Toward" Approach

"Do Now, Build Toward" (DNBT) is a sustainable approach to transformation that builds on research, incorporates practical limitations, and uses a community-driven, iterative framework. More »

Publications Tools District Leaders Equity Funding & Portfolio Learn Assess Explore Take Action Learn More
August 09, 2022

Building a Racial Equity Office to Give All Students a Path Toward Success

If we’re going to give all students the experiences, support, and structures to ensure their success, we need to make sure that each individual student has what they need to... More »

Publications Equity District Leaders Leadership Learn Community Engagement Learn More
July 13, 2022

Teacher Turnover During COVID: New Data and Insights

Has Teacher Turnover Spiked During COVID? It Depends Where You Look The pandemic has had a profound and widely documented effect on students and educators, leading many... More »

Publications COVID-19 District Leaders School Leaders State Leaders Teaching Learn More
April 14, 2021

States Start Here

Childrens' learning has been massively disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing the need for more opportunities for differentiated, high-quality learning, stronger relationships... More »

Publications COVID-19 School Design State Leaders States
January 30, 2020

ERS Briefing: Supporting School Turnaround

Read the Briefing In turnaround schools, traditional approaches to school improvement (and some say, even the recent seven billion dollar federal investment in school improvement)... More »

Publications ESSA District Leaders School Design Turnaround
November 08, 2018

Resource Equity: A Primer for State Boards of Education

At the 2018 NASBE annual conference, Karen Hawley Miles presented on Strategies to Foster Resource Equity to an audience of about 100 state leaders More »

Equity State Leaders States
March 6, 2018

Toolkit: Advancing Equitable School Funding under ESSA

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) gives states new financial transparency tools to better understand and become leaders for resource equity, but only if they are used well. These... More »

Presentations ESSA State Leaders States
August 01, 2017

School Finance Packet for National Council of State Legislators (NCSL) Annual Meeting

State legislators face ever-increasing challenges around school finance—scarce revenues, lawsuits, new mandated reporting, and so on. These resources will demystify some of these complex... More »

Tools District Leaders States
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 Funding & Portfolio Student-Based Budgeting School Leaders School Design Teaching Leadership School Support & Accountability Turnaround
September 2016

7 Tenets for Sustainable School Turnaround

A collaboration between Center for American Progress and Education Resource Strategies on the 7 tenets for states to empower districts to become agents of change in school turnaround. More »

Publications ESSA State Leaders Turnaround
February 2, 2017

A Vision for Partnership Between Districts and States

Under ESSA, state education agencies have the opportunity to establish a new vision for partnership with districts - one based on their powers to allocate, regulate, and importantly,... More »

Publications District Leaders State Leaders States
November 2015

A New Vision of Partnership Between Districts and States [Video]

In this video, school district leaders from New York State share their plans for reallocating resources to meet student needs, and their vision for the state to help them succeed. More »

Videos States
April 2015

Back from the Brink: A Case Study of Lawrence Public Schools

In 2011, Lawrence Public Schools was the first district that Massachusetts placed into state receivership due to poor performance. By 2014, things had dramatically changed for the better.... More »

Publications District Leaders School Leaders School Design Teaching Turnaround
February 2015

Six Opportunities to Restructure Education Resources in Georgia

From 2012 to 2013, ERS partnered with the Georgia Department of Education to address how the state and a few districts manage their resources. These reports highlight three opportunities... More »

Presentations Funding & Portfolio Student-Based Budgeting State Leaders States
December 2014

Spinning Straw into Gold

K–12 education resources are often allocated non-strategically, with schools spending time and money on activities that have little relationship to student outcomes. States can help... More »

Publications State Leaders School Support & Accountability States
March 23, 2013

DREAM

You can do less with less, or you can change your district's cost model by rethinking how schools and systems are structured. DREAM allows you to adjust key cost levers in your district... More »

Tools District Leaders Student-Based Budgeting Teaching Turnaround
March 14, 2013

Turnaround Case Studies

“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... More »

Presentations District Leaders School Leaders Turnaround
March 12, 2013

Sustaining Turnaround at Scale Summit: Posters

View the posters that compare the turnaround strategies of the districts that attended Education Resource Strategies’ Sustaining Turnaround at Scale Summit held in October 2011. ERS held... More »

Presentations School Leaders Turnaround
April 2012

School Budget Hold'em Video: Targeting Turnaround Schools

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 target... More »

Videos Tools Turnaround
March 15, 2012

Sustaining Turnaround at Scale Summit Briefs

This series compiles and analyzes the results of our Sustaining Turnaround at Scale Summit held in October 2011. More »

Publications District Leaders School Leaders Turnaround
October 2011

Sustaining Turnaround at Scale Summit: Videos

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... More »

Videos District Leaders School Leaders Turnaround
June 7, 2011

Restructuring Resources for High-Performing Schools

Millions of education dollars are trapped each year. At this time of continued budget shortfalls when every dollar spent on education must yield maximum returns in student... More »

Publications Special Education State Leaders States
March 2011

Video: Turnaround in Action

See how two schools in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (NC)–winner of the prestigious 2011 Broad Prize for Urban Education–are approaching turnaround. Both are achieving spectacular... More »

Videos School Leaders School Design Turnaround
January 2011

Turning Around the Nation’s Lowest Performing Schools

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... More »

Publications District Leaders School Leaders School Support & Accountability Turnaround
September 2010

Turnaround Schools Resource Guide

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... More »

Publications District Leaders School Support & Accountability Turnaround
April 26, 2010

State Role in Districts Doing More with Less

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... More »

Presentations State Leaders States
April 2010

Breaking the Cycle of Failure in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools

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... More »

Presentations Publications District Leaders School Leaders School Design Teaching School Support & Accountability Turnaround

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