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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School Support & Accountability ESSA

July 06, 2022

10 Steps to Become an Equity Detective

Learn how to become an “equity detective”: a leader who actively looks for and takes action to address structural and systemic inequities in schools and school systems. More »

Board Members Publications Equity District Leaders Leadership School Support & Accountability Take Action
Spring 2022

ESSER Guidance for School Staffing, Spending, and Scheduling

The ESSER Guidance for School Staffing, Spending, and Scheduling guides provide a blueprint for organizing resources for a sustainable ESSER investment strategy—one that has an immediate... More »

Publications Tools District Leaders Professional Learning School Leaders School Design Leadership School Support & Accountability Community Engagement Toolkits
Aug 31, 2021

Investing ESSER Funds Equitably

The COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t impacted all students in the same ways. For many students - including students from low-income backgrounds, students of color, students with disabilities, and... More »

Publications Equity District Leaders State Leaders Leadership School Support & Accountability
Schools Start Here Series

The Schools Start Here series dives into the resource side of ESSER strategy and planning. These guides offer a blueprint for how to organize resources as part of a sustainable ESSER... More »

Publications Equity District Leaders Funding & Portfolio Professional Learning School Leaders School Design School Support & Accountability Community Engagement
May 2021

COVID-19 Reopening and Recovery: Toolkit for Districts and Schools

From equitably meeting students' increased needs, to planning new budgets, to creating safe and effective models for hybrid and fully-remote learning — the options facing districts and... More »

Equity District Leaders COVID-19 School Leaders State Leaders Leadership School Support & Accountability Community Engagement Toolkits
August 2020

COVID Comeback Models

Explore concrete examples of possible student groups, schedules, and staff roles for various hybrid models. More »

Publications Tools COVID-19 District Leaders School Leaders School Design Teaching School Support & Accountability
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
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
June 05, 2018

Addressing the Teacher Labor Market Challenge in Arizona

Arizona spends less on K-12 education than almost every other state. But adding resources on top of the current system is likely an ineffective solution. More »

Presentations ESSA Equity State Leaders
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
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
November 10, 2016

ERS Comments on ESSA Supplement, Not Supplant Regulation

Our comments target strategies that promote both equity and excellence—in other words, how many resources schools receive and how well they use them. We argue that while it is indeed... More »

ESSA Publications State Leaders
October 06, 2016

ESSA Financial Reporting Requirement

Under ESSA, districts must report per-pupil spending at the LEA and school level using actual salary data. This new level of financial transparency aims to promote equity across schools.... More »

ESSA Publications District Leaders State Leaders
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
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 15, 2013

Essential School Practices

Before schools can systematically implement a district’s vision for excellent school practices, district leadership must clearly articulate exactly what school strategies they believe... More »

Publications District Leaders School Leaders School Design School Support & Accountability
March 2013

Leadership District Story: Charlotte-Mecklenburg

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... More »

Presentations Videos District Leaders School Leaders Leadership School Support & Accountability
March 2013

School Support District Story: Denver

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... More »

Videos District Leaders School Support & Accountability
March 2013

Why Now?

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... More »

Videos District Leaders Leadership School Support & Accountability Standards & Instructional Resources
February 28, 2013

School System 20/20 Infographic

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,... More »

Presentations District Leaders Leadership School Support & Accountability Standards & Instructional Resources
December 19, 2012

The Teaching Job Analyses and Worksheets: Section 4

The Teaching Job worksheet series includes worksheets with step-by-step instructions to help you calculate and measure teaching effectiveness. These analyses can help identify your... More »

Tools School Leaders Teaching School Support & Accountability
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 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
2008

The Strategic School

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... More »

Publications District Leaders Funding & Portfolio School Leaders School Design Teaching School Support & Accountability

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