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All school and district leaders want to grow their new teachers into effective educators who stay at their schools - yet most feel constrained by limited budgets. But it is possible to...
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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...
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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...
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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.
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Every year, school districts welcome—and then lose—thousands of promising new teachers. For too many, the job is overwhelming, which can lead to teacher shortage in schools.
How can we...
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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...
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SBB is a funding system whereby dollars follow students based on student need, and can help increase funding transparency, equity, and flexibility.
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In 40 states, the real value of teacher salaries declined from 2010 to 2015. How we got here, why it matters, and how we can pay teachers fairly and strategically.
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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...
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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.
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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...
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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...
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ERS's Chief Executive Officer and President Karen Hawley Miles presented to the Governor's Commission on Access to a Sound Basic Education in North Carolina, focusing on four questions.
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ERS studied school systems and states with improving student outcomes to learn best practices for teacher professional learning. We observed that these organizations connected...
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Do these challenges sound familiar?
A higher bar for student learning and greater student needs, which requires new ways of organizing resources and investment.
Unsustainable cost...
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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.
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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...
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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...
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The following are the findings from our 2017 School System 20/20 assessment on how Avoyelles Parish Schools (a rural district located north of Baton Rouge, Louisiana) uses resources like...
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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...
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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...
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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....
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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...
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We studied 4 school systems that redesigned their approach to PL and have seen inspiring student growth. Their models are highly "connected" to what teachers do every day.
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The following presentation summarizes the findings from our recent work in Denver Public Schools. These findings were the result of our School System 20/20 diagnostic of the district,...
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A school system’s people, time, and money are always limited, so these critical resources need to be used wisely to best serve students. Without adequate data and analysis, though, it’s...
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On Wednesday, February 15, ERS hosted a webinar to connect with potential candidates and share information about working at ERS and current open positions.
Jessica Fick, Senior HR &...
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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?
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