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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Special Education Funding & Portfolio States Turnaround Explore

March 28, 2023

Here’s Why Some States Are Facing a Steeper ESSER Funding Cliff in 2024

As school districts race to counteract the effects of the pandemic on students, one particular challenge looms large: On September 30, 2024, COVID relief funding for public K-12 education... More »

Publications COVID-19 District Leaders Funding & Portfolio State Leaders
October 26, 2022

“Moving Forward Together”: How Holyoke’s Community-Centric Approach Led To the District’s Bold Strategic Vision

Learn about how Holyoke Public Schools and new Superintendent Anthony Soto worked to foster strategic conversations and intentional collaboration, resulting in 100% of advisory committee... More »

Publications COVID-19 Equity District Leaders Funding & Portfolio School Leaders Leadership Learn Community Engagement
September 12, 2022

ESSER Hold'em for Districts

ESSER Hold'em for Districts is more than a game—it’s an interactive exploration of the thoughtful trade-offs school administrators will make to use ESSER funds to invest in student recovery. More »

Tools COVID-19 District Leaders Funding & Portfolio
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 Learn Assess Explore Take Action Learn More
October 28, 2021

Getting Real About Sustainability & ESSER Funding

A 90-second explanation with concrete examples More »

Publications Videos District Leaders Funding & Portfolio
Sep 29, 2021

Organizing Resources to Support Inclusion Models for Students With Disabilities

Across the country, roughly one in five students with an IEP spend most of their time receiving individualized services and supports in a “self-contained” or “substantially separate”... More »

Publications Special Education District Leaders
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
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
October 2020

Reporting for Equity

A guide outlining the 5 principles of equity-focused spending reporting, including essential questions and examples of effective reporting practices. More »

Presentations Equity District Leaders Funding & Portfolio
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
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 20, 2019

The Strategic CFO

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

Publications District Leaders Funding & Portfolio
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
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
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
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 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
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 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
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
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
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
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
March 31, 2016

Checklist: Creating a Strategic Budget Process

The standard annual budgeting process is focused on incremental changes to last year's budget. Yet strategic superintendents and CFOs know that an effective budget process is much more... More »

Tools District Leaders Funding & Portfolio
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
July 22, 2015

Making Dollars Work for Students

Want to learn more about Student-Based Budgeting and how can it drive student learning? See Our Latest Toolkit This webinar is based on our publication, Following the Dollars to the... More »

Videos District Leaders Funding & Portfolio School Design

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