About Public Impact

Public Impact is a national education policy and management consulting firm based in Chapel Hill, N.C. We are a small, growing team of researchers, thought leaders, tool-builders, and on-the-ground consultants who help education leaders and policymakers improve student learning in K-12 education.

We believe that if we focus on a core set of promising strategies for change, we can make dramatic improvements for all students. Toward that end, we work on initiatives to:

Expand the Supply of great public schools by opening high quality new schools and improving existing ones
Create the Conditions in which great schools thrive, based on education and cross-industry best practices
Equip states and districts to Act Strategically when schools under-perform even after years of interventions
Inspire and Equip Parents to choose schools well and contribute to school improvement
Featured Publications
Improving Teaching Through Pay for Contribution [pdf]. This report published by NGA Center for Best Practices sets forth a guiding principle for teacher compensation - "pay for contribution" - and uses cross-industry research to show how governors can promote pay reform that works.
Picky Parent Guide: Choose Your Child's School with Confidence Picky Parent Guide: Choose Your Child's School with Confidence is the definitive action manual and reference guide for parents on making education choices for their children. The companion website, PickyParent.com, provides additional resources.
School Turnarounds: Cross-Sector Evidence on Dramatic Organizational Improvement. We actually know a lot from the nonprofit, government, business and education sectors about what factors make real turnarounds most likely to succeed. This paper reviews the evidence.
Effective Professional Development
  What we know and how to apply it.

Disconnected Youth Data
  Estimating the youth population ages 14-24 at risk of long-term disconnection.

Connecting Youth through Multiple Pathways
 

Explores the development of pathways to graduation and efforts to reconnect vulnerable youth to school, work and community.
Supporting Education Entrepreneurship
  New report offers nonpartisan solutions to open the door to increased innovation in education.
Investing in Charter Schools
  Guidebook from the Philanthropy Roundtable provides guidance for donors
School Turnarounds: Doing What Works
  Video interviews about the importance of strong leadership and motivating and redeploying staff in turnaround schools.
The Big U-Turn
  Education Next article explains how turnarounds work across sectors
Competencies for Turnaround Success
  Series of resources to help select leaders and teachers likely to be successful in school turnarounds.

 
Public Impact • 504 Dogwood Drive • Chapel Hill, NC 27516
(919) 967-5102 • info@publicimpact.com