Public Impact

Expanding the Supply of Great Schools
To achieve dramatic improvement, we need a supply of great schools that educate children at the highest levels. Public Impact’s work currently focuses on three strategies to boost that supply:
	Stimulating the supply of new options. Existing organizations are difficult to change. That’s why research shows that across industries, many of the dramatic innovations and improvements come from new organizations entering the field. We need that same kind of dynamic in public education. If we set a high quality bar and retain only successful new schools, charter schools and other new schools hold great promise.
	Scaling-up success. Examples of successful schools abound – including a multitude of excellent schools serving the most disadvantaged children. But too often, these schools remain single-site success stories. Education needs a stronger cadre of organizations with the capacity to scale up successful models.
	Improving existing schools. Though efforts to improve existing schools have often fallen short and created change-weary school staff, a growing base of research tells us what it takes to improve successfully. We need to apply the best thinking from across industries to this task. Our policymakers also must act strategically when schools under-perform after years of intervention. That means getting smart about what improvement strategies work best under different circumstances.
Creating a supply of great schools will be easier if there is also a strong demand for them. That’s why Public Impact’s other areas of focus include helping policymakers create the conditions in which great schools thrive and inspiring and equipping parents to choose schools well and contribute to school improvement. Scroll down to see examples of our projects in these categories.
Stimulating the Supply of New Options
	Demystifying Special Education in Virtual Charter Schools [pdf], by Lauren Morando Rhim and Julie Kowal, describes how educating students with disabilities in virtual charter schools entails not only molding state charter school laws to fit a specialized type of charter school, but also adapting federal and state special education guidelines aimed at providing special education in traditional brick and mortar settings. This special report, funded by the USDOE National Initiatives Grant of the Charter Schools Program and administered by the National Association of State Directors of Special Education, is a supplement to a series of special education primers, Primers on Special Education in Charter Schools, created to inform state officials, authorizers and charter school operators about special education in the charter sector.
	The Mind Trust. Public Impact contributed to the development and launch of this new nonprofit designed to foster education entrepreneurship in Indianapolis (and beyond). One of The Mind Trust’s central initiatives is the Education Entrepreneur Fellowship, which will provide extraordinarily talented entrepreneurs two-year, well-paid opportunities to launch transformative education ventures. The organization is accepting applications for the first round of Fellowships through early 2008. The Mind Trust also operates a Venture Fund dedicated to attracting already successful education organizations to Indianapolis. The Venture Fund has already helped bring Teach For America, The New Teacher Project, and College Summit to town, with more in the works.
	How Can Virtual Schools Be a Vibrant Part of Meeting the Choice Provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act? [pdf]. This paper by Bryan C. Hassel and Michelle Godard Terrell was prepared for the No Child Left Behind Leadership Summit—Increasing Options Through e-Learning in July 2004 . It outlines different models for how districts and states could use virtual schools to meet the choice provisions of NCLB’s. The paper explores a range of challenges districts and states face in using virtual schools for this purpose and proposes solutions.
	How National Organizations Can Support the New Schools Strategy [pdf]. Some national organizations that find good schools a way to further their own mission are now moving to create – and support – new schools in the charter sector. The YMCA of the USA is an example; so is the National Council of LaRaza.
	Mobilizing and Motivating Your Staff to Get Results: A Technical Assistance Guide for Charter School Leaders (November 2000). Published by the Charter Friends National Network and sponsored by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, this guide offers charter school leaders guidance in building a good foundation for successful human resource management, recruiting and selecting staff, and supporting staff performance.
	Charting a Clear Course: A Resource Guide for Building Successful Partnerships between Charter Schools and School Management Organizations. Co-authored by Bryan C. Hassel and Margaret Lin, this resource guide aims to help charter school boards forge successful relationships with school management organizations. The guide was reissued in 2005 by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.
	Out of the Box: Facilities Financing Ideas for Charter Schools [pdf]. This toolkit provides creative ideas for financing charter school facilities based on pioneering schools' experiences. From the Charter Friends National Network, 1999.
	Facilities Financing: New Models for Districts that are Creating Schools New [pdf]. Many of the dramatic reforms school districts are undertaking involve a significant facilities component. Since the resulting expenses may well outstrip funds available through traditional sources of facilities financing, districts and individual charter schools have increasingly sought innovative ways to meet their facilities needs. This report from Education/Evolving outlines the most promising emerging solutions.
Scaling Up Success
	Showcasing District Successes for the Broad Prize. Each year, the Broad Foundation grants the Broad Prize to one urban district that has achieved significant improvements in student achievement and reductions in achievement gaps among poor and minority students. In 2007, the winner was New York City. Working with SchoolWorks, Public Impact is helping the Foundation “showcase” the best practices of NYC and the other four finalist districts so that others can learn from their experiences. Julie Kowal participated in the drafting of the core document explaining each districts’ best practices and is now creating a series of e-newsletters delving into more specific issues.
	Assessment of Charter Schools Program Dissemination Funding [pdf]. Written for WestEd with funding from the U.S. Department of Education Office of Innovation and Improvement, this 2006 report examines the effectiveness of the federal dissemination grant program portion of the Charter Schools Program (CSP). While the majority of CSP funds go toward start-up and development grants for new charter schools, state grantees are allowed to set aside up to 10 percent of their funds to award as dissemination subgrants to established charter schools. These funds are designed to help successful charter schools disseminate promising practices to other charter and non-charter schools, but this analysis indicates that there is little evidence to suggest that these funds are having the desired level of impact on student performance. The report offers three separate recommendations for improvement: 1) the program should be revamped to provide more incentive for successful schools to participate; 2) the program should be redesigned so that funds are directed toward the replication of successful schools; or 3) OII should create a separate grant program for dissemination and allow a range of organizations to apply for funds through a national RFP process.
	Friendly Competition. Stand-alone charter schools are among the most innovative and successful schools around. But can they serve as the basis for a sustainable, large-scale movement for change in education? Or are they likely to remain the exception rather than the rule? What kinds of institutions are needed to support the scale-up of successful models? This article in Education Next tackles these questions.
	Strategies for Scale: Lessons from Two Educational Innovations [pdf]. Commissioned by the Program on Innovations and American Government, then a joint initiative of the Ford Foundation and Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, this paper examines the spread of two educational innovations — Success for All and Accelerated Schools — to thousands of schools across the country. Since replicating educational innovations has historically proven so difficult, the report probes for explanations of these programs’ rapid spread.
	NewSchools Venture Fund Evaluation. Public Impact evaluated a federally funded NewSchools Venture Fund initiative to provide capacity-building investments for "Charter Management Organizations" (CMOs) that are seeking to scale-up successful school models in multiple locations.
Improving Existing Schools
	Instructional Coaching [pdf]. This issue brief, prepared by Lucy Steiner and Julie Kowal, takes a look at instructional coaching and elements to look for when selecting, preparing, and evaluating coaches for effectiveness. This is part one of a two part series.
	Principal as Instructional Leader: Designing a Coaching Program That Fits [pdf]. Lucy Steiner and Julie Kowal examine the role of the principal as instructional leader, including activities such as assessing needs and goals, selecting a coaching strategy, and implementing and supporting the coaching program. This is part two of a two part series.
	Professional Development: Learning from the Best — A Toolkit for Schools and Districts Based on Model Professional Development Award Winners, by Emily Ayscue Hassel. Published by North Central Regional Education Laboratory, 1999. This toolkit takes the best practices of award-winning schools and organizes them into a step-by-step planner for designing and implementing professional development.
	Design of Professional Development Online Resource Center. After North Carolina's Professional Development Initiative called for an online resource to connect educators with high-quality professional development, the state asked Emily Hassel to create a design for this Online Resource Center. The plan outlines a comprehensive portal through which educators could learn about high-quality PD and search for trainings, online courses, and other resources that meet their specific needs.
	Professional Development Research Synthesis. This research synthesis was written for the John Edward Porter Professional Development Center at the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory as a resource for schools and districts to help them design more effective professional development experiences for teachers. Examining the research base to date, this synthesis identifies certain characteristics of professional development activities that influence whether or not participants achieve their stated goals.
	Guide to Working with External Providers [pdf]. Co-authored by Bryan Hassel and Lucy Steiner, this guide was published by the North Central Educational Regional Laboratory through funding from the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Science as a resource for schools and districts to gain a better understanding of the issues involved in embarking on a partnership with an external provider. The guide is designed to provide a step-by-step approach to selecting a high-quality provider, establishing an effective partnership agreement, and evaluating the success of the partnership.
	The Making Good Choices Series
Making Good Choices: A Guide for Schools and Districts. The North Central Regional Education Laboratory published this booklet in 1998 to help schools devise approaches for comprehensive school reform and select the right partners Making Good Choices: Districts Take the Lead [pdf]: A guide to help districts support comprehensive school reform through strategizing, building support, facilitating informed choice, forging a strong compact with schools, and building capacity. Published by the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory in 2000. Making Good Choices: Sustainable School Reform [pdf] focuses on sustaining the school improvement effort. Geared for school and district leaders, it presents information on building commitment, developing capacity, finding time, increasing staff retention, and finding money for continuous school improvement. Also included is a list of additional resources (tools, software, and guidance) by topic. Published by the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory in 2004
	Beyond the Bell. The North Central Regional Educational Laboratory created this publication, co-authored by Katie Walter, Judy Caplan, and Carol McElvain, to help practitioners design top-notch before- and after-school programs. The guide covers six critical design areas: management, programming, integration with the K-12 program, collaboration, communications, and evaluation. Included are hands-on tools designers can use to make good choices about these programs.
	Literacy Learning on the Net: An Exploratory Study. This paper, published by the North Central Regional Educational Laboratory, explores how some schools and teachers are using the Internet in exemplary ways to teach reading and writing across the curriculum.