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ERS has partnered with a number of districts on implementing weighted student funding (WSF), which is also known as fair student funding or student-based budgeting. This presentation...
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ERS final report summarizing research on the Syracuse City School District (SCSD) and the participative community “work-out” process that was held in response to research results. The...
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Ten years ago, D.C. Public Schools (DCPS) had 65,000 students. Today it has fewer than 45,000. The severe enrollment decline was a wake-up call for the district. Starting in 2007, DCPS...
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“Turnaround Case Studies” is an analysis of strategies to turn around low-performing schools undertaken by six large urban districts and four education management organizations. These...
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View the posters that compare the turnaround strategies of the districts that attended Education Resource Strategies’ Sustaining Turnaround at Scale Summit held in October 2011.
ERS held...
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The Annenberg Institute for School Reform’s Voices in Urban Education publication, produced in partnership with ERS, grew from the ERS-convened Fair Student Funding Summit in March 2010....
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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...
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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...
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This web-based tool is designed to help you dive into the transformational strategies that lead to better resource use. Resource Check is a questionaire that tallies and analyzes your...
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This full report of Baltimore Public Schools (City Schools) explores the implementation process and results of a fair student funding system.
Fair Student Funding in Baltimore City (PDF)
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After examining Baltimore City Public Schools' implementation of fair student funding and accompanying reforms, ERS shares the extent to which City Schools met the objectives and...
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Tough times provide school districts with the opportunity to make big changes, helping alleviate the budget pressure in the short term and create a new foundation that will provide the...
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View the session summaries from ERS’ Sustaining Turnaround at Scale Summit held in October 2011.
A major effort is underway in school districts across the country to improve the academic...
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View videos from ERS’ Sustaining Turnaround at Scale Summit held in October 2011. Panelists from the ERS Summit share some thoughts on successful turnaround. Panelists on the closing...
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Facing turbulent economic times, school districts instinctively fight to maintain their head above water, trying to minimize the damage being done. What if instead districts and state...
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Millions of education dollars are trapped each year. At this time of continued budget shortfalls when every dollar spent on education must yield maximum returns in student...
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See how two schools in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (NC)–winner of the prestigious 2011 Broad Prize for Urban Education–are approaching turnaround. Both schools are achieving...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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In March 2010, urban education leaders gathered in Baltimore, MD for the Fair Student Funding Summit, a conference that brought together districts that use weighted student funding (WSF)...
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These are tough times for schools and districts, and they will get tougher. Federal stimulus funds have created some breathing room, but unless districts use these funds to plan for and...
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This paper, written with the Center for American Progress, gives state and district leaders 15 concrete ways to use all resources—current and new—for long-term transformation.
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ERS Director Regis Shields presented at EdWeek’s webinar, “Creating Effective Teacher Professional Development in Tough Economic Times.” To turn tough times into opportunity, districts...
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As attention shifts to how districts allocate resources to schools, student-weighted allocation has emerged as an alternative to traditional staff-based allocation policies....
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In 2003–2004, ERS and the Annenberg Institute for School Reform analyzed how Baltimore City Public School System utilizes its professional development resources and examined the alignment...
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Standards-based reform has entered a new phase that puts professional development of teachers at the center of the discussion. Research tells us that intensive, high-quality professional...
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This project began as a result of a concern about how to strengthen the professional development of teachers and leaders throughout the Chicago Public Schools. Leaders of the district as...
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When the Cincinnati Public Schools devised a reform strategy for improving student performance, it became clear that the district's traditional budgeting system was inadequate. The...
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