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Explore Eight Years of Data in Interactive Restart Dashboard, Progress Report

written by Paola Gilliam and Sharon Kebschull Barrett on October 13, 2020

When a school struggles to support student learning year after year, schools need dramatic changes, but for too long the choice seemed to be to close the school or attempt an internal turnaround. How has the third option—restarting a school with the same students but with a new operator and flexibilities—made a difference to student success?

Read our new study analyzing the progress of restarts that began between 2010 and 2016, and visit the new, interactive, national database dashboard to see eight years of data on the country’s restarted schools.

In Restart as a School Improvement Strategy, the Public Impact team, including Lyria Boast and Preston Faulk, define a restart as a new organization—most often a charter school operator—taking responsibility for managing a chronically low-performing school.

The study’s main takeaways include:

  1. Restarts Positively Affected School Performance: On average, restarts have a positive and statistically significant impact on both English language arts (ELA) and math after six years, and those gains were larger than the average gains their surrounding districts made. The gains were also larger than in schools using the “turnaround” and “transformation” methods under the federal School Improvement Grant (SIG).
  2. Restarts Remain Relatively Low-Performing. But restarted schools still did not, on average, become high-performing; the average restarted school remained in the bottom quintile after six years.
  3. Restarts Made Largest Gains in First Years After Implementation: On average, restarts made their largest gains in ELA in the first three years after restarting and their largest gains in math in the first two years, based on the adjusted statewide percentile ranking of their schoolwide proficiency rates (SPR). Gains slowed after that, with school performance actually declining on average in the fifth year after restarting. These results suggest that the first three years provide a reasonable window for gauging initial restart success, and that more is needed to maintain success.
  4. Top Restarts and SIG Schools Offer Reason for Optimism: On average, top-quartile restarts made three to four times more growth by year 5 than the average restart, causing schools to jump to the 26th and 34th percentiles in ELA and math, respectively. Top-quartile SIG turnaround and transformation schools made similarly large gains, suggesting a large opportunity for success if school leaders implement these strategies well.

See the report for more, and use the database dashboard to see where restarts are located and results by city, both created with support from the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation.

“We’re pleased to be able to offer the field this comprehensive database, with interactive tools that allow users to delve into the details,” said Lyria Boast, Public Impact’s vice president for data analytics.

What’s next?

The field needs more research into why restarts seem to outperform other intervention methods, and what sets top-quartile restarts and other SIG schools apart from their peers. And as more operators run a city’s schools, and the lines between district and charter blur, research should look at how those efforts affect one another—and student learning—throughout a city.

Read the report and view the database dashboard.

Tracking fall reopening plans for all North Carolina districts: New database from EdNC and Public Impact

written by Paola Gilliam on October 7, 2020

EdNC, October 7, 2020, by Beth Clifford, David Gilmore, Cole Smith, Preston Faulk and Molly Osborne

Since the COVID-19 pandemic upended life as we knew it in March, North Carolina school districts have had to rethink how they deliver education. After transitioning online in the spring, districts could choose between a hybrid model with limited face-to-face instruction (plan B) and 100% virtual instruction (plan C) for the start of the 2020-21 school year this fall.

Many school districts, particularly the largest ones, made the decision to start the school year fully remote, while others opted for a hybrid approach. In mid-September, Gov. Roy Cooper announced schools could move to plan A, fully in-person instruction, for students in kindergarten through fifth grade starting Oct.5. This week, after almost seven months, some K-5 students are returning to the classroom full-time.

With every district choosing its own instructional plan this fall, EdNC and Public Impact teamed up once again to track how schools are responding to the pandemic this school year. The NC Districts Fall 2020 Reopening Database documents some details of all 115 districts’ reopening plans. It is our hope this database can help guide school leaders and policymakers as plans continue to evolve throughout the year. Read the full article…

Employment Opportunities—Opportunity Culture Consultant

written by Paola Gilliam on August 28, 2020

Employment Opportunities—Opportunity Culture Consultant
Public Impact is seeking candidates for Opportunity Culture consultant positions, with a Summer 2021 start date. The deadline for applications is January 17, 2020!

New Report Highlights Charter Successes During Covid Shutdowns

written by Paola Gilliam on August 25, 2020

A sudden shift in the spring to effective online learning challenged all schools—but we quickly began to see anecdotal evidence of some charter schools reacting quickly and serving students well. In a new report we wrote with the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, we offer evidence that some charter schools—smaller networks and schools that make up the majority of charters—were able to respond quickly to students’ and families’ needs, taking advantage of the freedom and flexibility built into the charter school model. Read what the schools did alongside vignettes highlighting some of the charter schools and their leaders.

We based the report on a database we created of 356 charter school operators, similar to the one CPRE (the Center on Reinventing Public Education) created in the spring that tracked some of the nation’s largest public school districts.

Our key findings:

  1. Charter schools appear more likely than school districts to set expectations that teachers:
    • Engage directly with students to provide instruction.
    • Provide real-time instruction.
    • Check in regularly with students.
    • Monitor attendance.
  2. School districts and charter schools were about equally likely to require the distribution of devices for online learning.
  3. Charter schools appear less likely than school districts to ensure internet access for all students.
  4. Few charter schools or school districts clearly communicate on websites how schools will support students with disabilities during COVID‑19 closures.

Charter schools were already known for their innovation, and the findings in this report show their ability and potential to adapt to students’ needs in unexpected circumstances.

Read the full report, written by Public Impact’s Lyria Boast, Beth Clifford, and Daniela Doyle, here…

Related: Charters Were Quicker to Provide Instruction, Regular Contact During Closures, Reports Say. But That’s Also How They ‘Keep the Kids,’ One Expert Explains (The 74)

Charters Were Quicker to Provide Instruction, Regular Contact During Closures, Reports Say. But That’s Also How They ‘Keep the Kids,’ One Expert Explains

written by Paola Gilliam on August 25, 2020

The 74, August 25, 2020, by Linda Jacobson

Charter schools appeared to follow a more routine class schedule and stay in closer contact with students and families following shutdowns than district schools, according to a new analysis out Tuesday from Public Impact and the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools.

But similar percentages of both charter and district schools distributed devices to students, and districts were more likely than charter networks to provide students with internet access, according to the report. Less than half of both district and charter schools clearly explained through websites or social media how they would deliver services for students with special needs.

“This fall, which likely will bring continued disruptions from the pandemic, all public schools can work to improve access and consider changes to schedules, instruction delivery, and student progress monitoring to address learning losses,” the authors wrote.

Drawn from the Center on Reinventing Public Education’s widely used database of how districts and networks of charter schools planned to handle remote learning, “Learning in Real Time” focuses on “bright spots” where charter school organizations set expectations for teachers regarding live instruction, taking attendance and staying in touch with families.

The report finds that charters have the biggest advantage in terms of teachers providing instruction, with 74 percent of charter networks reporting this expectation, compared with 47 percent of districts.

On another indicator, 54 percent of the networks said they expected teachers to check in with students, compared with 37 percent of districts. The authors highlight, for example, Excel Academy Charter Schools in Massachusetts and its “relentless outreach” to students. Read the full article…

States Overlook Academics in School Reopening Plans, Analysis Finds

written by Paola Gilliam on July 29, 2020

Education Week, July 29, 2020, by Evie Blad

State guidance on reopening schools largely focuses on health and safety practices without adequately addressing the challenges of keeping students on-track academically following extended coronavirus closures, a new analysis of state reopening plans finds.

The report, released Wednesday by education organizations the Center for Reinventing Public Education and Public Impact, urges states to provide more direction to districts as they face another unprecedented school year. Many districts plan to start the year with remote instruction, and others are preparing to transition to remote learning in the case of spiking virus rates, adding hurdles to academic plans.

But just 15 state plans require districts to prepare for a remote-only option, and just 11 states expect specific practices from districts to support students during remote learning, the analysis says. Read the full article…

3 Model Options Give Schools Budget-Neutral Plans, Schedules, Roles for Partial School Closures

written by Paola Gilliam on May 15, 2020

Districts and schools are confronting the learning loss caused by missed school time so far. Opportunity Culture schools—90 percent of which are Title I—have a special responsibility and opportunity to reverse that learning loss with the same method they’ve used for years: highly connective, high-standards instruction that helps more students achieve high-growth learning. Multi-Classroom Leadership by teachers with a high-growth track record is the foundation.

What can that look like if some students and teachers need to stay home, or if schools open, then shut, in waves in the coming school year?

A new working draft from Public Impact—Multi-Classroom Leadership with Students and Teachers in Multiple Locations: School Model Options—offers three detailed scheduling and staffing model options for Opportunity Culture schools faced with those conditions, highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of each. We will continue to develop these and other options through feedback and experience; send us your feedback here.

Districts not using Opportunity Culture may also find these useful for planning, and may be able to introduce modified Multi-Classroom Leadership quickly; contact us for help. [Read more…]

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New from Public Impact

Employment Opportunities—Opportunity Culture Consultant
Public Impact is seeking candidates for Opportunity Culture consultant positions, with a Summer 2021 start date. The deadline for applications is January 17, 2020!

Learning in Real Time—How Charter Schools Served Students During Covid-19 Closures
Profiles highlight how charter schools were able to respond quickly to school closures during the pandemic and continue to serve their students well.

Building an Effective Staff—Profiles of Leaders of Color
Three-part series looks at how being a person of color affected the ways in which successful charter school leaders built schools where students, families, and staff learn, grow, and thrive.

Engaging Families—Profiles of Leaders of Color
Three-part series looks at how being a person of color affected the ways in which successful charter school leaders built schools where students, families, and staff learn, grow, and thrive.

Building a Strong School Culture—Profiles of Leaders of Color
Three-part series looks at how being a person of color affected the ways in which successful charter school leaders built schools where students, families, and staff learn, grow, and thrive.

The Impact of School Restarts—Lessons from Four Indianapolis Schools
Report analyzes how enrollment, demographic, and student performance data changed following the restarts of four charter schools in Indianapolis, IN.

Learning from Project L.I.F.T.—Legacy of a Public-Private School Turnaround Initiative
Report examines successes, challenges, and lessons from a private-public district turnaround initiative.

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