Overview:

Since 2011, Providence Public Schools in partnership with Mass Insight Education have worked together to build the conditions necessary to impact academic achievement within the district. Collaboratively, the partnership has significantly impacted the district’s human resources, communications, school organization, and finances. A few milestones from the partnership include:

  • Management and creation of the school reform plan process resulting in $3.8M SIG dollars and 20+ school reform plans
  • Creation, management and implementation of a performance monitoring system in the Innovation Zone to begin creating a data-driven decision making culture
  • Reorganization of schools into Zones to increase school management, oversight, and support
  • Recruitment, selection, and management support of PPSD’s external Lead Partners
  • Implementation of the school improvement planning process throughout all Zones to strategically align schools’ resources and action plans to school-wide goals
  • Development and implementation support of the Graduation Campaign through targeted communication support
  • Revision and operationalization of the PPSD strategic plan
  • Relaunch of the Office of Transformation and Innovation, with a new Executive Director, complete staff, and an improved organizational structure and management plan.
  • Improved RIDE monitoring procedures and practices
  • Participated in development of central office HR policies for at-will employees

While much progress has been made, the work is not complete. The hard work of embedding practices as the daily operating procedure for PPSD is still not finished, nor is the development of a service-oriented central office support structure in service of schools complete.

The following chart summarizes accomplishments from summer of 2014-2015 and outlines anticipated work over the next three years to further cement the progress made in the organizational practices and culture of PPSD. Mass Insight stands ready to continue the work already underway. Because this work is fluid and needs change, a detailed workplan will be created yearly and revisited biannually between the Superintendent and Mass Insight. All proposed work is contingent on funding.

The cost for Phase I is $500,000, for Phase II is $600,000 and for Phase III is $700,000. Contracts and costs associated with Phases II and III will be negotiated on an annual basis. The scope of work and cost projections which are presented here provide a structure for the ongoing collaboration.

The authors of The Turnaround Challenge, “the bible of school turnaround” according to Arne Duncan, Mass Insight Education is uniquely qualified to further the gains of the Office of Transformation and Innovation and to provide the central office structures and supports needed to scale the successful practices to the rest of PPSD. Our central office transformations in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana and Evansville, Illinois also show our qualifications to continue to the next phase of the central office support efforts. Finally, Mass Insight’s demonstrated success in doubling the number of AP qualifying scores in participating schools in Massachusetts proves we can also provide services directly to schools to improve the number of quality seats and help students persist in college.

Area of Focus / Scope of Work / Progress to date / Next Actions
Office of Transformation and Innovation /
  • Office of Transformation and Innovation redesign support
  • Internal Lead Partner development support
  • School Performance Monitoring strategy development
  • Communications and community engagement strategy
  • School leader and teacher training and development
  • School instructional climate monitoring and assessment
/
  • OTI has been created, Executive Director hired and onboarded, with roles and responsibilities clearly delineated. Internal lead partner unit created.
  • OTI schools have been identified; schools have received training/TA in development and planning support
  • UP! Audit has been conducted, Cambium/NAEP audit in planning phase.
/ Phase I
  • Support identification, implementation, and continuous improvement of autonomy model
  • Continue to provide training and technical assistance to the ILP and other OTI schools, including School Improvement Planning and strategic budgeting support
  • Support development efforts for ILP schools
  • Support development and alignment of community partners for ILP schools
  • Support development and implementation of parent engagement strategy for ILP schools
  • Continue training ILP schools in NYCLA leadership training model
  • Secure and deliver high quality professional development for ILP school leaders and staff
  • Implement and provide ongoing support for a performance management strategy that includes data and qualitative evidence
  • Support codification of best practices from OTI to transfer to non-OTI schools.
  • Support implementation of Common Core-aligned standards to promote college and career readiness at ILP schools
  • Ongoing support for External Lead Partner performance monitoring
  • Provide advisory support and capacity for integration of Carnegie schools into Innovation Zone

Phase II
  • Support continuous improvement of autonomy model
  • Continue to provide training and technical assistance to the ILP and other OTI schools, including School Improvement Planning and strategic budgeting support
  • Continue to support partner relationships for ILP schools
  • Continue training ILP schools in NYCLA leadership training model
  • Secure and deliver high quality professional development for ILP school leaders and staff
  • Provide ongoing support for a performance management strategy that includes data and qualitative evidence
  • Continued upport codification of best practices from OTI to transfer to non-OTI schools.
  • Continued support for implementation of Common Core-aligned standards to promote college and career readiness at ILP schools
  • Ongoing support for External Lead Partner performance monitoring
  • Advisory support and capacity for integration of Carnegie schools into Innovation Zone

Phase III
  • Support continuous improvement of autonomy model
  • Continue to provide training and technical assistance to the ILP and other OTI schools such as the Carnegie schools, including School Improvement Planning and strategic budgeting support
  • Continue to support partner relationships for ILP schools
  • Continue training ILP schools in NYCLA leadership training model
  • Secure and deliver high quality professional development for ILP school leaders and staff
  • Provide ongoing support for a performance management strategy that includes data and qualitative evidence
  • Continued upport codification of best practices from OTI to transfer to non-OTI schools.
  • Continued support for implementation of Common Core-aligned standards to promote college and career readiness at ILP schools
  • Ongoing support for External Lead Partner performance monitoring

Central Office Support /
  • RIDE monitoring support
  • Communications support
  • PPSD Board policy analysis
  • Performance Management support (PM strategy, scorecards, and school dashboards)
  • College Success Community launch[i]
  • Special projects as requested
/
  • Central office HR policies drafted.
  • Strategic Direction: Autonomy policy feedback and guidance provided.
  • Codeveloped and cofacilitated central office summer retreat.
  • Central office scorecards in development.
  • Supported hiring and onboarding of CILE. Continuing ongoing support to CILE, CoA, and other cabinet members.
/ Phase I
  • Support Superintendent or her designee in creating structures for external support for ongoing PPSD transformation efforts.
  • Implement and provide ongoing support for a performance management strategy that includes data and qualitative evidence.
  • Continue embedding monitoring support and technical assistance in data-driven decision making in PPSD schools.
  • Provide mapping support for moving the district office to a central support office.
  • Support central office transformation efforts through technical assistance and strategy development for central office performance evaluations and organizational design.
  • Support PPSD in developing data systems and supports for all central office teams.
  • Support PPSD cabinet through professional development and training, project management support, and retreat cofacilitation.
  • Support the development of a concrete “autonomy plan” through policy analysis, policy design, and implementation support for increased school-based management in PPSD.
  • Contribute expertise and learnings from other systems.
  • Continue exploration of College Success Communities and strategies for increasing rigor for all students.

Phase II
  • Continued support for external partnerships.
  • Ongoing support for a performance management strategy that includes data and qualitative evidence.
  • Continue embedding monitoring support and technical assistance in data-driven decision making in PPSD schools.
  • Provide implementation support for moving the district office to a central support office.
  • Support further central office transformation efforts through technical assistance, training, and strategy development for central office performance evaluations and organizational design.
  • Support PPSD in implementing responsive data systems and supports for all central office teams.
  • Support PPSD cabinet through professional development and training, project management support, and retreat cofacilitation.
  • Support the development of a concrete “autonomy plan.”
  • Contribute expertise and learnings from other systems.
  • Pilot College Success Community initiative in one high school, including support for talent development, community engagement, and data tracking.

Phase III
  • Continued support for external partnerships.
  • Provide ongoing support for a performance management strategy that includes data and qualitative evidence.
  • Continue embedding monitoring support and technical assistance in data-driven decision making in PPSD schools.
  • Provide continued support for moving the district office to a central support office.
  • Support further central office transformation efforts through technical assistance, training, and strategy development for central office organizational design.
  • Support PPSD in implementing responsive data systems and supports for all central office teams.
  • Support PPSD cabinet through professional development and training, project management support, and retreat cofacilitation.
  • Support the implementation of a concrete “autonomy plan.”
  • Contribute expertise and learnings from other systems.
  • Expand College Success Community initiative to additional schools, including support for talent development, community engagement, and data tracking.

[i]Mass Insight Education and partner schools are poised to launch a bold strategy to achieve dramatic school transformation and district-wide gains in student achievement. Working with select school clusters, Mass Insight Education (MIE) seeks to establish a partnership to engage in a multi-year collaboration to design and implement a College Success Community (CSC).

The CSC combines a rigorous academic redesign (Academic Pillar), a unified organizational strategy (Organizational Pillar), and high-visibility community engagement campaigns (Community Pillar), leveraged simultaneously, to achieve student success and support student readiness for college and career. Throughout the duration of the partnership, MIE’s work will be driven by three pillars: academics, organization, and community.

All parties firmly support the overarching CSC goal of graduating more students ready for college level rigor. Multiple academic and non-academic measures will be used to evaluate the success of the CSC and are included below. Goals will be established during the strategic design planning process and will be set on an annual basis. Progress to goals will be reviewed using a mutually agreed upon performance management process.