Invitation to Nonprofits for 20th Anniversary Gala Celebration

Our mission is to transform teaching and learning in the lowest-performing public schools
so that every student, regardless of background, thrives.
About Us
Partners in School Innovation was founded in 1993 by Julien Phillips, a former Peace Corps volunteer and
McKinsey & Co. partner, and Kim Grose, a Rhodes Scholar and social justice advocate, to create systemic
improvements in low-performing public schools. Since our inception, our dedicated staff has partnered
with teachers and leaders in over 13 public school districts and 70 public schools to accelerate student
achievement. We have recently expanded services from California to Illinois, and now, for the 2012-2013
school year, have opened our doors in Battle Creek and Grand Rapids, Michigan, with work in Mississippi
on the horizon.
What We Do
Our work in districts, schools and classrooms is guided by a vision of urban public schools that works to
eliminate the achievement gap and creates exciting places to teach, learn and grow. We work alongside
school and district colleagues to:
1) Build a strong core instructional program in literacy and English Language Arts that ensures that all
students learn at high levels
2) Develop the systems and structures that foster teachers' professional learning, thus enabling all
teachers to deliver excellent instruction
3) Strengthen results-oriented leadership so that leaders can carry out the daily actions necessary to
successfully lead school and district improvement efforts
Results
Our goals for the 2012-2013 school year include improved student achievement outcomes (particularly
for African American, Latino and English Learner students in low-income communities), increased school
transformation capacity and increased district capacity. Today, almost twenty years after opening our
doors, Partners has become a national model for work to eliminate the achievement gap.
• Our partner schools reduced the percentage of students scoring Far Below Basic or Below Basic
by 4.5 percentage points, more than twice the reduction across the state and more than 50%
greater than the 2.6 percentage-point reduction observed in the matched cohort of similar schools
in California.
• The average Academic Performance Index (API) growth experienced by our partner schools was
32 points compared to the average API growth of 10 points across all grades statewide. On average,
our partner schools more than tripled statewide API growth.
www.PartnersInSchools.org