2011-12 Annual Report - Partners in School Innovation

“Partners staff are especially talented in coaching and collaborative work. As thought partners, they areable to step out of the box while maintaining clear focus on the client’s goals and outcomes.”– Herman Reeves IIIProfessional Development Design Specialist, Office of Professional Learning, Chicago Public SchoolsDiscrete Services a SuccessPartnering with districts and schools seekingshort-term, targeted support for their transformationefforts through our Discrete Services team, we provideddiscrete elements of our more comprehensive IntensiveDistrict Partnership Model in the form of services,consultation and professional development workshopsin more locations than ever before.Discrete Services launched work in Alum Rock,Franklin-McKinley, Oakland, Battle Creek and Chicagoschool districts to bolster and support strategic aswell as targeted engagements:• In Alum Rock, we worked with the teachers inschools where we did not have intensive partnershipsto create a Theory of Action and reflect on leadershippractices, instructional quality and effectiveness ofinstructional learning systems throughout the year• At Franklin McKinley, we developed a LeadershipNetwork for all principals on how to do BenchmarkROCI at the school and grade level. We alsofacilitated their District and SchoolTransformation Reviews• In Oakland, we facilitated Data Leadership Networksfor Principals on using data to reflect on studentachievement data, leadership practices, instructionalquality and effectiveness of instructional learningsystems in schools• In Battle Creek, we provided support for anintensive partnership through District and SchoolTransformation ReviewsThis was also the first year of the Chicago PublicSchools’ Common Core Initiative, and the third year ofcollaboration between Partners and the district. Back in2009, Partners had worked closely with the Chief AreaOfficer of Area 9 to provide critical support to principalsand grade level teams. With Partners’ support, Area 9posted the largest improvements in literacy instructionseen in many years.Despite having some of the district’s historically mostchallenging schools, Area 9 became the second mostimproved area in the district. In 2011, Area 9 schoolsmade an 8 percent gain on the Illinois StandardsAchievement Test, doubling the district average.• The focus of 2011-12 was in part to bring to scalethe success of this model across the entire district.Our focus was collaborating with the Office ofProfessional Learning to deliver network sessionsto support district teams to manage change as theirschools adopted Common Core State Standards2011–12 Annual Report 21