Tailored Strategies for Transformational Results
Leveraging our years of experience consulting with large, urban school systems, ERS has the expertise to help school systems develop and implement resource utilization strategies to achieve transformational improvement in student success. Our services span the following critical areas:
- School System Design
- School Funding and Staffing Systems
- Strategic School Design
- School Support, Planning and Supervision
- Human Capital
School System Design
Our Strategic School System Design practice helps school systems define and prioritize school system roles and resource strategies that promote transformational improvement in student performance across the system.
A typical School System Design engagement lasts 6-9 months. In close collaboration with educational leaders, we:
- Interview school system and school personnel, and other stakeholders to understand the strategies and goals, current structure and systems, strengths and challenges.
- Create a resource map to assess alignment of the school system’s people, time, and money resources with instructional goals.
- Identify and prioritize specific opportunities for resource realignment.
Throughout the engagement, we keep the superintendent and cabinet engaged and informed through monthly updates to discuss findings and develop implications and recommendations.
Learn more about an ERS School System Design engagement
School Funding and Staffing Systems
Our School Funding and Staffing Systems practice is focused on helping school systems deliberately allocate resources across schools and students according to identified needs, ensuring equity, transparency, and flexibility.
A School Funding and Staffing engagement typically lasts about 12 months. Working with educational leaders, we:
- Evaluate the effectiveness of existing funding and resource (including staff) allocation systems against research-based practices.
- Create a resource map of current resource use using ERS’ analytic methodology to combine financial, human resource, and scheduling data.
- Interview school system leaders, school personnel and other stakeholders to understand their strategies and goals, current structure and systems, strengths and challenges, as well as the nuances that cannot be understood simply from looking at the data.
- Engage with the superintendent and cabinet on a monthly basis, and other stakeholders as needed, to discuss findings and develop implications and recommendations.
- Work with school system leadership to develop and implement effective funding systems that give schools the people, time, and talent they need to succeed.
Learn more about an ERS School Funding and Staffing engagement
Strategic School Design
Our Strategic School Design practice helps school systems focus resources and empower leaders at the school level to enhance student performance by improving teaching quality, maximizing student time in core subjects, and ensuring individual attention.
A Strategic School Design engagement typically lasts 6-9 months. Working with school and system personnel we:
- Create a resource map that combines financial, human resource, and scheduling data to develop a detailed understanding of exactly how people, time, and money are used at the school level.
- Interview key leadership and other stakeholders to understand the nuances that cannot be understood simply from looking at the data.
- Engage with the superintendent and cabinet on a monthly basis, and other stakeholders as needed, to discuss findings and develop implications and recommendations.
- Using this information and insight, ERS works with system leadership to better support schools in allocating school resources in ways designed to improve student success.
Learn more about an ERS School Design engagement
School Support, Planning, and Supervision
Our School Support, Planning, and Supervision practice helps educational leaders develop systems for evaluating and improving individual school performance.
A School Support, Planning, and Supervision engagement typically lasts 9-12 months. The engagement is most commonly launched as a follow-up to another engagement (usually Strategic School Design or Human Capital).
We work closely with the school personnel, the superintendent and cabinet, and other stakeholders to understand the current systems of planning and supervision, and to develop a plan to align those systems with the school system’s strategic goals.
Learn more about an ERS School Support, Planning and Supervision engagement
Human Capital
Our Human Capital practice helps school systems design comprehensive strategies for supporting school improvement and for building teacher and leadership expertise.
- Work with educational leaders to understand the school system’s investment in human capital through professional development, and to identify opportunities for improvement.
- Analyze budget and personnel data, and interview key players at all levels of the system, to gain a broad understanding of the current structure and programs.
- Compare the school system’s situation to that of other systems and research-based best practices to identify opportunities and develop specific recommendations for improving the return on its human capital investment.
- Engage with the superintendent and cabinet on a monthly basis, and other stakeholders as needed, to discuss findings and develop implications and recommendations.
