The Effective Use of People, Time, and Money
Student success is determined not just by how much money schools have, but on how effectively schools use their limited people, time, and money to achieve their instructional vision. Every person, hour, and dollar must be focused on what matters most for students.
What’s Not Working
In virtually all school systems, traditional cost structures and spending patterns are not focusing resources on key priorities: raising student achievement; improving teacher quality; and turning around low-performing schools. Our work in school systems reveals over and over again resources that are unintentionally wasted on ineffective practices for everything from teacher management and class size decisions to school funding practice and integrating technology into instruction.
A Strategic Approach to School System Design
ERS has defined a comprehensive framework of seven strategies to guide school systems’ efforts to improve student outcomes. To support higher-performing schools, systems need to take the following concrete steps to align resouces with their strategic priorities:
- Diagnose the biggest misalignments: You can start diagnosing your current resource allocations by using our ResourceCheck™ tool. It helps you answer key questions about school system practice to begin identifying your biggest misalignments.
- Make the case for change: Change requires engaging all stakeholders. Invest in understanding how your current practice could improve and use that knowledge to inform and gain support of key stakeholders.
- Build your action plan: Prioritize your actions to make the greatest possible impact, involve stakeholders, and stick to a comprehensive and strategic plan for transformation.
