charter school scale up
DESCRIPTION
Green Dot Public Schools (GDPS) is the largest and best-funded Charter Management Organization in the state of California serving more than 7000 economically disadvantaged children of color in Los Angeles. The original school, Ánimo Leadership, opened in 2000 and by 2004 the GDPS brand and model was scaled-up to five total sites forming the "Founding Five Schools". The next phase of expansion occurred in 2006 as Green Dot doubled in size when it opened the five "Jefferson Transformation Project" schools in East LA. One year later, the third scale-up phase added another eight schools in Watts known collectively as the "Locke Transformation Project". The GDPS model and brand was finally scaled-up across the nation in 2008 when Green Dot New York opened its doors in the South Bronx. In the context of this rapid scale-up, this case study investigated the phenomenon of the inherent tension between maintaining the fidelity of the original model school's design, culture and values with local adaptation of the brand by stakeholders at the expansion sites. 28 Green Dot stakeholders were interviewed and a co-research team composed of eight members from four different school clusters volunteered to help guide the study as well as analyze and check the validity of the emerging findings and interpretations. Ultimately, this study aimed to assist Green Dot in increasing student achievement by formulating recommended practices that will most effectively assure implementation of its core values and brand at all expansion schools. This case study should be of interest to leaders of Charter Management Organizations planning to scale-up their model and brand to multiple sites.TRANSCRIPT
Getty Image #: 108359586!
Effective Visual Communication:How to avoid…"
By:!
PowerPoint: “It’s the most misused technological !innovation since the handgun.” – James Gray !
Eddie Adams © 1968
New York Times !4-26-10!
“When we understand that slide, !we’ll have won the war.”!
!-- General Stanley McChrystal!
Charter School Scale-Up: Managing Fidelity and Adaptation"
By:!
Charter Schools are currently in operation in 40 states and D.C.
Charters are poised to scale-up quickly:!
1. Obama’s educational policy shift!
3. Philanthropic pipeline!
2. “Race to the Top”!
Scale-Up through Branding
Strategic Issues in CMO Scale-Up
1. Financial
3. Organizational
2. Political
Key Challenges to CMO Scale-Up
1. Fidelity
2. Teaching
3. Ownership
4. Communication
5. Feedback
6. Resources
7. Political
8. Mindset (McDonald, Klein & Riordan 2009)
Key Challenges to CMO Scale-Up
1. Fidelity
2. Teaching
(McDonald, Klein & Riordan 2009)
Key Challenges to CMO Scale-Up
1. Fidelity
(McDonald, Klein & Riordan 2009)
Fidelity
Fidelity Adaptation
(McDonald, Klein & Riordan 2003, 2004, 2009)
Key Scale-Up Factor
Fidelity
Fidelity
Adaptation
(McDonald, Klein & Riordan 2003, 2004, 2009)
Key Scale-Up Factor
Fidelity Adaptation
“Ignore fidelity and what will you take to scale? Ignore adaptation and your design
will crack. This is more than just a challenge. It is a dilemma. It can only be
managed, never resolved.”
(McDonald, Klein & Riordan 2009, p. 19)
Site Selection: 1. Largest and best funded CMO in CA
2. Poised to scale-up ~8 x in size
3. Green Dot NY
Why Green Dot?
21
Literature Review
22
software engineering
chemical engineering
manufacturing international development
public health
medicine
computer science
economics
sociology
social welfare policy
business
management
organizational theory
Scale-up research [in education] is translational research. It is conducted with the explicit objective of informing
practice — which means not only documenting the importance of implementing interventions with integrity,
but documenting the benefits of balancing fidelity of implementation with adaptation to dynamic local
contexts”
(Schneider & McDonald, 2007b, p. 11).
Organizational Life Cycle Theory
(Flamholtz & Randle, 2007a, 2007b)
5. Decline and Revitalization
1. Birth/New Venture
2. Growth/Expansion
3. Maturity/Professionalization
4. Consolidation, Diversification and Integration
Research Methods
CcAaSsEe SsTtUuDdYy “inquiry that investigates a
contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context, especially when the
boundaries between the phenomenon and context are not
clearly evident”
(Yin, 2009, p. 15)
CcAaSsEe SsTtUuDdYy
Phenomenon = Tension between fidelity and adaptation
Context = Large CMO Scale-Up
Unit of Analysis = Green Dot Benchmark Exams Program
28
Green Dot Benchmark
Exams Program
Benchmark Assessment “mandate”
Modifications at each scale-up school
This was the focus of the study for two main reasons:
1. It is most closely aligned with student achievement
35
This was the focus of the study for two main reasons:
1. It is most closely aligned with student achievement
2. It was the chief problem Green Dot
wanted to study and work on
Co-Research Team
Comprised of two representatives from each cluster
Home Office
Data Collection Methods 1. FIELD NOTES
2. DOCUMENTS 3. IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS
4. ASYNCHRONOUS ONLINE
FOCUS GROUPS
Study Credibility & Interpretive Validity
1. Member Checking
2. Peer debriefing
3. Triangulation
4. PARTICIPATORY/COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH
Research Questions
1. In the perception of Green Dot Public Schools’ home office-based managers
and site-based teachers and administrators, what are the barriers that
school leaders and teachers believe inhibit the fidelity of implementing the
mandates regarding benchmark assessments?
Research Questions
2. What are the perceptions of Green Dot Public Schools’ site-based teachers and administrators, regarding the extent
to which they adopt or do not adopt with fidelity home office mandates regarding benchmark assessments?
What are some of the reasons they offer for the varying degrees of adoption of
these home office mandates?
Research Questions
3. In the opinion of Green Dot Public Schools’ home office-based managers
and site-based teachers and administrators, what are the policies
and/or practices that should be adopted in order to balance the
tension between home office mandates and teacher autonomy in the use of benchmark assessments?
43
Findings: RQ # 1
1. Teachers feel vulnerable about discussing their benchmark assessment data in public
Teacher
Vulnerability
45
Findings: RQ # 1
1. Teachers feel vulnerable about discussing their benchmark assessment data in public
2. There is a lack of uniformity across Green Dot schools in
calendars and pacing
Lack of Uniformity
1. Calendars
2. Pacing
47
Findings: RQ # 1
1. Teachers feel vulnerable about discussing their benchmark assessment data in public
2. There is a lack of uniformity across Green Dot schools in
calendars and pacing
3. There is a lack of an explicit follow-through mechanism for using
the benchmark
No Follow-through!
49
Findings: RQ # 2
1. The majority of teachers adopted the GDPS’ home office benchmarks with a high degree
of fidelity
The “Green Dot Benchmark Exams” Program only has 4 requirements teachers are responsible for:
1. All teachers must administer all 4 benchmark exams in the
alloted time frame
2. All teachers must follow the blueprints/pacing guides
3. School sites must scan their own answer sheets into the SIS software
4. All teachers must meet after the first 3 benchmark exams to share reflections on
their data and collaborate
51
Findings: RQ # 2
1. The majority of teachers adopted the GDPS’ home office benchmarks with a high degree
of fidelity
2. Adaptations to the benchmark assessments should be made for
specific subjects and different pedagogical philosophies
One size does not fit all
54
56
Recommendations: RQ # 3
1. The benchmark program should be continued with specific adaptations at
the school and home office level.
57
Recommendations: RQ # 3
1. The benchmark program should be continued with specific adaptations at
the school and home office level.
2. Green Dot should create and implement uniform calendars and pacing guides across
the organization.
58
Recommendations: RQ # 3
1. The benchmark program should be continued with specific adaptations at
the school and home office level.
2. Green Dot should create and implement uniform calendars and pacing guides across
the organization.
3. Green Dot should create and implement an explicit follow-through mechanism for using
the benchmark data to reteach.
59
Meta-Recommendation:
GDPS should plan strategically around their organizational
growing pains
THANK YOU
Key Scale-Up Factor
(McDonald, Klein & Riordan 2003, 2004, 2009)
You will implement the benchmark assessments
as rolled out by the home office
We’ll do it our way, if at all...