Focus On: EDUCATION REFORM. The Finance Project’s Education Reform practice group helps leaders to finance and sustain education reform initiatives that boost academic achievement, promote life-long learning and help struggling students succeed in school and in life. This practice group provides leaders with a wide range of policy-relevant reports, tools, guides, and information on promising practices, costs, funding sources, and strategies for financing and sustaining effective professional development, education leadership, comprehensive school reform models, and other education reform efforts.
(Many thanks to Chris Hettinger, Fiscal Officer Early Childhood Services Bureau for passing this along. Russ)
WHAT’S NEW?
Projects
The Finance Project wins Charter School Program National Leadership Activities grant. The Finance Project was awarded a three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Innovation and Improvement to establish a National Resource Center on Charter School Finance and Governance. The Resource Center will develop and disseminate information, tools, and technical assistance to help charter leaders at all levels build capacity to strengthen the finance and governance of charter schools. The Finance Project will partner with the University of Southern California's Center on Educational Governance and WestEd on this work.
School Leadership Study: Developing Successful Principals. The Finance Project is partnering with the Stanford Educational Leadership Institute on a three-year study funded by the Wallace Foundation to determine what is known about principal preparation and development, what works, and how to create scalable models that can bring effective leadership to all America's schools. Reports produced to date under this project are:
· Review of Research, available at
http://seli.stanford.edu/research/documents/SELI_sls_research_review.pdf.
· Understanding the costs of Professional Development Initiatives, available at
http://seli.stanford.edu/research/documents/pd_costs.pdf.
· Preparing and Supporting Principals for Effective Leadership: Early Findings from Stanford’s School Leadership Study, available at http://seli.stanford.edu/research/documents/sls_early_findings.pdf.
· Financing and Policy Contexts for Principal Preparation and In-Service Training Programs: Mid-Course Findings from a Study of Innovative Programs, available at http://seli.stanford.edu/research/documents/finance_policy_mid-course.pdf.
Upcoming products from this study include:
· Case studies of eight successful principal preparation and continuing professional development programs
· A series of eight state profiles illustrating state policy actions to strengthen educational leadership
· A final report with cross-case findings and lessons learned about creating and supporting effective educational leadership programs.
Publications
Choosing an Education Contractor: A Guide to Assessing Financial and Organizational Capacity. This guide, developed by The Finance Project in partnership with the Comprehensive School Reform Quality (CSRQ) Center operated by the American Institutes of Research (AIR), provides state and local educational agencies and others with information about the importance of a contractor's financial stability and organizational capacity, as well as with guidance and tools for gathering and evaluating information to make a solid investment decision. Available at http://www.csrq.org/documents/CSRQConsumerGuide08-01-06.pdf.
National Board Certification as Professional Development: Design and Cost. An Executive Summary of this report from The Finance Project’s study of National Board Certification as professional development is available at http://www.financeproject.org/publications/nbptses.pdf. The Finance Project presented on the costs of National Board Certification candidacy and support programs and how they compare to those of other forms of professional development at the National Academies Committee on Evaluation of Teacher Certification by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) on June 9, 2006.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES FROM THE FINANCE PROJECT
Promising Practices Catalog (available at www.financeproject.org/irc/promising).
The Promising Practices catalog is designed to help users learn about innovative initiatives across the country that can serve as ideas and examples for leaders nationwide. It includes over 900 promising practices profiled by The Finance Project in our main areas of work. Users can search the catalog by a general keyword search or policy and program areas; state and locality; lead agency; and funding sources.
Finding Federal Funding (available at www.financeproject.org/irc/funding.asp).
The Finance Project has published federal funding guides to help leaders identify and understand how to use federal funding effectively in specific policy and program areas, including professional development in education, early care and education, out-of-school time, obesity prevention, workforce development, and substance abuse and mental health. In addition, we have developed and maintain an up-to-date, online tool that enables leaders to search for federal funding sources relevant to their specific needs.
Professional Development for Educators Clearinghouse (available at http://www.financeproject.org/irc/pd.asp). The Finance Project maintains a clearinghouse of key resources on developing, financing and sustaining quality professional development programs for teachers and school administrators. The clearinghouse provides a one-stop place to learn about news, research, policies, promising practices, and tools related to professional development in education. Topics include:
Ø Funding, Cost Frameworks and Analysis
Ø Federal, State and Local Control over Decisionmaking
Ø Evaluating Effectiveness
Ø Principals and Superintendents
Ø Links to Partner Organizations
For more information about The Finance Project
or the Education Reform Practice Group,
contact Carol Cohen, Practice Group Leader, at ccohen@financeproject.org; 202-587-1000