AISR Lines of Inquiry

The Annenberg Institute has developed a new framework that focuses its work on three crucial issues in education reform today: school transformation, college and career readiness, and expanded learning time. We refer to these as lines of inquiry.

Rationale

The line of inquiry framework is a natural next step in the evolution of our work. Historically, our three areas of expertise, what we call circles of work – district redesign, community organizing and engagement, and research and policy – developed independently, with different projects, staff, and trajectories. At the same time, as our vision of smart education systems has evolved, we have seen how these three areas are converging. In a smart education system, districts and communities join forces to provide a comprehensive, integrated web of opportunities and supports to young people, informed by research on effective practices and policies.

An increasing number of education stakeholders hold views that resonate with ours. In our current work in the field, we have found that districts, communities, the U.S. Department of Education, national foundations, and other stakeholders are struggling with these same core issues and are looking for ways to address them in an integrated way. Our new focus – AISR’s response to our partners’ requests to help inform their thinking – cuts across all stakeholder groups and all three of our circles of work.

School Transformation

Teachers and students Since the 1970s, education reform efforts have focused on turning around lowperforming schools. Different eras have seen the interventions shift from targeting individual students, then schools, then research-based programs, culminating in the most recent predominance of the federal turnaround models, which focus interventions at the school level.

AISR takes a different approach, focusing on the district as the unit of change. Rather than asking, What are the elements of a good school? we ask, How can districts organize and support schools to do this transformation work? How do district policies and practices need to change? How can districts engage communities around high schooltransformation processes and closures, and what do communities need to do to become effective advocates and partners? What capacities do districts and communities need to build to work together on these issues?

Our work in school transformation includes:

Support for the New York City Working Group on School Transformation
The Working Group on School Transformation is an outgrowth of a September 2011 conference of district and community stakeholders that sought to develop an alternative to New York City’s plan to close a large number of underperforming schools.
> 2012 report
Central Falls High School Case Study
The Institute, in collaboration with The Education Alliance at Brown University, is conducting a case study of Central Falls High School that is documenting the implementation of the transformation initiative.
> More information, first year report
District-Level Systems Change Initiative
The Nellie Mae Education Foundation’s District-Level Systems Change Initiative aims to develop student-centered learning models in secondary schools across New England.
> More information
Profiles in School Transformation
This online publication highlights seven successful school transformations that have not involved closing schools.
> More information

College and Career Readiness

graduates Since the 1990s, the standards movement has been a major force in school reform, from Goals 2000 to No Child Left Behind to the current partisan battle over the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The original goals of the standards movement – increasing student proficiency and high school graduation rates – have been ramped up to meet the more exacting demands of a global, knowledge- and creativity-based economy. High school graduation is no longer sufficient – all students now must be prepared to succeed in college or workforce pursuits.

This new goal of college readiness is now driving the standards movement. The Common Core State Standards are college readiness standards, and the goal of school transformation is to meet these new standards. Districts are asking, How can we translate the goal of college readiness into policies, practices, and supports for students? Community organizations are asking, How can we make informed demands in our new campaigns for college readiness? AISR sees an opportunity to involve all its circles of work in helping our partners explore these questions together.

Our work in college and career readiness includes support for:

College Readiness Indicator Systems Initiative
The project brings together five school systems working to develop College Readiness Indicator Systems with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The main goal of the network is to help districts use data to keep students on track for high school completion and college success.
> More information
Rhode Island’s College Access and Completion Project
AISR supports a collaboration between the Rhode Island Office of Higher Education and the Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education with the aim of enhancing the readiness of high school graduates to succeed in college and careers.
Research Partnership with the New England Secondary School Consortium
For the past year AISR has participated in a six-state consortium of New England state education agencies and public higher-education institutions to improve the readiness of high school graduates to succeed in college.

Extended Learning Time

The new goal of college readiness extends beyond the reach of schools and districts – it calls for a smart education system that uses the resources of the community – higher education, community organizations, businesses, funders, recreation programs, and civic organizations – to support learning outside of schools and align it with what happens inside schools. ELT students Without alignment, the new national goal of transforming schools for college readiness will be impossible.

The question is, Whose values and goals will prevail? Out-of-school-time youth development programs and schools have often had competing goals: learning and development vs. testing and accountability, 21st Century Schools vs. Race to the Top. Traditional afterschool programs fear that alignment with districts will lead to a focus on basic skills, to the exclusion of youth engagement and development; districts fear that out-of-school-time programs will divert money from schools, but leave the schools still accountable for meeting academic goals.

The stakes are high. Large pots of money are attached to expanded learning time and hard ideological battle lines have been drawn. Sometimes large grants are made on the basis of scant evidence. AISR holds that out-of-school-time learning must be rigorous and engage the schools, and it should not simply provide longer time for ineffective practices. As an experienced convener, AISR is in a position to help both districts and community and youth development organizations work together to make this happen.

Our work in extended learning time includes:

Extended Learning in Providence
AISR supports the Mayor's Children and Youth Cabinet whose focus is the growth and healthy development of children from cradle to career in Providence.
The Ford Foundation’s Secondary School Strategy Initiative
For the past two years the Institute has been advising the Ford Foundation on design elements and selection criteria for its new secondary school initiative leading to Ford's More and Better Learning Time Initiative.
> More information

Implications for AISR Work

We see these three crucial, highly visible issues as the drivers of education reform today. The three are also interrelated. Low-performing schools must be transformed – with the goal of making sure all students are college ready. The only way to achieve this is through expanded learning opportunities, which aim to provide all students with the same access to academic and social supports that affluent parents provide their children.

Warren Simmons

We expect the lines of inquiry to serve as shared focal points for our work for at least the next five years. We will be asking key questions across AISR’s circles of work: How can districts effectively engage their communities to take these reforms to scale? How can we inform this work by developing relevant research and documenting effective practices? How can we share information with communities so they become more effective advocates for their schools?

AISR’s focus on the district level rather than the school level and our unique combination of expertise in district redesign, community organizing and engagement, and research and policy position us well for this new focus. We hope it will help deepen our thinking on smart education systems, support our wide range of partners in their efforts to improve education, and pursue our mission of improving conditions and outcomes in urban public schools attended by traditionally underserved children.