School Level Resource Use
No matter what we say is important, the way we choose to spend our money, time and talent defines what we can accomplish.
While adequate overall funding levels are a prerequisite to improved instruction and performance, school systems must also use well their available resources. School-Level Resource Use focuses resources at the school-level and empowers school leaders to support four research-based strategies common to high performing schools:
- Improve Teacher Quality through professional development, coaching, strategic hiring, and job structure
- Focus on Core Academics by maximizing total time spent on academic subjects, and creating longer blocks of uninterrupted time, with an emphasis on literacy
- Increase Individual Attention by identifying opportunities for creating small group sizes and lower teacher loads in high need areas
- Leverage internal and external expertise to maximize instructional resources
Our Approach
ERS works with system and school leaders to align resources around the key levers of success: high-quality teachers with the support and flexibility to meet individual student needs in core academic areas. We partner with districts to provide:
- An analysis of current resource use that looks at:
- teacher training, coaching, compensation, and career development
- time for common planning and formative assessments
- instructional time for core and other subject areas
- student grouping, scheduling, and staffing
- teacher loads and class sizes
- A comparison of current resource use against ERS’s inventory of cumulative client spending data and research-based best practices
- An outline of resource trade-offs and options for improved instruction
- School-based and system-wide strategies for resource reallocation
- Training for school leaders on the effective management of resources within their buildings, and the challenges, priorities, and strategies
- Strategies for challenges related to union contracts, state regulations, and established district practices
- Accountability systems at the system and school level for the effective use of resources
Our Clients
ERS has supported the following school systems and clients with our School-Level Resource Use practice:
ERS Web-Based Tools
With support from the School Finance Redesign Project (SRFP) at the University of Washington’s Center on Reinventing Education and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, ERS is designing several web-based tools to guide district and school leaders in understanding and maximizing their allocation of time, people, and money to support improved instruction.
Get more information and see how ERS Tools can inform resource allocation strategy.