ERS Research Room
The following web pages include more information about recently published work by Education Resource Strategies:
- Now is the Time to Act: Tough Times as a Catalyst for Change
- Rethinking the Cost of Small High Schools
- The Strategic School: Making the Most of People, Time, and Money
The following are publications of Education Resource Strategies team members in our five practice areas:
- Professional Development and School Support
- School Funding Systems
- School Level Resource Use
- School Performance Management
- School System Design
Professional Development and School Support
Strategic Professional Development Review of the School District of Philadelphia, Prepared by Education Resource Strategies, this report reviews the School District of Philadelphia's (SDP) use of professional development resources. Despite Philadelphia's low and unstable funding of professional development, ERS identifies ten opportunities SDP has to improve its teaching quality and leadership capacity. Most importantly, SDP needs to create an adequately funded PD plan that is based on a broader collection of evidence-based metrics of teacher quality, and link it to a broader human capital management strategy. There are several structures in place that SDP can build upon in doing this, including its current efforts to support new teachers and principals and a redesign of its implementation of school-based expert support. September 2008.View and download in PDF format.
Becoming a Capable and Accountable System: A Review of Professional Development and Curriculum in the Baltimore City Public School System, Prepared by Education Resource Strategies and the Annenberg Institute for School Reform, This report reviews BCPSS’s use of professional development resources and identifies areas for investment as part of a state-specified audit for improving the district’s operations and performance. September 2004.View and download in PDF format.
Inside the Black Box of Professional Development Spending, by K.H. Miles, A. Odden, M. Fermanich, S. Archibald, and A. Gallagher. Journal of Education Finance.View and download in PDF format.
Reinvesting in Teachers: Aligning District
Professional Development to Support a Strategy of Comprehensive School
Reform, by K.H. Miles and M. Hornbeck
This article
explores options
for rethinking how best to support teachers and schools in meeting
higher standards.View and download in PDF format.
The Big Picture: District Professional
Development Strategy by K.H. Miles
Good professional development
is not the same thing as a good professional development strategy. The
analysis looks at creating a powerful professional development plan that
touches on every aspect of school and district organization. Staff
Development Journal,
Summer 2003. View
online.
Rethinking District Professional Development
Spending to Support School Improvement: Lessons from Comparative
Spending Analysis by K.H. Miles
Draft of chapter for American
Education Finance Association 2003 Yearbook School
Finance and Teacher Quality: Exploring the Connections. Draft available
to view and dowlonad in PDF format.
Chicago Public Schools: Professional
Development Project by K.H. Miles. M. Hornbeck, and M. Fermanich
A study of Chicago district Public Schools and tools for aligning
professional development to student achievement. Published in partnership
with Education Resource Strategies, August 2002. View
and download in PDF format.
Getting to the Heart of School Improvement:
Integrating Professional Development Spending in the Cincinnati Public
Schools by K.H. Miles and
M. Hornbeck
After four years of
implementing Student's First, a powerful strategic plan for
improving student performance, the Cincinnati Public School
System has put structures in place to encourage district wide
improvement. May, 2001. View and download
in PDF format.
Professional Development Spending in
the Boston Public Schools by K.H. Miles
The report
looks at Boston Public Schools as they change human resources practices
to support standards-based instruction. A joint report of the
Boston Plan for Excellence and the Boston Public Schools, December 1999. View
and download in PDF format.