Statements

Mission

We develop and support the most effective school leaders who drive results for every learner in our highest need schools.

Background

The school leader is the key lever in the overall success of a school. In school improvement work, the principal should be thought of as the most important strategy. The majority of leaders in turnaround schools are not adequately prepared or trained for the work they have to do, and they often don't have the implementation support to do it. In many cases, our newest and least experienced leaders are running our highest need, lowest performing schools.

School turnaround work is more challenging and more nuanced than other school leadership work. If you haven't done this work, it's almost impossible to understand the complexities, challenges, and emotional load. This perception/perspective gap results in leaders going through training programs that aren't tailored to the demands of their job and ultimately being supported by district/ CMO leaders that don't have the knowledge needed to grow them. Typical leader preparation and support is geared toward an "average" school, not our most complex and highest need schools.

In our most complex, highest need, turnaround schools, our leaders must navigate:
- Persistent low student growth and achievement often accompanied by a challenging teaching and learning culture.
- Students who live in extreme, concentrated poverty bring the intense challenges of living in poverty to school with them. A key difference in these schools is the percent of students experiencing these challenges. In our highest need schools, we see ED numbers at 75% +.
- Students who are likely to have experienced multiple life traumas: schools where 70%+ students have experienced three or more adverse childhood experiences.
- More frequent teacher turnover.
- Complex community dynamics that often include stakeholders who deeply want their school to be an effective place and have navigated years and years of challenge resulting in lack of trust of institutional systems and the people who represent them.

All the humans who make up these schools are filled with strengths and potential. We name these challenges to demonstrate the complex reality that these principals are working in and what they need to be prepared to navigate.

Impact

Within 3 years, schools led by leaders who train with us with outperform other comparable schools in their districts on all school improvement indicators:

-- Leading indicators:
- Enrollment
- Student attendance
- Chronic absenteeism
- Teacher attendance
- Mobility/ attrition
- Student culture
- Teacher satisfaction and belonging indicators
- Family satisfaction and belonging indicators
- Student satisfaction and belonging indicators
- Graduation rates

--Lagging indicators:
- Overall student growth
- Overall student achievement
- Student subgroup growth
- Student subgroup achievement

Our leaders will stay longer than leaders at other comparable schools in their districts and states. We want to focus on the idea of doubling average leader tenure - moving from 2 to 4 years. Potential goal: 80% of our leaders stay in their schools for 4 or more years. The nuance and complexity inherent in this potential goal is a challenge given the many reasons that people leave.

Needs

PIVOT needs to raise $500,000 each year over the next 3 years (2023-2025) to cover operating costs and program expenses in order to maximize growth and impact for principals participating in each cohort.

Service Categories
Primary Category:	Education  - Management & Technical Assistance
Secondary Category:	-
Tertiary Category:	-

Areas Served

TN - Davidson

TN - Tennessee (Entire State)