Solidifying Portfolio Through State and Local Policy Changes Kelly - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Solidifying Portfolio Through State and Local Policy Changes

Kelly Hupfeld, Associate Dean, UC Denver Larry Miller, Sr. Research Fellow, CRPE

10th Portfolio Conference Houston, TX January 28, 2014

Session Objectives

• Identify real barriers to portfolio at the

state and local level

• Begin crafting a strategic plan to
• vercome barriers
• Think tactically about how to

successfully make policy changes

Target Audience

• Districts that are stuck
• Districts that are new to portfolio
• Districts that have overcome a lot of

implementation challenges

• Districts that don’t have a state and/or

local policy strategy

• Districts who need a policy-process

refresher

Session Agenda

• Review state scorecards
• Learn how peer districts changed state

policy

• Develop/refine state and local policy

priorities

• Provide feedback about this session

Barriers, Real & Imagined

• Real barriers (one-third)

– Often written, come with real consequences and offer no waivers/workarounds

• Imagined barriers (two-thirds)

– The way things have always been done

• What should I do with all the c/o talent

reform has attracted?

Ranking State Support for Portfolio

• Policies that support portfolio’s 7

components

• Secondary research
• Rankings updated based on our

knowledge

• Just a starting point

Portfolio’s 7 Key Components

Good Choices for All Families School Autonomy Pupil-Based Funding for All Schools Talent-Seeking Strategy Sources of Support for Schools* Performance-Based Accountability for Schools Extensive Public Engagement*

State Support & Local Progress

State Support

Local Progress

Advocate for state policy changes

Local response

Advocate for state policy changes Ignore the state unless reforms threatened Ignore the state unless reforms threatened Ignore the state unless reforms threatened Implement, state adv. and local policy chg. Implement while advocating Implement, change local polices as needed Implement, change local polices as needed

Reflect on Your State’s Scorecard

• Use local knowledge to re-rank components
• List policies missing from the scorecard that

support/limit portfolio?

• Which state policies need to be changed?
• Which state policies can you workaround?

Developing Your Strategy – 1st Steps

What

• Define your obstacle – is it real?
• Define your goal – what do you need to be able to

do?

Where

• What are your options?
• Who has authority to make the changes you need?
• What is the process?

How

• Who are the players?
• What are your tactics?

Example: Denver and ProComp

What

• Obstacle: traditional salary schedule in CBA
• Goal: differentiated pay

Where

• Options: mandate through statute, force union,

bargain with union

• Legislature, bargaining table

How

• Players: union, community activists, business
• Tactics: Develop and pilot new system with union, take

referendum for “sweeten the pot” funding to voters

Example: The Cleveland Plan

What

• Obstacle: State laws limiting autonomy, CBA provisions
• Goals: Increased autonomy, ability to partner with charter schools to fully

implement Cleveland Plan

Where

• Options: legislation, CBA changes
• State legislature, bargaining table

How

• Players: mayor’s office, union, business and community leaders; prominent

state-level politicians

• Tactics: mayor-led process, union as partner, bipartisan support and ducks in a

row in advance, voter signaling of approval through funding election

Exercise: Crafting Your Strategic Plan

• List your top three policy barriers

– Identify source of each barrier

• List what you could accomplish by

removing each obstacle

– Rank goals by importance

• Verify: real or imagined?

Exercise 2: Tactics

• From exercise 1, pick the real barrier

with the greatest impact

• What has to change about the policy?
• What’s the policy change process?
• Who are the policy’s stakeholders?
• Can you win over your biggest
• pponent? How?

Closing Thoughts

• Describe one way in which this session

informed the way you think about implementing portfolio in your district

• What are your next steps going to be

when you get back to your district?

Parking lot

Thinking about Tactics

More Sustainable

• Collaborative
• Teacher and

community support

• Viewed as practical
• Corresponding

capacity

Less Sustainable

• Top down
• Scorched earth
• Viewed as ideological
• No corresponding

capacity

Thinking about the Where

Variable Red light Proceed with caution Full steam ahead Allies You have no allies OR you have the wrong allies You have the usual allies Your allies form a diverse and powerful coalition Opponents Everyone opposes you OR the only group that matters opposes you You have the usual

• pponents

No one who matters opposes you Political landscape Your plan would be DOA in this environment Support is fragmented or unpredictable Full bipartisan support plus the governor Cost/benefit You can’t afford lobbyists/this is not essential to your reforms Cost and benefit relatively equal You can afford lobbyists/essential to reforms Community support Your community actively opposes this effort Your community is lukewarm or disengaged Your community just passed a huge tax increase supporting the

State Support: Good Choices

• Intra and Inter district school choice
• No caps on charter schools/charter

enrollment

• Support for innovation zones and

schools

• Support for 3rd party providers

State Support: School Autonomy

• State public employee collective

bargaining law

• Teachers in autonomous schools and

charter schools are unregulated

• Flexible funding (more general aid, less

categorical aid)

State Support: Student- Based Funding

• Student-based allocations are the

dominant or only allocation mechanism

• Availability and comparability of

school-level financial data

• Simplicity of financing formula
• Progressive and equitable funding

distribution

State Support: Talent

• Support for 3rd party providers and new

schools (charters, innovation schools, availability of startup funds)

• Availability of performance information
• Performance-based teacher evaluation

system, tenure, comp. and layoff system

State Support: Accountability

• State makes performance information

available, reliable, accessible

• State authorized to close/intervene in

failing schools