Strategic School Funding for Results

Since July 2009, the American Institutes for Research (AIR) and Pivot Learning Partners (Pivot) have successfully formed partnerships with the Los Angeles, Pasadena, and Twin Rivers Unified School Districts.

The Strategic School Funding for Results (SSFR) project has these major goals: (a) to develop and implement more equitable and transparent strategies for allocating resources to schools within each district; (b) to link these strategies to systems designed to encourage innovation and efficiency; and (c) to strengthen accountability for student outcomes.

The AIR/Pivot team has made a great deal of progress in initiating the activities necessary to implement the basic policy elements of SSFR at the local level. The team has engaged district partners in substantive discussions about how to create an incentive structure that encourages equitable distribution of teaching talent, meaningful engagement of parents and teachers in support of student learning, and more effective and efficient use of public education dollars. In the current fiscal and policy environment, it is clear that California’s school finance system needs to change significantly.

In this seminar, representatives from each district will discuss the partnership’s progress and the challenges, and offered recommendations for state policy and other districts.

Panelists include:

• Jay Chambers, Senior Research Fellow and Managing Director, American Institutes for Research
• Jim Brown, Senior Advisor, Pivot Learning Partners
• Steve Jubb, Director of Innovation and District Redesign, Pivot Learning Partners

Moderated by David N. Plank, Executive Director, PACE.