PIPE Memphis Sept. 5, 2006

HEADLINE: PIPE Funds Training To Transform Memphis City Schools

Comstat.

It's a word that evokes dramatic images of the New York City police commissioners standing in front of borough maps that show crime "hot spots" in Manhattan. But here in Memphis, it's city school administrators who are using this battle-tested way of identifying problems and focusing resources to attack them.

Featured at a special program at Harvard University for nine urban school district, including Memphis City Schools, Comstat is about reliable data, in-depth analysis, focusing as an organization on key goals, and about deploying resources, said Associate Superintendent John Avis, adding that Memphis City School administrators are already applying it here.

"We are taking what we learned and fleshing it out in concrete ways," he says. "The (Harvard University) program isn't about conversation. It's about collaboration and case studies to make things happen. Comstat is a case study we focused on, because it's about how to use data to address critical issues. Here, it's about using student data to improve student performance."

"Most of all, it gives us a way to identify schools that need special attention and determine levels of intervention," said Dr. Patricia Toarmina, Executive Director for Exceptional Children and Health Services. "We work as cross-functional teams with representatives from each department to develop ways to deal with hot spots."

They attended the Public Education Leadership Project at Harvard University as part of a delegation from Memphis City Schools that included Superintendent Carol Johnson; Chief of Staff Suzanne Kelly; Associate Superintendent Michael Goal; Deputy Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson; and Chief Technology Officer James Smith.

It is the focus on student achievement that lies at the heart of the entire Harvard University program, added Deputy Superintendent Johnson. "The value of the Harvard experience is the chance to think about the organization as a whole," she said. "It's about the coherence of the entire system to support the instructional core. For example, people in I.T. (Information Technology) now talk about creating systems to have the best information at the right time to make the best decisions that ultimately improve student achievement. The head of human resources talks about getting the best teachers in the classrooms for student achievement.

"In other words, it's about classroom outcomes. It's about new ideas and focus, and then moving to a higher level and challenging ourselves through a strategic plan that builds the capacity of teachers and accelerates student achievement." She said Memphis City Schools is also transmitting the lessons throughout the district's management, and to follow through, a Harvard University professor came to Memphis last week to lead a larger group through the Comstat experience.

"All of this allows us to create a framework for better communications outside of our departments and to create cross-functional teams that work together toward a shared purpose," said Mr. Avis. He said the local Comstat team's first session dealt with the review of data that it had gathered to pinpoint areas of greatest need and align resources to address them.

But the lessons at Harvard University didn't stop with Comstat, said Dr. Avis. In addition, Memphis school administrators delved into case studies of Southwest Airlines, Taco Bell, and Nickelodeon to explore ways that their business techniques can benefit Memphis schools.

The chance to work with some of the Harvard's leading experts in education and business - who happen also to be the nation's top experts - can't be overstated, said Ms. Johnson. "It gives us new experiences in intellectual engagement by asking tough questions and discussing new applications," she said. "It is exhausting and exhilarating at the same time."

Partners in Public Education (PIPE), Memphis' local education fund, paid for the Memphis City Schools officials to attend the elite classes organized by the Harvard Graduate Schools of Education and the Harvard Business School. Camped out in dorm-like settings, the school administrators attended lectures, conducted research, analyzed case studies, but most of all, they drew up action plans which are already being applied.

Of the Public Education Leadership Program, Ethele Hilliard, president of PIPE, said: "It's a rare opportunity for our school leaders to talk directly with and develop strategies with the best thinkers in the nation. It is a pioneering collaboration to bring business and educational lessons together to address the complex challenging facing urban schools like ours. PIPE is proud to make it possible for Memphis City Schools officials to attend as they continue the bold reform programs that give every student the opportunity to achieve."

PIPE has a history of bringing a private sector perspective to school issues, and it has led development of a number of innovative programs for Memphis City Schools, including New Leaders for New Schools and the Urban Teaching Hiring Project.

Only nine districts are part of the Public Education Leadership Project. Along with Memphis City Schools are Anne Arundel County (MD), Boston, Charleston (SC), Chicago, Harrisburg (PA), Montgomery County (MD), San Diego, and San Francisco. The three-year executive educational program unites faculty resources of Harvard University's business and education schools "to create new knowledge addressing specific challenges faced by the participating urban school districts," according to a university spokesperson.

Harvard Graduate School of Education Professor Richard Elmore said the program concentrates on three keys:

1) leading and sustaining organizational change
2) aligning strategies and systems to achieve the district's core mission
3) ensuring consistent, quality teaching across the school district

An added benefit of the program is the opportunity to collaborate with colleagues in other urban school districts. "It gave us the chance to collaborate with other districts and to engage in discussions about how we have attacked our problems," Dr. Johnson said.

She said it was particularly helpful to compare notes with the Chicago school system which is working on similar accountability projects, and Dr. Avis said that the chance "to see what other districts are doing and to share what we are doing in a rigorous academic setting results in challenging and thoughtful discussion, and you can't imagine how valuable this is to the district."

"Ultimately, it's not just about learning something new," said Dr. Toarmina. It's about a different way of thinking, because we have been exposed to strategies that call on us to relate in a different way."

Stacey Childress, director of the Harvard Business School's Initiative on Social Enterprise, said: "The ideal is that rather than faculty bringing to the table work they've already done and seeing how it might link together, (we're) actually using both points of view from education management and general management and creating new content, new knowledge through both of those lenses. It seems to me that a multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary approach is going to be necessary if we're going to make progress in the field (of urban education)."