Better Strategy for Educational Entrepreneurs

I’m delighted to announce that a book I wrote with Peter Frumkin, head of the RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service at the University of Texas at Austin, and Bruno Manno, senior advisor for K–12 Education Reform at the Walton Family Foundation, has just been published by Harvard Education Press. The Strategic Management of Charter Schools: Frameworks and Tools for Educational Entrepreneurs looks at charter school case studies and applies management tools (like SWOT analysis, customer satisfaction surveying, balanced scorecard) to analyze what these schools could have done to be more successful. While the book focuses on charter schools, the tools and frameworks can easily be applied to any nonprofit organization.

Organized around three crucial challenges to charter school leaders—managing mission, managing internal operations, and managing the larger stakeholder environment—the book provides charter school leaders with tools and insights for achieving educational and organizational success. In its description of these managerial challenges, and in its detailed examinations of particular schools, the book offers a clear, credible approach to the efficient and sustainable management of what are still young and experimental educational institutions.

Frederick M. Hess, director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, says of the book:

The importance of this volume lies not in the prescription of best practices but in the strategic ‘toolbox’ of skills and frameworks that the authors share. For providers seeking better ways to promote both growth and quality, this book will prove invaluable. For policy makers, parents, philanthropists, and educators seeking to understand how to help charter schooling deliver on its promise, this volume will prove an invaluable resource. Finally, the authors’ savvy suggestions for aligning mission, institutional operations, and stakeholders offer a strategic vision that holds promise not only in the charter sector but also for those in traditional district schools.   

Again, although the cases are all related to charter schools, the lessons and insights can and should be used by any nonprofit leader. From better financial management, to stronger mission alignment, to more accurate understanding of the needs of your various constituents, to more effective leadership, this book helps social change leaders create stronger, more effective organizations that will ultimately result in greater change.

You can learn more about the book here.

Tags: Bruno Manno, charter schools, Frederick Hess, nonprofit balanced scorecard, nonprofit management, nonprofit strategy, Peter Frumkin, RGK Center for Philanthropy, Strategic Management of Charter Schools, SWOT Analysis, Walton Family Foundation

Here Comes Some Real Education Reform

As President Obama signs the economic stimulus bill into law today it is interesting to analyze what this means for nonprofits, social entrepreneurs, and crumbling American institutions like our education system.  I have written many times before about the opportunity that this financial crisis offers.  When systems are crumbling the time is right to build something stronger, better, more effective.  So it is today, particularly in the realm of American education.

Arne Duncan has taken over as Secretary of Education.  He is a young, bright, energetic innovative former superintendent of Chicago Public Schools.  He’s seen as a consensus-builder with a similar governing style to Obama’s, which has allowed him to push through some key reforms while keeping teacher’s unions happy.  In his 7+ years as CEO of CPS he:

• Increased elementary test scores in Chicago from 38 percent of students meeting the standards to 67 percent
• Increased the graduation rate by 6%
• Increased the number of master teachers who’ve completed a rigorous national certification process from 11 to 1,200
• Spearheaded merit-pay incentives rewarding school leaders and teachers for gains in student achievement
• Championed good charter schools
• Shut down failing schools and replaced their entire staffs
• Opened 53 new schools

Another less talked about thing that Arne Duncan has done is to encourage the success of the Chicago Public Education Fund.  This corporate-backed venture philanthropy fund is in its 9th year and has invested over $25 million in innovative programs in Chicago’s public schools.

The Fund invests significant capital and management expertise in a limited number of well-managed, high-impact programs that improve school leadership, drive policy change and make system-wide impact. The Fund has invested in programs like Teach for America and New Leaders for New Schools and only invests if Chicago Public Schools signs on as a co-investor.

It’s a fascinating model, much like a city-sized, education-focused version of the social investment fund that America Forward, the Obama administration and others have been discussing where government and private dollars are pooled and invested in high-impact social innovations.

So Duncan brings to the table success in education reform paired with an understanding and experience with new models of social innovation (both social entrepreneurship and venture philanthropy). Now, add to that the $100 billion in emergency aid for public schools that he will have at his fingertips with the stimulus plan, and you have a pretty exciting combination of factors that could mean a transformation of the public school system based on social innovation.  $54 billion of this money is largely at Duncan’s disposal. According to a New York Times article, Duncan said he intends to reward:

• “Islands of Excellence:” school districts, charter schools and nonprofit organizations that demonstrate success at raising student achievement
• Programs that tie teacher pay to classroom performance
• Training efforts that pair new instructors with veteran mentors
• After-school and weekend tutoring programs

So, perhaps what we are starting to see is the large-scale education reform that Marc Tucker, president of the National Center on Education and the Economy, argued last month wasn’t happening with social entrepreneurs.  As I argued in response to him,

Perhaps we needed social entrepreneurs like Teach for America and others to point out the problems within the system and offer a theory of change.  Now that they have demonstrated that there are programs that work and new ways to do things, we can now create policy around those ideas.  And with a new administration and a new Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, who has a history of reforming the Chicago Public Schools and implementing new models like Teach for America, perhaps policy reform has a chance.  It will be interesting to watch.

Yes it will.

Tags: American Forward, Arne Duncan, charter schools, Chicago Public Education Fund, Chicago Public Schools, Obama, Social Entrepreneurship, social innovation fund network, Venture Philanthropy