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At Work At School

An Afton Partners Blog

All Posts

Defining Financial BOLDNESS in Innovative School Plans

School teams around the country are creating and implementing innovative academic models, bringing a personalized approach to student learning. Afton has engaged with hundreds of schools as they build these plans, encouraging innovative financial thinking alongside. In many competitive public and philanthropic grant programs, one of the rubric components that Afton has used is for… Continued

2018 iNacol Panel Outcomes – Sustaining a Breakthrough School Model

For the second consecutive year, Afton’s Scott Milam and Katie Morrison-Reed hosted an expert panel on sustaining innovative public-school models.  This panel discussion built upon the discussion from a year prior at iNACOL, as four of the six panelists had previously shared their experiences and thoughts on sustainability on the prior year’s panel. As personalized… Continued

RBL Part 3 – Year 1 Cohort-Level Financial Analysis

This is the third installment of Afton’s blog series, “Lessons Learned from the Raising Blended Learners Initiative in Texas,” where we share our experiences, findings, and thought evolution over the course of the RBL initiative.  A detailed analysis of sources and uses of funds for the first year of the Raising Blended Learners grant program reveals: Sites plan… Continued

RBL Part 2 – Working Together: Supporting Grant Applicant Teams Through the Application Process

This is the second installment of Afton’s blog series, “Lessons Learned from the Raising Blended Learners Initiative in Texas,” where we share our experiences, findings, and thought evolution over the course of the RBL initiative.  After reading this blog, the reader will: Understand the benefit of providing in-person financial workshops to grant applicants Understand how finance involvement in… Continued

RBL Part 1 – Finance and Innovation: The Role of Finance in the Early Stages of Academic Innovation

This is the first installment of Afton’s blog series, “Lessons Learned from the Raising Blended Learners Initiative in Texas,” where we share our experiences, findings, and thought evolution over the course of the RBL initiative.  Engaging Finance early in the development of new school models allows school design teams to: Empower school leaders with financial data to… Continued

Afton Facilitates Expert Panel on Sustaining Innovation at iNACOL 2017

Panel of national experts at iNACOL conference offer specific examples, case studies for operators October 24, 2017 Blog Summary: The panel of national experts offered opinions and guidance based on their experience in implementing innovative school models.  Some key takeaways from the session included: Focus on change management and communications: move beyond individuals and change… Continued

Innovation & Finance: Learnings from Afton’s Work with NGLC Grant Program

Three key takeaways from this blog: Identifying impactful, scalable elements of innovative school models is as important as identifying viable whole school models. If schools show academic success, sustainability follows regardless of the funding environment. The quality, depth and breadth of the leadership team is paramount to ensuring sustainability. “It’s not always about scaling full… Continued

Financing Personalized Learning: What Can We Learn From First-Generation Adopters?

This paper takes the first systematic look at costs associated with implementing personalized learning schools, how leaders of these schools choose to allocate their funds, and what it might take to make personalized learning financially sustainable on public dollars. Researchers at CRPE, in partnership with Afton Partners, studied 16 charter elementary and secondary schools with a wide range of personalized learning models from across the country… Continued

Putting into Practice: A Conversation with Leading School District Practitioners on Personalized Learning

Afton Partners’ Scott Milam and Katie Morrison-Reed facilitated a conversation with leading practitioners from school districts across the country on best practices to implementing and sustaining innovative personalized learning models at iNACOL’s 2015 Blended and Online Learning Symposium in Orlando, Florida. Through Afton’s work with school districts from coast-to-coast, the team recognized unique innovations happening… Continued