An Afton Partners Blog
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
One key component of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) focuses on fiscal transparency and school-level financial reporting. This shift from current reporting practices requires states and districts to provide per-pupil expenditures of federal, state, and local funds for each individual school. Although the US Department of Education has delayed the effective date of ESSA… Continued
Over five years, Afton’s work has evolved from “nuts and bolts” financial operations support to the kind of work that is truly in line with our vision – aligning financial practices to effective academic strategies in America’s schools. Through our work in states and school districts across the country, we identified eight key trends that… Continued
In a small suburban district outside of Chicago, the city of North Chicago is proving how public school districts can offer choice to families in a fiscally responsible way. North Chicago Community Unit School District 187 serves over 3,500 students, 88% of whom are eligible for free and reduced lunch, 27% of whom are English… Continued
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
Over the past decade, the demand has grown for high-performing public charter schools in cities across the country. However, one hurdle charter schools face to meet the demand for their schools is financing and managing facilities. Afton Partners spoke to the Chief Financial Officers at two high-performing charter management organizations (CMOs) – John Murphy at… Continued
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
Across the county, skilled educators are implementing truly innovative approaches to teaching and learning. At Afton Partners, we’ve had the privilege to work with over 100 school districts and charter management organizations (CMOs) that have implemented blended learning school models to strengthen individualized curriculum and improve outcomes for students with varying academic abilities… Continued
Reflections on Education Reform in NOLA, Ten Years On – Before Hurricane Katrina, public schools in New Orleans had a reputation as some of the worst schools in the country. The district served 65,000 students, but most parents chose private schools for their children if their family resources allowed it. The majority of the public schools were failing both academically and physically… Continued
Charter school authorizers seek to ensure the quality of our nation’s public charter schools. Key to ensuring quality is having robust measures for accountability—academic, governance and financial. This work is of heightened importance given the Trump administration’s focus on expansion of school choice… Continued