An Afton Partners Blog
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
Evaluating Financial Policies and Processes to Support District-wide Personalized Learning Initiatives – Due to advances in technology and promising early results, leaders in education are increasingly attracted to personalized learning models as they seek to meet the needs of students… Continued
Transitions in Finance Leadership Can Be Challenging. Here Are Some Ideas. – At any organization, unplanned changes in financial leadership create knowledge gaps that take time to fill. No less is this true at charter management organizations or public school districts. In particular, many CMOs are relatively small organizations with limited finance capacity other than the role of the CFO… Continued
Discussion focuses on planning system-wide personalized learning strategy – It was an inspirational three days’ work for Afton at the end of June, as we joined six innovating districts at the Chicago convening of the Next Generation Systems Initiative (NGSI)… Continued
School districts adjust to prevailing circumstances to promote autonomy, responsibility, and positive change – Much of Afton’s work in recent months has been toward providing principals and teachers at schools with discretion over a relatively higher proportion of total district spending. This in turn allows individual schools more flexibility and discretion in allocating resources that at most districts are already strained… Continued
Education reform strategy suggests departing from current school funding methods, reallocating funds to empower educators and promote academic achievement, say CEE-Trust and Public Impact. Individual urban schools in America are achieving outstanding results for students from low-income communities. But no urban school systems are achieving such results for most children in an entire city. Faced… Continued
Establishing a new blended learning program means stepping out in a whole new direction – I’m a financial analyst who wants to apply my skills to help America’s public schools. Usually, I’m elbow-deep in reports, or parsing spreadsheets on a screen, or in planning and review meetings with schools and board committees… Continued
Promoting improved student outcomes means finance must join the conversation about academic strategy—and must have the tools to succeed. As debate rages about how best to promote reform in America’s cash-strapped public education system, many consider the first step for school districts and charter management organizations (CMOs) is to funnel as many dollars into the… Continued