tfa education leadership - crpe information is confidential and was prepared by bain & company...

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This information is confidential and was prepared by Bain & Company solely for the use of our client; it is not to be relied on by any 3rd party without Bain's prior written consent 8 120305 Education Leadership Wrap up binderv3 NYC

The Need for Leadership

Notes: 50% reduced lunch chosen as cut-off. See appendix for more detail. ~85 roles are in reform-minded districts – see appendix for full list. In districts 10K+, assumes 3 cabinet-level roles (typically at least a CAO, COO, and Chief of Staff); in 5-10K districts assumes 2 cabinet-level roles and in <5K districts assumes 1 cabinet-level role. Source: National Center for Education Statistics; Bain interviews. Data as of 2011.

Almost 500 SSL roles exist in the largest, high-poverty urban districts


DISTRICT SSL SUPPLY PIPELINE

The Need for Leadership: Who’s Interested?

18% of alums desire SSL positions;

However, only 1% of alums are actively

pursuing

~19.5k

Note: Alumni lacking sufficient desire data are included in the above analysis; assumed that these alumni have 50% the level of interest in education leadership roles (SSL and SL) vs those who completed survey.

Source: TFA Alumni Database, 2010 TFA Alumni Survey

Ethnicity

White / Caucasian

7,413 (75%) 2,098 (67%)

African American

776 (8%) 418 (13%)

Asian American

611 (6%) 193 (6%)

Hispanic 525 (5%) 205 (7%)

Other 608 (6%) 220 (7%)

Gender

Female 7,209 (72%) 2,094 (67%)

Male 2,745 (28%) 1,042 (33%)

School type

Traditional 2,155 (22%) 882 (28%)

Charter 1,535 (15%) 822 (26%)

Other / non-education

6,300 (63%) 1,435 (46%)

Teaching experience

Avg years teaching

3.9 4.0

ALUMNI INTERESTED IN SSL ROLES


Background on Bain Study

Gatekeepers & Superintendents

District-Level TFA Eds Education Partners Search Firms

• John Deasy, LAUSD

• Joel Klein , former NYC;

NewsCorp

• Pete Gorman, former CMS

• John White , Recovery District

• Tom Boasberg, Denver Public

Schools

• Jim Liebman, former NYC

• Brian Osborne, South-Orange

Maplewood Schools

• Andy Rotherham, Bellwether

Partners

• Kaya Henderson, DCPS

• Bret Champion, Leander

• Andres Alonso, former

Baltimore

• Richard Nyankori,

former DCPS

• Ann Clarke, CMS

• Matt Hill, LAUSD

• Jennifer Stern, Denver

Public Schools

• Shayne Spalten, Denver

Public Schools

• Chad Ferguson, NYC

• Ryan Hill, KIPP/TEAM

Newark

• Ann Best, former

Houston

• Jason Kamras, DCPS

• John Davis, DCPS

• Pat O’Donnell,

former Indy

• Scott Baier,

former St. Louis

• Michael Tipton,

Louisiana

• Christina Heitz, Broad

Academy and

Fellowship

• Lindsay Kruse, former

Broad Resident

• Pete Cordero, Broad

Residency Recruit.

• Becca Bracy-Knight,

Executive Director

Broad

• Gary Cohen, Founder

of BOSS

• Stephanie Goff, HBS

Alumni Services

• Mollie Mitchell, K12

Search Group

• Gary Solomon,

ProACT

• Bill Attea, HYA Search

• Michelle Kedem,

OnRamps

• Courtney della Cava,

Russell Reynolds

• Ryan Weber, Spencer

Stuart

• Tami Goven, Spencer

Stuart


The Challenges to Building a Bench: What We Heard

Note: Small number of alumni who are identified as currently in SL roles were included under “actively pursuing”; Young alumni defined as having corps years 2005-2009; Not all alumni completed career interest questions

Source: TFA alumni database; Primary interviews

Reluctance to leave the classroom “My favorite part of teaching is interacting with my students.

I don’t think I would give that up.” –Current Teacher (District)

Perceived lack of impact “If I can see that I have a lot of impact, I will try to continue to

climb the ladder. But right now I am hesitant.” -Current Dean

“It seems like the district bureaucracy just prevents you from

having the impact you could in charters or non-profits.” -Current Teacher (Charter)

Lack of awareness of district leadership roles

“A lot of my friends applied to grad schools because they didn’t know about the possibilities of staying in education. Nobody

told us. -Current CM

Lack of clarity on how to get there “The path to district leadership is not very clear to me at all. So even if I wanted to be an SSL I don’t think I’d know how to

get there.” -Current Teacher (District)

1

2

3

4


Large district superintendent/very large district cabinet

Very large district superintendent

The Challenges to Building a Bench: The Paths to Leadership

Note: Depending on role/level, non-profit and private sector can be categorized as 1, 2 or 3 jobs away

Principal

Dean / Assistant Principal Private sector Non-profit

NON-TRADITIONAL

Progression in small-med districts before assuming SSL

roles in larger districts

Linear role progression, remaining in large districts

Entry to district roles from non-traditional backgrounds

WITHIN DISTRICT ACROSS DISTRICT

Teacher

Med-small district superintendent

Med - small district cabinet position

Large district cabinet/very large district sub-cabinet

Large district sub-cabinet

13 years

12.1 years


ACROSS DISTRICT NON-TRADITIONAL WITHIN DISTRICT

The Challenges to Building a Bench: Our People Tend to Choose the Non-Traditional Path

Progression in small-med districts before assuming SSL roles in

larger districts



Note: Random sample taken of non-TFA superintendents in districts ranging from enrollment of ~20K to ~670K Source: TFA alumni database; Literature search


Large district superintendent/very large district cabinet

Very large district superintendent

The Challenges to Building a Bench: Deep Dive on the In District Process

Note: Depending on role/level, non-profit and private sector can be categorized as 1, 2 or 3 jobs away

Principal

Dean / Assistant Principal Private sector Non-profit

NON-TRADITIONAL

Progression in small-med districts before assuming SSL

roles in larger districts



WITHIN DISTRICT ACROSS DISTRICT

Teacher

Med-small district superintendent

Med - small district cabinet position

Large district cabinet/very large district sub-cabinet

Large district sub-cabinet


The Challenges to Building a Bench: Just How Big Is the Bench?

Notes - 50% reduced lunch chosen as cut-off based on TFA regional office locations and comparable statistics for TFA’s “reform-minded districts.” See appendix for more detail. - Source: National Center for Education Statistics. Data as of 2011.

V. Lg Cab 180

Lg Super 200

V. Lg Sub-Cab

300

Large District Cabinet

600

Med-Small Superintendent

550

V. Lg Super

~55 jobs

Large District Sub-Cabinet

1,000

Med-Small Cabinet 1,200

Non- profit

80

1 job away: 0 jobs away

~7 : 1

2 jobs away: 1 job away

~4 : 1

3 jobs away: 2 jobs away

~2 : 1

3 jobs away

2 jobs away

1 job away

0 jobs away

Ratios:

Est. Number of Principal Roles (5K+ students; 50%+ reduced lunch) : ~26,000

4 jobs away: 3 jobs away

~11 : 1


Role • Oversees curriculum

• Liaisons with school leaders

• Provides teacher development opportunities

• Manages the district budget

• Oversees operations including food, transportation, facilities, etc

• Assists the Superintendent

• Often spearheads special initiatives

• Institutes teacher effectiveness and test scores measurement programs

• Can fall under CAO, Chief of Staff or HR, or not exist at all

• Can include: o HR o General Counsel o Community Liaison o Communications o Special Education

Skills needed

“To be a CAO, you usually have to have come up through an instructional route of a teacher leader and then principal.”

“For a COO in charters and districts, a business background is important. Some orgs want someone with school finance and operations experience because they think otherwise the learning curve will be too steep.”

“Chiefs of Staff that lead to the superintendent role have some instructional knowledge combined with a management ability. Great chiefs of staff will have several people report directly to them or will be a gatekeeper to the super.”

“You have to be smart and results-oriented with creative problem solving and the systems thinking to look up above the silos of the district.”

The Path to Leadership: Cabinet Level Feeder Roles

Superintendent

COO Chief of

Staff Chief

Academic Officer

Chief Innovation / Accountability

Up to 4-5 other roles

“Superintendents need to set a vision, work with others to put that in place, move forward with that vision, create values, develop tactics and enact and hold people accountable – that’s what we’re looking for.”

Note: roles that

matter most are linked to

super’s top 3 priorities

Source: interviews


The Path to Leadership: Other Stepping Stone Roles

TIPS

1. Despite lots of variation, there are 3-4 cabinet roles that reliably convert to superintendent roles: Chief Academic Officer, COO, Chief of Accountability/Innovation, Chief of Staff, HR, and Chief of Special Ed

“[In medium and small districts] Cabinet members move less frequently than superintendents because many are tenured and it’s difficult to get them to move... or perhaps have a close relationship with school boards or the union.”

2. When a reform-minded leader with good management skills enters the district, all bets are off and great stepping stone roles are everywhere, including several levels down from the reformer

4. Not all stepping-stone roles provide transformational leadership experiences

“If you’re working on a top priority, that’s where budget, attention, and glory goes. So if there are TFA alumni interested, they should go for the high-risk high-reward glory job. That’s where you’ll get noticed or promoted.”

3. Certain factors limit turnover and appeal of particular steppingstone roles: unions, tenure, school board politics are all in play for superintendents and even cabinet-level roles

“District structures are all over the place because every superintendent does it his or her own way and reorganizes when they come in…generally we see at least an Academic, an Operations, and an Accountability person but other roles can be important too.”

“When I was promoted to Associate Superintendent I had to exercise patience because I felt like I wasn’t being challenged. When superintendent came in and I was moved to the CAO role … it was different because his goal was to develop his Cabinet to be superintendents.”

WATCH-OUTS


The Challenges to Building a Bench: Building the Right Skills in Bench Roles

Management skills Ability to navigate politics Instructional knowledge

“The private sector provides experience in leading an organization, working with teams, financial management, project management, goal-setting, performance measurement.”

“It’s about how do you lead people, make the right decisions, and motivate others.”

“You need to understand government systems, especially public interfacing and communications.”

“External politics are huge. You need to manage constituents who are poor, wealthy, of various religions & races, with interests in transportation, land....”

“Political skills are critical to navigating a large bureaucratic system and knowing how to work relationships to your benefit in pursuit of your goal.”

“We want people who are good teachers and have the chops. You don’t have to have taught or have been a GREAT teacher, but it does help your credibility.”

“Having the content knowledge and expertise is also very important… however very few districts suffer from a lack of this.”

“You’re a politician all the time… Playing the politics is just playing the system.”

“People management, project management, external relations – these are the skills you need as superintendent.”

“You’re in a role where you have to have the ability to lead, let someone go, tell someone their work is inadequate, tell a colleague they handled a situation incorrectly or unethically.”

“If you want to have a larger role, you need the credit to know what a principal is going through because they are the implementers in the system.”

“You don’t need to be a teacher or principal for a long time – it’s more of a threshold of experiences for credibility and nuanced knowledge of the issues.”


The Challenges to Building a Bench: Building the Right Skills in Bench Roles

Maturity and years of ‘battle scars’ are viewed as essential by many interviewees

‘Growing up’ in the district is key, say other interviewees

“Superintendents need the experience and maturity to know which pebble to drop. I had decades of experience... We may have skipped a generation - it isn’t clear that all the young superintendents are really ready.”

“You learn to navigate politics by observation, by trial and error… getting into a 24/7 shadowing role is helpful.”

“District experience is a key indicator of potential… It’s not about seasoned leaders who understand how to manage, but about people who understand the connective elements of transformational change.”

“School leadership is a natural path to district leadership, so placement in a district at a junior level is helpful. TFA should place more alumni in line roles in the district.”

“I don’t think you are ready to be CEO [of a district] after 5 years into your professional career – you need to earn your stripes first, need to get some bruises… it’s about leading people; you can subcontract your weaknesses.”


Looking at the Bench Role of the Principal

* “High poverty” defined as districts with >50% student qualification for free or reduced cost lunch Source: TFA alumni interviews; TFA alumni database; National Center for Education Statistics

THE JOB PYRAMID NARROWS FROM PRINCIPAL TO CENTRAL OFFICE

“There’s really no clear line to district leadership. At this point I feel like I can’t move up further and so need to look at degree programs or other districts.”

“There aren’t too many roles in the district that are a true step-up for an experienced principal, especially in smaller districts that have a less extensive central organization. Given there’s so few good jobs, getting one is always very competitive and often boils down to who you know.”

Traditional District Principal

“I would like to move up into a senior leadership position, but you need to know the right people to get appointed to the interesting roles. Right now, I don’t feel as though I have the right network – I’m sure I could build it, but it would take a lot of time and effort.”

Charter Principal

THIS LEADS TO PRINCIPALS, AND OTHER ALUMS, GETTING STUCK


Looking at the Bench Role of the Principal

Skill gaps Skills acquired

Source: TFA alumni interviews; TFA alumni database

“Being a principal not only gives you essential skills – like adult management and operational experience - but it also gives you an understanding of how schools really work that is critical for more senior roles.”

“I know that you don’t necessarily have to have been a principal to get a system leadership job, but frankly, I think you should. This job gives you perspectives and skills that I don’t think you could easily get elsewhere”

“I’ve been leading a suburban school for 3 years and I feel like I’ve lost touch with the reform movement.”

“Working with a CMO, many of the management functions are done by the central office and not by me.”

“At the principal level, you may not have the perspective of work across the system or a level of political savvy.”

“I cannot overstate the importance of the campus experience prior to district leadership existence. Being a campus principal is a game-changer in terms of perspective. It buys you more credibility on campuses whenever you’re in a district leadership role.”

“As a school leader, I didn’t have formal resources for my development other than some management books and conversations with colleagues.”

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Education Leadership Competency Framework

5 clusters of

competence

19 competencies

30

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mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

tfa education leadership - crpe information is confidential and was prepared by bain & company...

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