Capacity-building programs for district and school leaders
DMGroup professional development programs take a unique approach to professional development, providing a combination of lectures, workshops, and coaching delivered over the course of a few months as participants tackle a real, live challenge from their district.
The cohort-based model promotes intra-team and cross-team collaboration and allows for an energizing exchange of ideas in a supportive environment.
• Hands-on learning: Participating teams tackle a problem of practice from their district. With coaching support, participants practice applying their new learnings and refine their skills.
• Team building: Participants join as a district team and learn and work alongside other district teams. They form valuable bonds and bring this spirit of collaboration back to the district.
• Collaboration: A cohort-based model encourages participants to exchange ideas, collaborate, and form relationships with peers from other districts.
Three member districts learned how to apply the A-ROI methodology and integrate data into resource allocation decisions to ensure maximum impact from district budgets.
Through learning about strategic secondary scheduling, the School District of Lancaster (PA) realized how they could better leverage their schedule to deliver more for their high-school students.
Analysis of current secondary scheduling practices and benchmarking against best practices at Columbia Public Schools (MO) provided insights that helped better align schedules with district priorities.
During this 4-month professional development program, your school or district team will acquire skills to design a strategic secondary schedule that is aligned to academic best practices, efficiently leverages staff talents and time, and incorporates student voice and choice. All this can be accomplished without expanding the budget or changing the length of the school day.
Learn to employ the Academic Return on Investment (A-ROI) methodology to measure what works best for students. Over a period of multiple months, district teams will build the capacity to integrate data into resource allocation decisions and assess how well the program in their district is working, for which particular group of students, and at what cost. Participants will come away from the institute having learned the skills to analyze programs and ensure resources are being deployed for maximum impact.
K–12 CFOs and school finance leaders: Join the DMG Leadership Council to explore best practices and actionable strategies to strengthen financial management, discover solutions for long-term sustainability, and learn how to maximize resources to support student success. Through monthly 90-minute virtual sessions led by District Management Group experts, you will gain access to expert guidance, hands-on learning, and exclusive research to support both immediate needs and long-term planning, and connect with a trusted peer network. Enrollment is on a rolling basis. Participation includes up to two (2) district team members for one year.
K–12 Special Education and Student Support Directors: Join the DMG Special Education Leadership Council to discover real-world solutions to strengthen support programs, explore best practices and emerging trends to improve student outcomes, and gain insights to lead lasting change in your district. Through monthly 90-minute virtual sessions led by District Management Group experts, you will gain actionable insights, collaborate with a dynamic peer network of leaders facing similar challenges, and support each other’s continuous improvement efforts. Enrollment is on a rolling basis. Participation includes up to two (2) district team members for a full year.
Many public school districts struggle to identify which initiatives have the greatest impact on students. Here’s how Academic-ROI can help.
These guidelines can assist school and district leaders in building powerful strategic secondary schedules.
As districts consider making better use of time already available, these ten lessons learned may help guide the way.
