
The results
show that our expectations were far too low for what the stakeholders could
accomplish!
Offering
the leaders in the
schools a choice of how they want to improve their results and with whom
they want to work, instead of one more mandate from the District, was a key
first step in building the empowerment and self-respect
that is absent in too many models for leading transformative change.
These two learnings
helped us discover a third learning. Among the lowest performing schools in
Chicago, there is a large
reservoir of teachers, principals and parent leaders with untapped energy,
creativity and motivation for improvement.
This reservoir
can be tapped in three years and at a low cost per school, 12 percent of the
cost of other models.