The Partnership to Advance School Success: Strengthening School Leadership

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Company/Organization: Florida Council of 100 & Florida Council for Educational Change
CEO/Board Chair: Peter S. Rummell, Chairman of Florida Council of 100 and Chairman & CEO, The St. Joe Company ; Elaine Lifton, President & Executive Director, Florida Council for Educational Change
Level of Involvement: State
State/Community: Florida
Type of Initiative: Philanthropy & Expertise
Target Education Priority: Prepare All High School Graduates Ready for College and Careers

"Florida’s business leaders know the critical importance of public education - to the future of our firms, our economy and our communities. But we also know that if we want strong schools, we have to do more than merely demand that others do better. We need to roll up our own sleeves and become active forces for change."-- Peter S. Rummell, Chairman of Florida Council of 100, former chairman of the Partnership to Advance School Success Working Group

Overview
In 1999, the South Florida Annenberg Challenge (the predecessor of the Council for Educational Change) and the Florida Council of 100, a private, nonpartisan nonprofit composed of 100 of Florida’s top business leaders, pooled resources, funding and expertise to develop a unique partnership model between Florida CEOs and school administrators in low-performing schools. The Partnership to Advance School Success (PASS) model carefully matches CEOs and principals based on the performance of the school, the needs of the principals and the interest of the business leaders. Although PASS CEOs pledge $100,000 over three years, the added value to schools is the development of strong and sustainable leadership teams that seek to improve student outcomes well after the initial funding runs its course.

In 2002, the Council for Educational Change, a statewide nonprofit tasked with improving achievement through strengthened education leadership, was founded as the successor organization to the South Florida Annenberg Challenge and, with the full support of the Council of 100, assumed the day-to-day management of PASS. PASS was piloted in seven schools in 1999; by 2006, there were nearly 60 CEO-principal partnerships under the PASS umbrella. Bolstered by a partnership with the Florida Department of Education, and funded in part by the Florida State Legislature, Florida PASS has become an institution throughout Florida.

Strategies for Success
While many of the benefits of a successful CEO-principal partnership model may be obvious – the infusion of new money and new ideas into a school, for example – PASS takes the model farther to ensure more long-term benefits. The Council for Educational Change takes its role as “matchmaker” very seriously. PASS partners CEOs and principals based on the type of support they are either offering or requesting and ensures that there is the right chemistry between the school and business leaders before assisting in the development of instructional leadership teams. Not just any school is eligible for PASS. In order to participate, a school must have a “D” or “C” rating under Florida’s school accountability system; a principal new to the school; district, teacher and supervisor support; a School Advisory Council; and an existing school improvement vision or plan. These criteria are designed to ensure that the partnership has the support necessary to take root and make a real difference in the instructional practices of the school. Utilizing data to drive instruction is vital to challenged schools. The Council and the PASS coaches provide training, modeling and encouragement in this area.

The Partnership for School Success incorporates several corporate expertise strategies recommended by Business Tools for Better Schools in this Initiative, including:

Make the case that the global economy demands higher expectations, a renewed commitment to math and science investments and data-driven decision making
Lend corporate influence and prestige to key organizations and activities
Serve as “loaned executives” in school districts
Invest corporate resources, including charitable giving programs, dedicated staff positions and employee time, to public education
Focus on groups of low-performing schools, entire school districts and state-level organizations as the unit of change, rather than individual schools
Help school districts choose or improve operational, financial and information systems
Focus on results, not inputs: Help educators and nonprofit groups achieve improved student learning outcomes, rather than just execute nice programs

Indicators of Success
In 2004, PASS’ fifth year, the University of Miami conducted an independent analysis based on the FCAT results of the progress of the then-36 participating schools. They found that 63 percent of PASS schools that started the program in 1999 rated as a “D” achieved an “A” or “B” in 2004. Only 45 percent of all Florida schools that received a “D” in 1999 reached a score of “A” or “B” in the same time span. More recent evaluations have found that PASS schools are more likely than other low-performing schools to retain new teachers and to decrease incidents of school violence and other disruptions.

PASS also helps build a cadre of CEOs, now armed with on-the-ground experience and a better understanding of the challenges facing Florida’s schools, who can be “champions” for effective education reform in Florida.

Next Steps
The Council for Educational Change recently launched the Executive PASS program, which provides business leaders with the opportunity to become involved in schools as a member of the schools’ leadership instructional teams, without the heavy financial commitment associated with the original PASS program. Executive PASS matches business leaders and principals in order to achieve very targeted outcomes (such as raising attendance) and seeks to engage a wider spectrum of business leaders who may have the time, energy, and expertise necessary to work with schools but who cannot make the $100,000 commitment.

Related Content
Web site

Materials for the Public

Council for Educational Change Press Release, “Council PASS Program contributes to FCAT Gains” Jun 23, 2004

Sherri C. Runta, “CEOs Grow Annenberg Challenge into Partnership Helping Schools Statewide” Miami Today News, Feb 6, 2003.

Updated: March 2008