Renaissance School Advisory Board Final Report 2009

View File: Renaissance School Advisory Board Final Report 2009

This report from the Philadelphia Renaissance School Advisory Board (RSAB) summarizes recommendations for the process by which the district should intervene in lowest performing schools. These recommendations were the basis for the Renaissance School initiative. The document also summarizes the activities and recommendations of the RSAB. Document provides a full picture of how Philadelphia used a large (60+) and diverse group of community leaders to provide recommendations on the design of the Districts restart (turnaround) process.

Outcomes and Lessons Learned: The RSAB helped bring credibility to the restart process and initially positioned Renaissance Schools as “city”, not just district, initiative for intervention in low-performing schools. The RSAB process provided initial momentum, awareness, and broad support for the initiative. In order to ensure actionable and aligned recommendations, the district identified strong, external co-chairs to lead the three sub-committees and provided district staff to prepare materials, summarize sub-committee recommendations, and coordinate activities on a quick timeline. Although the RSAB process was an effective strategy to jump start the Renaissance Schools process, the district did not sustain the RSAB structure during the subsequent years of the initiative as a means to (for example) publicly communicate progress, evaluate outcomes, and recommend process refinements.