NETWORK FOR SCHOOL EXCELLENCE

PROVIDING FLINT KIDS THE BEST OPPORTUNITIES

The Network for School Excellence is working to disrupt the links between poverty, race, and educational opportunities that systematically disadvantage children of color from low-income families by partnering with public school leaders to ensure Flint kids thrive regardless of where they attend school. Using ideas generated from improvement science, the Network engages leaders in identifying, financing, adapting, evaluating, and successfully scaling promising practices that provide Flint kids the best opportunities to thrive in any path they choose.†

Educators who participate in productive learning activities collectively with colleagues are more likely to improve their practice and student learning.†† Notwithstanding the value of collaborative learning among expert educators serving the same population and the fact that they face many of the same challenges and opportunities, schools serving Flint kids continue to operate in silos. The Network for School Excellence addresses the lack of coordination and collaboration among schools serving Flint kids by providing a platform that enables rigorous development, identification, and dissemination of practical knowledge that address high leverage practical problems.†††

School Improvement Questions?

Contact Keiona Murphy
Director of Network School Excellence
kmurphy@theflintcenter.org

The Network for School Excellence is guided by four primary characteristics:

  1. Focused on a well-specified aim: The Network engages K-6 schools serving high proportions of Flint kids and low-income students of color to improve academic outcomes.
  2. Guided by a deep understanding of the problem, the system that produces it, and a theory of improvement relevant to it: The Network combats the “solutionist” approach of assigning solutions to issues impacting Flint kids without first deeply understanding the context in which Flint kids experience such issues.†††† Through the Network, leaders take time to deeply understand the problems that limit success for Flint kids and develop practical solutions that are curated to their specific needs.
  3. Disciplined by rigorous improvement science: The Network embraces the core principles of improvement science, which include: making the work problem-specific and user-centered; variation in performance is the key problem to address; see the system that produces the current outcomes; we cannot improve at scale what we cannot measure; anchor improvement in disciplined inquiry; and accelerate improvements through networked communities.†††††
  4. Coordinated to accelerate the development, testing, and refinement of high-impact practices and their effective integration into varied educational contexts: The Network works to influence transformational systems change by creating a well-coordinated system of innovation and learning across a diverse cohort of schools to ensure all participants can implement the improvement ideas generated.

† Tydeman, C. (2022). Using Networked Improvement Communities to Address Problems of Practice. Institute of Educational Sciences: Regional Educational Laboratory Program.
†† Russel, et al. (2017) A Framework for the Initiation of Networked Improvement Communities. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1144314.
††† Bryk, A. S., Gomez, L. M., Grunow, A., & LeMahieu, P. G. (2015). Learning to improve: How America’s schools can get better at getting better. Harvard Education Press.
†††† LeMahieu, P. (2015, August 18). Why a NIC? [Blog post]. https://www.carnegiefoundation.org/blog/why-a-nic/
††††† Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. (n.d.) The six core principles of improvement. https://www.carnegiefoundation.org/our-ideas/six-core-principles-improvement/