In Fall 2022, Chicago Public Schools engaged The Learning Collective to lead the in-person renewal visits, and report writing on those visits, of 20 of its authorized charter schools. The evaluations are one or two days in length and focus on one or more of the following three areas:
The COVID-19 pandemic wrought havoc on charter schools, and all schools, across the country. While the pandemic led to many students’ significant learning loss, it has also created a unique opportunity to reflect on how schools can best meet the needs of their students and leverage federal stimulus funds. The Learning Collective can help schools determine the best next steps forward.
In a time where change is the only thing education can count on, schools are challenged to focus on high quality learning and teaching, some schools have lost their focus. The Learning Collective (TLC) and Venn Education (Venn) have partnered to work with charter schools to assess their condition and help them refocus for turnaround. Our school turnaround process includes three steps:
From leadership coaching to acting as an expert witness, The Learning Collective continued to expand its services and partnerships in seven states in 2021.
Despite, and in some respects because of, the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 was a very busy year for The Learning Collective. Our diverse clients and projects spanned ten states. We:
In an attempt to improve charter school authorizing nationally, The Learning Collective has been increasingly partnering with national charter school authorizing support organizations like NACSA and a number of state-level authorizers including Central Michigan University, Idaho Public Charter School Commission, Indiana Charter School Board, New York State Education Department, SUNY Charter Schools Institute and the Washington State Charter School Commission. Through this work a few things have become apparent.
The Learning Collective has evaluated 60 first- and second-year California charter schools through California Department of Education’s Public Charter Schools Grant Program. These are some of the findings from those visits.
2019 was a productive years for The Learning Collective. We led strategic planning projects with some new clients, such as Discovery Charter School and the Beginning with Children education network in New York, and with authorizers such as those through our partnership with Oklahoma Public School Resource Center.
TLC attended the nation’s first conference exclusively for independently run (i.e. not managed by a Charter Management Organization or Education Management Organization) charter schools – the 2017 Independent Charter School Symposium. It was also a pleasure to moderate the “Charter Authorization: Road to Greatness or Mediocrity?” on the role of authorizers in the charter school sector and whether authorizers are stifling innovation.
Here are some lessons learned, and ideas generated by, the thoughtful conversations and attendees:
Before Adam Aberman founded The Learning Collective, he launched and ran ICouldBe.org, an e-mentoring, career development, and college guidance system for low-income teens. Teens select their e-mentors, from around the country, with whom to work on 100% web-based projects over the course of an academic year. ICouldBe.org has served about 20,000 teens with about 10,000 online volunteers.
Learn more in a Vassar Quarterly article featuring Adam and his work.
