A new report by the Progressive Policy Institute’s Reinventing America’s Schools (RAS) Project provides a deep dive look into a promising, innovative education initiative in Texas. The Leadership Academy Network (LAN) is a novel partnership between the Fort Worth Independent School District (FWISD) and Texas Wesleyan University (TXWES). Through a performance contract, TXWES is responsible for the governance and day-to-day operations of six of the district’s most challenged schools. Supported with additional funding from the state, pursuant to Texas’ 2019 statute commonly referred to as “Senate Bill 1882,” the LAN operates autonomously from the district’s central office, with the deliverable of earning an Texas Education Agency “A” rating for each of the six campuses by 2024.
During this high-tension time for educators, school administrators, and parents, report author and Co-Director of the Reinventing America’s Schools Project Tressa Pankovits covers how and why the school district leaned in on this partnership, the state policy that authorized and sustains the partnership, how it works, and how it’s currently working.
“It appears we have reached a moment in time when there seems to be a broad public consensus that yesterday’s bureaucratic and highly centralized K-12 school model is not ‘the one true way’ to deliver public education for all times,” writes Tressa Pankovits in the report. “Instead of letting our public school districts continue to shrink, why not reinvent them using autonomous partnerships like the Leadership Academy Network to increase choice, transparency, and a diversity of models? In Fort Worth and other places, it appears to be a sound way to feed the public’s post-pandemic hunger for sweeping changes in their K-12 schools.”
“All children deserve quality schools and a chance to rebound from the disruption the last two years caused in their attainment of the knowledge and skills they need to live productive lives. Not just in the time of a pandemic, but especially in the wake of one, it’s time to acknowledge that new school models like the LAN aren’t a threat to the public education ideal. Rather, they could be the way to save it,” Pankovits concludes.
In addition to explaining the inner workings of this innovation education partnership, Pankovits also offers exclusive interviews with teachers and administrators, who provide candid assessments of the challenges and successes of strengthening the Leadership Academy Network. Her ‘on the ground’ reporting connects those in the halls of the LAN to the readers, and lifts up the voices of these innovative leaders in education.
Read the report:
The Reinventing America’s Schools Project inspires a 21st century model of public education geared to the knowledge economy. Two models, public charter schools and public innovation schools, are showing the way by providing autonomy for schools, accountability for results, and parental choice among schools tailored to the diverse learning styles of children. The project is co-led by Curtis Valentine and Tressa Pankovits.
The Progressive Policy Institute (PPI) is a catalyst for policy innovation and political reform based in Washington, D.C. Its mission is to create radically pragmatic ideas for moving America beyond ideological and partisan deadlock. Learn more about PPI by visiting progressivepolicy.org.
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