Download a copy of our FAQs

1. What is Partners in School Innovation?
2. What is PartnersSI's mission?
3. What is your impact on student learning?
4. What are some other organizational highlights?
5. How is PartnersSI unique?
6. How does PartnersSI transform schools?
7. What are the services you offer to schools?
8. How do you select partner schools?
9. How does a partnership work?
10. What is the role of a School Partnership Director?
11. What is the role of a School Improvement Leader?
12. How long do your partnerships with schools last?
13. What are the main challenges facing low-income, low-performing schools?
14. How is your program funded?
15. Is PartnersSI sustainable?

What is Partners in School Innovation?
Partners in School Innovation is one of the leading organizations working to transform high-poverty public elementary schools in the Bay Area and create a model for nation-wide school improvement. top

What is PartnersSI's mission?
PartnersSI is working to eliminate the achievement gap that threatens social justice and economic prosperity. On average, U.S. schools suffer from a 4 year achievement gap by the end of high school: African American and Latino 12th graders are reading at about the same level as white and Asian 8th graders. PartnersSI's mission is to close this achievement gap before students leave elementary school. If students finished elementary school reading on grade level, it would dramatically reduce drop-out rates. Mastering literacy would also set these students up for levels of success in school, in life and in contribution to our society far beyond their current prospects. top

What is your impact on student learning?
1) The vast majority of our schools dramatically outperform similar schools (as measured by the CA Academic Performance Index).
2) English Learners and Latino students in PartnersSI schools are more than doubling the gains in reading proficiency on the California Standards Test of their peers across California. English Learners and Latinos are also doubling the gains of Asian and white students across California, signifying a reduction in the achievement gap.
3) 3 PartnersSI schools were named "Star Schools" by a state level business coalition (Just for the Kids and the California Business for Education Excellence) honoring the biggest achievement gap closers in all of California. There were only 126 (of 9000+) schools honored across California.
4) Two of our schools (Miner and Grant), after five years of partnership moved from under 10% of Latinos reading at grade level to more than 40% and they continue to improve each year.
5) PartnersSI schools had the largest reading gains of any schools in San Francisco or Santa Clara County last year (as measured by percentage of students meeting grade level reading standards). top

What are some other organizational highlights?
1) Given the outstanding results in several downtown San Jose schools, Applied Materials and San Jose Unified School District made over a $3 million commitment to expand PartnersSI's work across all downtown elementary schools over a three-year period from 2007-10.
2) Given PartnersSI's track record in San Francisco, PartnersSI was selected as the school transformation partner by San Francisco Unified, UC Berkeley and the San Francisco School Alliance in a multi-year effort to close the achievement gap and improve the quality of leadership in the district.
3) The schools themselves value the work being done by PartnersSI and consider our organization to be integral to decreasing the learning gap, as evidenced by the districts' willingness to pay for PartnersSI services. Last year 40% of PartnersSI budget was provided directly by the school districts. top

How is PartnersSI unique?
1) We get results. For example, if your child is a Latino learning English at a PartnersSI school, s/he is 4 times more likely to achieve proficiency in English-language literacy than at the average school across California.
2) We provide implementation partnership. Our experienced staff work side by side with teachers and principals to change the culture of the school. We bring a new level of expectations to our partner schools. Our staff members have gotten breakthrough results as teachers in their own classrooms. They know it's possible.
3) We work on systems change. We build lasting capabilities to sustain high performance. We are the only organization that works with this level of intensity on all the levels necessary to transform a school system from time in teachers' classrooms to strategic planning at the district level. top

How does PartnersSI transform schools?
We focus on the two most important contributors to student learning: the quality of teaching and the strength of leadership. Through engaging teachers and principals in intensive, results-oriented, continuous improvement, we help them learn how to improve teaching until every child is succeeding at higher and higher levels. top

What are the services that PartnersSI offers to schools?
PartnersSI offers a set of integrated services that transforms the quality of education from the classroom level to the district level.

• We provide on-site change leaders who engage school staff in intensive, results-oriented continuous improvement that enables them first to learn how to accelerate the learning of their students and second how to sustain continuous improvement after our partnership.
• To reinforce and extend these school-based efforts, we lead cross-school networks of school and district leaders to learn effective practices from each other and from outside sources.
• In addition, we consult to and collaborate with district leaders in focusing their policies, programs, and processes on the acceleration of student learning.top
  

How do you select partner schools?
We partner with schools that serve students of color, English Learners and economically disadvantaged students. We look for schools that are committed to getting results for their students of color and closing the achievement gap. We also respond to direct inquiries from interested school districts, school principals and staff. top

How does a partnership work?
Our partnerships typically last three to five years, during which we work closely with the school's teachers and leaders to set and meet student achievement goals. At each intensive school site, we place one School Improvement Leader to work on-site daily (4 days per week) to coach teachers and leaders to implement our continuous improvement process. We also place one School Partnership Director to develop strong, sustainable leadership at the school and oversee the improvement process. In addition, our District Partnership Director manages the partnership across all of our school sites and works closely with district leaders to ensure that district priorities are aligned with improvement efforts at the intensive school sites. top

What is the role of the School Partnership Director?
The School Partnership Director (SPD) works in close collaboration with the principal to develop and work toward measurable student achievement goals, articulate a coherent schoolwide improvement plan, monitor student learning on a daily basis and regularly evaluate schoolwide progress. top

What is the role of the School Improvement Leader?
The School Improvement Leader supports and guides teachers through a continuous learning process using the Results-Oriented Cycle of Inquiry. top

How long do your partnerships with schools last?
Our partnerships with schools typically last three to five years, during which we use an "apprenticeship model" to build sustainability for continuous improvement. In the first years of the partnership, we provide a great deal of direction and guidance and explicitly teach teachers and leaders new ways of working. As they continue to develop their skills and gain competency, we consciously shift to a coaching and advising role. At the close of the partnership, our teachers and leaders will have internalized the knowledge, skills and confidence to sustain the work without the external support. top

What are the main challenges facing low-income, low-performing schools?
Typically, a low-income, low-performing urban school is overburdened because:

• There is a lack of resources.
• There is a disproportionate number of inexperienced teachers and teachers with emergency credentials.
• Teachers are overburdened and lack the time to strategically reflect on their teaching in order to accelerate learning for their students.
• Teachers receive limited support and attend one-shot professional development opportunities that fail to coach them on how to use what they've learned back in the classroom.
• Teachers and staff lack access to rigorous and systematic data, as well as the technology and support to effectively analyze data with the intention of improving teacher practice.
• Principals have tremendous demands placed on them, leaving them with little time to devote to instructional leadership.
• There is a lack of school leadership committed to student-centered decision-making, where equitable teaching and learning outcomes guide all decisions, including those related to instruction and resource allocation. top

How is your program funded?
Earned income from schools and districts make up approximately 45% of the costs of service. Contributed income from community foundations, corporate donors and individual donors make up the rest of the costs of service. top

Is PartnersSI sustainable?
As our student learning results have improved each year, schools and districts have derived great value from our partnerships and increased their financial support. Over the past five years, we have increased our earned income from schools and districts by a factor of six and have shifted our contributed to earned income ratio from 16:1 to nearly 1:1. top