Enhancing Student Learning by Accelerating and Bringing Clarity to School Improvement Efforts
Company/Organization: Battelle for Kids
CEO/Board Chair: Carl F. Kohrt, Chairman, President & CEO, Battelle, and Chairman, Battelle for Kids
State: National and Ohio
Level of Involvement: State, District, School
Type of Initiative: Expertise and Leadership
Target Education Priority: Maximize Data-driven Decision Making and Prepare All Graduates for College and Careers
“Every entrepreneur knows that we learn from both what we do successfully and, more often than not, what we do unsuccessfully. To make education a successful venture for 21st-century learners, we must provide educators with the resources, tools and support they need to build upon or improve their practices to ensure they are meeting the needs of all students. Battelle for Kids is working to create ‘learning labs’ for educators to learn about successful practices based on progress data, and encouraging collaboration to ensure these best practices are shared and replicated.” Jim Mahoney, Executive Director, Battelle for Kids
Overview
Located in Columbus, Ohio, Battelle for Kids was established through a partnership with the Ohio Business Roundtable and supported by an initial $10 million grant from Battelle Memorial Institute. The organization was created in 2001 to champion improved student achievement in Ohio by supporting, accelerating and sustaining standards-based education and to serve as a voice for business and a partner to school districts and the state. Today, Battelle for Kids is an independent, nonprofit organization committed to enhancing student learning by supporting educators' efforts to accelerate and bring clarity to school improvement efforts. It achieves this mission by offering educators across the nation an array of professional development; training and consulting; innovative school improvement solutions and tools; and research and evaluation services.
One of Battelle for Kids’ major initiatives is SOAR, a national school improvement collaborative, which began as a pilot initiative in Ohio in 2002. Initially, SOAR provided value-added analysis and professional development to 42 diverse Ohio school districts. The pilot’s purpose was to introduce value-added analysis to participating schools districts to demonstrate how progress information can be used as a diagnostic tool for school improvement. Value-added analysis is a statistical method used to measure schools’ impact on the academic progress rates of individual students and groups of students from year to year.
Today, more than 100 Ohio school districts participate in SOAR, representing approximately 30 percent of the state's students. In addition to receiving complete value-added reporting in grades 3-10, SOAR districts receive professional development, consortium pricing and an array of educational services and tools. Battelle for Kids has created a school improvement model that incorporates the use of value-added analysis, along with other data sources, to improve student learning. SOAR’s diverse districts serve as a laboratory to discover new ways to use value-added data for school improvement purposes, create innovative tools and conduct cutting-edge research. Battelle for Kids continually challenges SOAR districts to explore new frontiers in learning. They collaborate enthusiastically about ways to get better in making education a successful venture for learners of the 21st-century.
Nationally, Battelle for Kids offers consulting and training to help states or large consortiums of districts to join SOAR and build the framework to launch their own pilots. Those interested in SOAR participation at a state or regional level must identify a local organization to lead awareness-building and training efforts with counsel from Battelle for Kids. These organizations must demonstrate a commitment to accelerate educators' use of value-added analysis, along with other data sources, to support school improvement efforts.
In addition, Battelle for Kids’ statisticians mine one of the largest longitudinal databases of student records comprised of SOAR value-added data at the student, classroom, grade, school, district and state level in all subjects and grades. More than creating reports that measure, Battelle for Kids offers concrete steps for improvement that have been researched and proven successful. It regularly works with state and national foundations and other education-related organizations to provide informative research and evaluation services in the area of value-added analysis.
Battelle for Kids collaborates with various education-related organizations to create and test new school improvement ideas, solve problems, accelerate proven programs and design quality products that enhance learning for all students. Battelle for Kids’ Flat Pack for Educators is a new school improvement tool that addresses serious issues around globalization and provides practical ideas and strategies for helping students thrive in a flat world. Battelle for Kids also has created two maps to engage education stakeholder groups. The Lifespan: Preparing Children for the Journey of a Lifetime Map helps educators answer critical questions around an aligned system of standards, instruction, assessment and accountability and the role of this system in a changing world, and The Bridging the Gap Map helps educators understand the steps involved in making the shift from traditional to standards-based teaching and learning practices.
Battelle for Kids lends professional expertise and incorporates leadership strategies recommended by Business Toolkit for Better Schools in a variety of ways, including:
- Use the bully pulpit to make the case that the global economy demands higher expectations, a renewed commitment to math and science investments and data-driven decision making
- Communicate with the public, media, employees and students about the importance of public education reform to companies, America's competitiveness, individual citizens and society at large
- Join or start local or statewide nonprofit coalitions of like-minded business leaders to advance education reform
- Lend corporate influence and prestige to key organizations and activities
- Help schools, districts and states develop, improve and implement data systems and data-driven decision making
- Partner with school districts to upgrade educator professional development, in, for example, mathematics and science
- Help school districts choose or improve operational, financial and information systems
- Play a convening role to bridge institutional barriers that block reform or make the system incoherent
Widespread support from SOAR districts, Ohio’s teachers’ unions, education associations, educators and business and community leaders led to the passage of Ohio House Bill 3 in August 2003. Receiving overwhelming bipartisan support, this legislation adopted the implementation of a value-added progress measure as an official metric in Ohio’s education accountability system in 2007-2008. All Ohio school districts will receive 4th through 8th-grade reading and math value-added reports. In preparation for the rollout of the value-added progress measure, Battelle for Kids and the Ohio Department of Education are leading a comprehensive training program to develop the skills of a cadre of educators. By the time value-added is part of the state accountability system, approximately 1,400 individuals will be trained to use the information derived from the metric to make data-informed decisions about school improvement and increased student achievement.
SOAR’s success also helped pave the way to expand value-added pilot programs in other states. In 2005, Battelle for Kids received $1 million in federal funding to provide customized professional development consulting and training and innovative tools to help Pennsylvania and New York successfully roll out their program.
Related Content
Web site
Materials for the Public
- Tools for educators and parents: Survive or Thrive: Education in a Flat World
- Tools for educators and community members: The Lifespan: Preparing Children for the Journey of a Lifetime Map
Updated: March 2008
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