Sharing Achievement Data and Best Practices with Educators and Communities to Motivate Improvement

Company/Organization: Just for the Kids and Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce/Associated Industries of Arkansas
CEO/Board Chair: Stacy Pittman, Cranford Johnson Robinson Woods; Hugh McDonald, Entergy Arkansas; Joe Kefauver, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Level of Involvement: National, State, District, School
State: Arkansas
Type of Initiative: Advocacy and Expertise
Target Education Priority: Maximizing Data-driven Decision Making

“The information on Arkansas’ Just for the Kids Web site is designed to provide parents, educators and business and community leaders with a powerful tool to help them make intelligent and informed decisions about curriculum and instruction in our schools. It also provides an opportunity for Arkansas’ leaders to focus on ways to better meet the needs of all students.” Former Governor Mike Huckabee

JFTK developed a methodology to allow for web-based data analysis of school performance and accountability systems across schools, districts and states—and to account for factors typically beyond a school’s control, such as the migration of students in and out of a school during the year. Perhaps most importantly, JFTK compares each school to demographically-similar high-performing schools to show educators and the community what is possible. Using the results on a state's assessment system, the site shows how well each school performed compared to the highest-performing comparable schools in the state. In 1999, www.just4kids.org had school-level data in three states. By 2006, JFTK had become part of the National Center for Educational Accountability (NCEA) and 24 states had JFTK affiliates.

Over time, JFTK has focused on finding and sharing excellence in education practices through the study of consistently higher-performing schools. These “best practices studies” are conducted in partnership with state-based research and education organizations. In 2005, JFTK conducted a research study in 20 states to investigate the practices of schools that routinely outperform their peers. The findings, including case studies of successful school and classroom practices used by schools that are more successful at raising student achievement and reaching higher standards than others, are disseminated widely through state affiliates, the Web site, education groups and the media. JFTK’s best practices framework also serves as the basis for the Broad Foundation’s annual prize in urban education.

Arkansas joined JFTK as a state affiliate in 2004. The organization had broad support in Arkansas from the beginning, reflected in the range of entities that came together to launch JFTK in the state: the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce/Associated Industries of Arkansas; the Arkansas Department of Education; the National Office of Research, Measurement and Evaluation Systems, and the Arkansas Parent Teacher Association.

This meeting was the start of the "Building Communities Just for the Kids” campaign, in which more than 3,000 people turned out in their local communities to discuss school improvement. To maximize the impact of this campaign, Arkansas’ JFTK affiliate sent invitation letters to participants, hired facilitators trained by the state school board association and devoted resources to communications so that the meetings were covered extensively in the news and on the radio.

JFTK-Arkansas produced a widely-disseminated “consumer guide” entitled “Get Educated About Education” in both English and Spanish that provides information about school laws and regulations to better define what is required of public schools and its students. This guide defines terms and explains why data is an important element for school improvement.

In addition to this communications and outreach work, Arkansas was among the 20 states that participated in JFTK’s 2005 best practice studies and institutes to examine improvement efforts based on exemplary practices found in high-performing schools and districts. A composite picture of Best Practice Findings in Arkansas, based on differences identified between higher and average-performing schools’ strategies in building leadership capacity, research-based instruction and other topics, is available on the Arkansas JFTK website.

Just for the Kids demonstrates several advocacy and expertise strategies recommended by Business Toolkit for Better Schools, including:

• Make the case that the global economy demands higher expectations, a renewed commitment to math and science investments and data-driven decision making
• Provide compelling data and evidence; issue reports and policy briefs
• Communicate with reporters and editorial boards; publish op-eds on education reform; give speeches
• Organize, support and partner with education, civic and political allies
• Lend corporate influence and prestige to key organizations and activities
• Advise on subject-matter issues, such as academic standards, curriculum and assessments, especially in mathematics and science
• Help schools, districts and states develop, improve and implement data systems and data-driven decision making
• Focus on state-level and school district policy and practice, or groups of low-performing schools, as the unit of change, rather than individual schools
• Help school districts choose or improve operational, financial and information systems
• Help nonprofit organizations and school districts with communications, public relations, marketing, branding and printing of materials

• Informing parent, community and business leaders about current school laws and regulations so they understand what is required of public schools;
• Presenting school data so they can understand and analyze it;
• Creating community collaboration that will ultimately support school improvement;
• Creating motivation to continue the dialogue about school improvement; and
• Clearly defining the role that each of the target audiences can play in supporting schools.

• Just for the Kids national Web site
• Arkansas Just for the Kids web site

• Consumer Guide
• Arkansas Best Practices Study
• Olson, Lynn, “Sleuths Seek Secrets of High-Flying Schools,” Education Week, May 4, 2005.