K12 Perform was launched to create equity. Typically the word equity in K-12 education refers to the students, which is both appropriate and necessary. Our founders’ collective experience prior to forming K12 Perform is that inequities also exist for leaders. We believe that district and building leaders can more effectively implement equity at the student level if they themselves have and experience equity. We’re specifically focused on bringing equity to these leaders as it pertains to the performance and accountability standards by which they are measured each year.
We’ve found that state-mandated performance measures don’t always align with the tactical, day-to-day priorities of district and building leaders. Many leaders don’t have the time, desire or capacity to manage these measures at the level that results in additional equity being created for their customers…the students.
In small districts the Superintendent is everything to everyone (bus driver, lunch monitor, custodian, etc.) in addition to being the district leader. In large districts the Superintendent has the resources build teams to address specific areas of district operations, including performance, but accountability and the necessary influence doesn’t always follow. In high performing districts the primary question we’ve heard from Superintendents is “How do I ensure my score doesn’t go down?” In low performing districts the most common concern Superintendents have shared with us is “I don’t have the resources to adequately focus on this.”
Regardless of district size or performance we frequently hear “If I bring somebody in, it means I don’t know what I’m doing.” This is interesting to us because many other areas of service delivery within school districts either require or offer training so those resources can do their jobs better. The same does not seem to be true for administrators. Our goal is to address this inequity and empower administrator performance.
About Brad Maclaughlin, Chief Learning Officer
20 years in education with 10 years in district senior leadership, Delivered state leading 21.8% increase over 5 years in MO APR, Collaborates with Ford NGL, Kauffman, Walton, Hall Foundations
About K12 Perform
K12 Perform brings human-centered innovation to education through consulting, performance management and leadership development
