How We Work
How we do our work is as important as what we do and makes our work impactful and enduring. We value outcomes for students over adherence to specific models. We choose ‘and’ instead of ‘or’ — our work gains strength and impact from the expert integration of diverse ideas, perspectives, and practices.
Our Values
Our values stem directly from our collective experience as practitioners committed to educational excellence. We apply them to every partnership, every step of the way. At their core is a mixture of deep empathy and deep rigor.
Empathy
We are attuned, and we practice empathy with our partners, each other, and ourselves.
We seek to understand
We listen deeply. We ask questions, find answers, and then ask more questions. We hold our partners, each other, and ourselves accountable to pushing beyond the surface.
We adapt to meet the needs of our partners
Everything we do is adapted to suit the specific context of each partner. We know what it’s like to lead schools and school systems and we bring that experience to bear in every partner interaction.
We strive for growth
We set a high bar for ourselves, constantly asking how we—and our partners—can best create long-term student impact. We intentionally develop ourselves, each other, and our partners. We leave our partners with the necessary knowledge, skills, and resources to operate enduring systems with excellence. We learn and grow with every engagement.
Rigor
We think and act with rigor, and we don’t stop until we get to clarity and excellence.
We keep student impact at the center
We make all decisions based on the best interests of students. Especially those furthest from opportunity. We share ownership of student outcomes with our partners.
We embrace the “and”
We believe there are multiple paths to school excellence. We reject false choices, like social emotional learning vs. rigorous academics. Our work gains strength from the expert integration of diverse ideas and perspectives.
We choose proven practices
We don’t let ourselves—or our partners—get distracted by bright shiny things. Instead, we focus on practices, approaches and content that are proven to yield results.
