INSIGHTS
“From Seed Funding to System Change”: Key Takeaways from the AASA Conference
Last week, Project Evident participated in a panel at the American Association of School Administrators (AASA) National Conference on Education in Nashville, highlighting our recent work with school districts to improve student outcomes. The session, “From Seed Funding to System Change: Three Districts’ Journeys,” detailed how strategic partnerships and technical assistance can turn promising pilots into sustainable, system-wide practices.
Moderated by Asha Canady, Senior District Partnership Manager at Learning Commons (formerly the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative), the panel featured Bi Vuong of Project Evident (now Outcomes-Centric Advising, LLC) alongside superintendents and district leaders: Amanda Bean of Anaheim Union High School District (Anaheim, CA); Kent Pekel of Rochester Public Schools (Rochester, MN); and David Miyashiro of Cajon Valley Union High School District (El Cajon, CA). The discussion focused on how seed funding, combined with robust, district-specific technical assistance, provided districts with additional capacity to make sustainable, system-level improvements.
Some key takeaways from this important discussion include:
- Focus on Outcomes: Amanda Bean noted that a mutual commitment to student outcomes enabled her district and Learning Commons to make changes to their approach that accommodated their evolving needs. The district could opt into the support that it needed, when it needed it, with student outcomes leading the way.
- Keep Implementation Flexible: Superintendent Kent Pekel highlighted how flexible grant funding and implementation support led to system-wide change for his district. By leveraging these supports on multiple levels – introducing new procedures, engaging teachers as co-developers, and generating exemplars – the district successfully integrated a Deeper Learning framework across its operations.
- Combine Networking with Technical Assistance: Superintendent David Miyashiro emphasized the value of Project Evident’s role in creating a network and as a technical assistance partner. The network infrastructure allowed the district to foster deeper relationships with other districts while the direct technical assistance enabled his team to adjust internal funding, practices, and people to sustain the program.
By sharing their experiences working with a flexible grant funder like Learning Commons, and a technical assistance partner like Project Evident, the district representatives offered thoughts on successful, sustainable implementation: engage funders as partners who can change and shift as your plans evolve, plan with sustainability in mind, ask for what you need, and establish resilient operational structures. As Superintendent Miyashiro said, “We cannot achieve our outcomes alone, but we can do it if we have a clear idea of what we want to learn and have partners who adjust with us.”