What challenges do we solve?

We’ve worked with networks, districts, and philanthropic organizations across the country to solve the following challenges.

Challenge: Our school or network has seen drops in achievement, teacher retention, and attendance compared to pre-pandemic levels.

  • Potential solution: School support intensive

  • Example implementation: Carmen Schools has partnered with Simply Great Schools to have the leadership teams at each of their 6 schools participate in our School Support Intensive. They are seeing rapid leader growth, dramatic increase in PD quality, and a culture of coaching flourishing.

Challenge: We do not have the leadership talent necessary to fill AP, principal, or principal manager seats. We either don’t have a leadership development program/fellowship or it needs a significant reboot.

  • Potential solution: Leader fellowship

  • Example implementation: The Mind Trust in Indianapolis has partnered with Simply Great Schools to design and run two different fellowships: one for new principals and one for APs/deans/other emerging leaders. Leaders gave the training 99% strongly agrees with multiple leaders sharing sentiments similar to what one leader shared: “This is the best PD I’ve ever received - by far.”

Challenge: We have a new AP, principal, principal manager, CAO, or CEO, and this person needs strong development.

  • Potential solution: Leader fellowship or Individual school leader coaching

  • Example implementation: City Forward Collective, a support organization for charters and choice schools in Milwaukee, hired Simply Great Schools to design and run a Principal Managers fellowship and provide intensive coaching to multiple principals managers. Based on the success of the program, CFC created a second fellowship, combined with intensive coaching, for new principals.

Challenge: We have a large number of new teachers each year, and they often struggle.

  • Potential solution: School support intensive (for the leadership team) AND/OR New teacher training (for new teachers)

  • Example implementation: Multiple members of the Simply Great Schools team were instrumental in designing and executing New Teacher Training (NTT) for Achievement First. The 4-day intensive, practice-based experience resulted in off-the-charts survey results and teachers much more equipped to build strong classroom environments from day one. After launching NTT, AF saw a dramatic increase in new teacher effectiveness and a dramatic decrease in start-of-year challenges.

Challenge: We want a clear, objective analysis of our strengths and weaknesses as a school (or network or city/district) to inform our strategic planning and yearly prioritization processes

  • Potential solution: School or network review, City / District landscape analysis

  • Example implementation: Lumin Schools partnered with Simply Great Schools to do an intensive 2-day network evaluation of its seven schools. Coming out of the collaborative process, Lumin identified several “low hanging fruit” areas to immediately fix as well as two critical-but-winnable areas for the following school year. Simply Great then worked with Lumin to create clear, simple action plans and support with aligned PD and coaching. Six months after this review (and with subsequent support from Simply Great), Lumin reported the smoothest, most effective start the the school year and an internal culture transformation marked by increases in trust, candor, and accountability.

Challenge: We have specific PD and coaching needs that we need expert support to meet.

  • Potential solution: Custom PD solutions

  • Example implementation: Simply Great Schools has partnered with the National Fellowship for Black and Latino Male Educators to provide specific, targeted, customized PDs around critical school systems and to provide coaching to multiple leaders at the principal and C-Levels. Additionally, Simply Great Schools has helped build and facilitate PD on joy and engagement in virtual settings, as well as leader training on Critical Conversations, real-time coaching, leading effective team meetings, and leader mindsets.

Challenge: We need to inspire a large group of educators aligned to our strategic plans

  • Potential solution: Keynote speaking

  • Example implementation: The ArchDiocese of Chicago partnered with Simply Great Schools to design and lead a series of engaging, inspiring, and humorous keynote addresses to its 154 principals and central support staff. These keynotes were highly rated, and ArchDiocese staff reported they helped to inspire change aligned to the strategic plan.

Challenge: We adopted a new curriculum, but it’s not getting traction. Implementation is spotty, and leaders are not sure exactly how to coach to excellence.

  • Potential solution: Curriculum intensive support

  • Example implementation: Doug McCurry, founding partner of Simply Great Schools, has worked closely with the math and literacy teams at the National Summer School Initiative to design clear visions of excellence, exemplar videos, coach training, and teacher training for teachers to execute the curriculum at a high level. Riley Bauling, founding partner of Simply Great Schools, has worked closely with Coursemojo’s math team to successfully implement, coach, and train math teachers on use of Illustrative Mathematics curriculum across 10 partner schools. Another partnership is with Open Sky Education, a national network of faith-based schools. We are working close with OSE to create a suite of training and support materials and to deliver leader PD and coaching so that they can execute CKLA K-8 with excellence.