New online tool identifies the organizational factors that can make or break a district’s ability to get learning back on track
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 30, 2022
PRESS CONTACT
Clay Willis, cwillis@pivotlearning.org
Oakland, CA — As recent NAEP scores have made clear, districts everywhere face an urgent need to recover from the pandemic and accelerate learning. Pivot Learning’s new research-based tool, the District Readiness Index (DRI), launched today, demonstrates that some districts are far better positioned to do so. The DRI identifies a set of key organizational factors that determine a district’s readiness to improve student outcomes over the long-term.
“For too long, we have focused all of our attention on the work of principals and teachers, rather than the health of the organizations where they work,” said Pivot Learning CEO Arun Ramanathan. “Our District Readiness Index identifies the organizational prerequisites from leadership stability to financial resources for educators and students to be successful and provides critical data for communities, parents and policymakers to support district improvement efforts.”
Using publicly available data from the more than 420 California school districts with more than 2,500 students each, the DRI assesses a district’s organizational health across five dimensions — financial management, leadership and governance, work environment, school personnel, and family and community engagement.
Pivot Learning’s research shows that strong performance on the DRI is also associated with better student performance. More than half of students (55.4%) in districts with a strong performance on the DRI met or exceeded ELA state standards, compared with just over one third of students (37.0%) in school districts that did not rate as highly on the DRI. In math, nearly twice as many students met or exceeded standards in school districts with a strong performance on the DRI (42.5%) compared with those in school districts that did not rate as highly on the DRI (24.2%).
The District Readiness Index can be explored on the DRI website. A companion report with methodological information can be found here.
Pivot Learning
In pursuit of educational justice, Pivot Learning partners with teachers and leaders to improve instructional coherence and ensure a rigorous, relevant, and inclusive public education for all students.