Some of our new projects and clients included:

• Partnered with National Charter Schools Institute to help develop a new performance framework for Philadelphia School District.
• Supported a cohort of charter schools in their planning year on behalf of Maryland Alliance of Public Charter Schools.
• Conducted community needs analyses for Oklahoma-based CMOs and independent charter schools through support from Oklahoma Public School Resource Center.
• Advised the Utah State Charter School Board on methods to fully leverage and enable charter school boards across the state.
• Led school quality reviews in Northern California and through a partnership with Missouri Public Charter School Commission.
• Worked with the NY CMO Amber Charter Schools to help develop its renewal application.
• Led the third-party evaluations of new Louisiana charter school applications for East Baton Rouge and Monroe and participated in new charter application reviews for Vorhees University.

We are grateful for these ongoing partnerships:

• Led the renewal visits of 8 charter schools authorized through our continued partnership with Chicago Public Schools.
• Finished out the school year supporting the board and leadership at NY’s Academy of the City.
• Led third-party evaluations of new charter school applications for New Orleans Public Schools and participated in reviews for Central Michigan University, Nevada State Public Charter School Authority, San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools and Tennessee Public Charter School Commission.

Stay tuned for an announcement soon about an AI solution being developed by our founder, which could have positive implications for TLC. Adam Aberman will be running both companies concurrently and is looking forward to doing so.

Click here to watch TLC’s new commercial created by our trusty intern using the Google Veo AI tool!

This is an exciting time for us. Fall 2025 will be one of our busiest consulting seasons ever. We have nearly 10 trips planned that will keep us on the road for most of October and November and into early December AND multiple intensive remote consulting projects.

TLC’s founder is also working on a new AI initiative to support schools that will have a soft launch in October and full launch currently scheduled for January.

Stay tuned!

Adam Aberman of The Learning Collective is partnering with Dan Pasek of Impact Charters to provide a free 3-hour board retreat.

Why: Our combined 60 years of experience working with schools have taught us that, especially in this competitive market, charter schools have to set themselves apart in the eyes of families, teachers, school leaders and donors.

What: Charter boards, often with the school leader, “vision” what their school should be known for.
Hour One – What do we actually want to be known for?
Hour Two – How far away from that vision are we right now?
Hour Three – What are the most important first steps we should take accordingly?

Who: Dan, based in New York, has served 30-35 charter schools each year since 2004. Dan co-owns Impact Charters and concentrates on strategic planning, renewal, and authorizer relations. Recently, Dan has led ten free 3-hour charter school board retreats in New York and Connecticut. These retreats focus on the desired vision the board wants to pursue – and ways to get there. Adam, based in Los Angeles, has led many board retreats. Adam owns The Learning Collective, which has been working in the charter school sector since 2003 supporting charter schools and authorizers. Dan and Adam are bringing these free 3-hour retreats to California and potentially other states.

Where: In-Person or Zoom

When: This spring to inform your planning for next year.

What Schools Are Saying …

Dan’s concise training created the room to air all of the board members’ opinions towards one clear renewed school vision. Once we arrived there, we gained the traction we needed to perform our governance roles more effectively. – Albany Leadership Charter School for Girls

Dan’s focus on vision reminded us that we’d gone slightly off track on the experience we wanted for our deserving families and the one we were delivering. Once back on track, it made all of our board’s decisions easier to arrive at. – Roosevelt Children’s Academy Charter School

If you’d like to take advantage of this opportunity we’d love to hear from you here!

• Led the renewal visits of 16 charter schools authorized by Chicago Public Schools, including cutting-edge examinations of schools’ social-emotional learning supports of its students and staff members.
• Facilitated board retreats for charter management organizations including Beginning with Children Foundation and TMSA.
• Updated protocols and trained staff at San Joaquin County Office of Education on how to conduct annual site visits.
• Supported Academy of the City on a range of needs including: student-led classroom discussions; school culture improvement; school leader evaluation; board evaluation; board retreat facilitation; strategic plan modification, implementation and monitoring; and student recruitment campaigns.
• Acted as the exclusive third-party reviewer of all groups applying to establish new schools with New Orleans Public Schools (NOLA-PS) for the fifth consecutive year.
• Led the evaluation of new charter applications for Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board.
• Conducted new school application reviews for Indiana Charter School Board, State of Nevada Public Charter School Authority and Tennessee Public Charter School Commission.
• We continued providing external reviews of CA charter schools to help schools meet the requirements of the California Department of Education’s PCSGP program.
• Participated in the site visit to a school authorized by the Washington State Charter School Commission.

We’re looking forward to continuing many of these projects and partnerships in 2025!

We’ve learned quite a few things from facilitating those, and other, board retreats including:

• There are two types of preparation: preparation and under-preparation. Like with most things professional and personal, it’s very difficult to be over-prepared. The more well conceived the agenda and structure, the more fruitful the retreat.
• The more buy-in and interest generated from board members prior to the retreat, the more successful the retreat will be.
• Icebreakers should not be underestimated. Even in situations in which board members have been meeting with their colleagues for months or years, there are always new things to learn about fellow volunteers. Starting the retreat with some smiles and even laughs goes a long way to enhancing relationships and collaborations.
• The most fulfilling sessions are when board members roll up their sleeves and lead brainstorming and collaborative work with their peers to set annual goals for board committees, SMART goals for the organization, etc.
• Not to toot our own horn but … an experienced external facilitator is key to moving the group along, completing the retreat accomplished with a sense of time well-spent and establishing actionable next steps.

1. Focus: Target a particular improvement focus area, such as school culture and climate
2. Train: Conduct a training before site visits, including video-based lesson observation norming sessions
3. Disseminate: Share a site visit protocol document with schools to promote consistency, clarity and transparency
4. Answer: Develop a procedures document that answers all site visit team members’ questions
5. Style: Complete a style guide that informs report writing
6. Standardize: Create interview templates that include questions aligned with the site visit rubric
7. Diversify: Schedule an array of school stakeholder focus groups (board, leaders, staff, parents, students) to paints a more robust picture on academic and fiscal performance as well as operational inputs
8. Randomize: Identify a random selection of student (from each grade level) and parent focus group participants
9. Discuss: Ensure enough time at end of the day for an internal consensus meeting
10. Clarify: Make it clear that the team is not evaluating individual teachers but is examining trends across classrooms
11. Publicize: Put the site visit rubric on authorizer website
12. Bolster: Consider utilizing a consultant as participant to promote objectivity, expertise and add capacity

The Learning Collective occupies a unique niche – our clients include charter schools AND charter school authorizers. Our authorizer clients have included Central Michigan University, Charter Schools Institute of the State University of New York, Chicago Public Schools’ Office of Innovation and Incubation, Education Achievement Authority of Michigan, Indiana Charter School Board, Inglewood Unified School District, Jefferson Parrish Public School System, Mississippi Charter School Authorizer Board, Nevada Public Charter School Authority, New Jersey Department of Education, New Orleans Public Schools, New York State Education Department, Oakland Unified School District, San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools, Tennessee Public Charter School Commission and Washington State Charter School Commission. In fact, we’ve presented at three of the last four annual conferences of the National Association of Charter School Authorizers.

Because we know authorizers, we know what charter schools need to do to renew their charters. Based on more than twenty years of experience, here’s a five-year process we recommend charter schools carry out to achieve renewal and for which we can assist in Years 1-5. See a more detailed list of services we provide here.

Year 1: SOLIDIFY THE FOUNDATION

• Assess Your Vision and Mission: Revisit the school’s vision and mission to ensure they remain relevant and are being effectively enabled. If you have yet to do so, board members and staff map out a 3-5 year plan to support the school’s vision and mission and achieve renewal.
• Strengthen Data Collection Systems: Improve and/or implement systems for comprehensive data collection on student performance, school culture, faculty effectiveness and operational efficiency.
• Expand Community Engagement: Strengthening connections with parents, students, and the wider community. A first step to doing so could be to do a self-review of school culture, similar to what we at The Learning Collective have done in Chicago.

Year 2: IMPLEMENT IMPROVEMENTS

• Invest in PD: Invest in faculty through targeted professional development opportunities that align with your school’s goals.
• Address Your Culture: Take data-informed and substantive steps to support and/or shift school culture and meet students’ and staff members’ social and emotional needs.
• Assess Curricula: Evaluate the efficacy of your current curricula and, if necessary, carry out a curriculum adoption process.
• Enhance Operations: Streamline operations for better resource allocation and efficiency.

Year 3: DEEPEN IMPACT

• Monitor and Evaluate: Implement rigorous monitoring and evaluation processes to assess the effectiveness of programs, and changes made, in Years 1-2. Early in the school year, conduct a multi-day school quality review by a third-party, using a rubric based on your authorizer’s performance frameworks and benchmarks, to help identify your school’s current strengths and areas for improvement.
• Plan Further Improvements: Develop a clear plan for any additional changes to support students and staff and to achieve renewal.

Year 4: PREPARE THE APPLICATION AND PREPARE FOR THE RENEWAL VISIT

• Draft the Application: Conduct a thorough review of achievements, challenges and areas for improvement. Gather input from all school stakeholders. Ensure the draft application accurately reflects the school’s progress and plans.
• Conduct a Mock Renewal Visit: Utilize a third-party to, near the end of the school year, conduct a mock renewal visit that, again, is based on your authorizer’s performance frameworks and benchmarks.
• Plan for a Successful Renewal Visit: Based on findings from the mock renewal visit, plan for and execute improvements to make during the summer preceeding, and early part of, the school’s fifth year.

Year 5: COMPLETE THE APPLICATION AND RENEWAL VISIT

• Submit: Submit the completed application, accompanied by evidence of achievements and community support.
• Hold Mock Interviews: Have a third-party host mock renewal interviews and/or focus groups with your school team based on your authorizer’s renewal evaluation criteria.
• Reflect: While awaiting the decision, reflect on your journey and plans for the future, regardless of the outcome.

We’d welcome the opportunity to speak with you about how we can help your school achieve successful renewal!

TLC SERVICES AND COMPETENCIES

Leadership, Management and Board Development:

• Preparing for charter renewal
• Coaching boards on best practices, including maintaining the proper line between governance and management
• Advising and providing interim leadership capacity during school leadership transitions
• Producing and overseeing school leaders’ Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
• Change Management: Guiding institutions through change processes, including planning, execution, and evaluation

Educational Strategy and Development:

• Leading curriculum evaluation and adoption
• Curriculum Development: Creating engaging, standards-aligned curricula for diverse learners
• Instructional design and implementation
• Designing staffing growth models, scenarios, and organizational charts and restructuring
• Policy Development and Analysis: Developing and analyzing policies to align with organizational goals and regulatory requirements

Teaching and Learning Support:

• Instructional coaching
• Customized professional learning for staff at all levels
• Student Engagement Strategies: Developing strategies to actively engage students in learning
• Facilitating teacher peer classroom observations
• E-learning course design

Data and Assessment:

• Analyzing data and creating & overseeing plans accordingly
• Assessment and Evaluation: Developing and implementing assessment tools to monitor student learning outcomes
• Data visualizations

Community and Inclusivity:

• Community and Stakeholder Engagement:Building and maintaining relationships to support educational objectives
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Training
• Creating and monitoring school-wide initiatives to promote social-emotional learning (SEL)
• Defining organization-wide values
• Trauma-Informed Practices

Specialized Services:

• Conducting school quality reviews
• Conceiving and supporting student-student discussion initiatives
• Special Education Services: Designing and delivering services for students with special educational needs
• Arts Integration 101: Integrating the creative arts into the curriculum

Educational Technology and Artificial Intelligence:

• Technology Integration: Enhancing educational experiences through effective technology integration
• A comprehensive implementation plan to guide the use of AI
• Support in planning and structuring an AI Implementation Advisory Group
• Development of guidance materials designed to assist Local Education Agencies (LEAs) in selecting and implementing AI tools effectively

Theory of Action: If we conduct site visits focused on Culture & Climate and Social-Emotional Learning initiatives, then we can 1) increase our understanding of school-specific needs, and 2) create resources for schools based on areas of need, which would lead to a decrease of exclusionary practices and improved student well-being.

Criteria for selecting schools to receive a Culture & Climate renewal visit: Any school or campus in which the rate of unique students receiving an Out-of-School Suspension is at or above the 75th percentile of the rates at non-selective district-run schools that have similar grade structures.

Protocols: As a team, we developed the Culture & Climate Rubric. Rubric criteria are based on the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) Indicators of Schoolwide SEL Walkthrough Protocol and the CPS Supportive Schools Certification criteria. Evidence is gathered on-site through classroom evaluations, focus groups (staff, students and parents) and document reviews.

Lessons Learned: This is some of what we’ve learned about and through culture-and-climate-focused charter renewal visits over the past three years (presented at 2023 NACSA Leadership Conference):

• Rubric Changes: It’s important to consistently evaluate and update the rubric. Accordingly, we clearly defined “student well-being” and “staff well-being.” We also added examples/look for’s of what we should expect to see in classrooms.
• Data: Schools are not using data (beyond discipline) to inform their Culture & Climate practices.
• MTSS: Some schools have MTSS systems/interventions for student behavior but not for larger SEL needs: self-awareness, self- management, social awareness, healthy relationships, and responsible decision-making.
• Staff Teams: Schools do not have comprehensive team structures regarding SEL and overall student well-being.
• Norming: There’s a continued need for evaluator norming.
• One-Day Visits: One-day visits can produce accurate info, especially if there’s enough time at the end-of-day internal team meetings.
• Randomize: It’s important to randomize student and parent focus groups.
• Social Workers: Social workers are important participants in staff focus groups.

Specifically, The Learning Collective suggests schools, especially charter schools, create strategic plans that provide a roadmap for student and school success over a 2-3 year period. With our experiences in strategic planning and evaluating hundreds of schools nationally, The Learning Collective (TLC) is uniquely positioned to lead the development of schools’ strategic plans.

TLC has extensive experience in assisting charter schools with strategic planning. TLC recently worked with the stakeholders, especially the boards of directors, of several New York charter schools – Academy of the City (Queens), Charter School of Inquiry (Buffalo) and Discovery Charter School (Rochester) – to develop their multi-year strategic plans. In fact, TLC facilitated the development of Academy of the City’s 2016-19 and 2022-24 strategic plans. See Academy of the City’s latest strategic plan. TLC’s work contributed to authorizers renewing the charters of Academy of the City and Discovery Charter School and we anticipate Charter School of Inquiry’s charter also being renewed. Additionally, TLC has led strategic planning initiatives with dozens of charter schools in California and Minnesota. TLC has also worked with the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) and other organizations on school evaluation and strategic planning projects regarding Idaho, Florida, New York and Oklahoma authorizers. In 2019 and 2020, TLC worked with the Tennessee State Board of Education to lead its strategic planning and goal-setting process, determining the five-year direction for all 1,700 public schools in Tennessee representing approximately 1,000,000 students!

Typically, there are three steps of our strategic planning process:

STEP 1: WHERE THE SCHOOL IS

TLC conducts a school quality review based on TLC’s school quality review process. Board members, school leaders, teachers, parents and students participate in the school quality review. Instructional leaders accompany TLC on classroom observations. TLC then writes a report based on that school quality review.

STEP 2: WHERE THE SCHOOL WANTS TO BE

In this step, the entire school community defines the school’s preferred state. Facilitated by TLC, and informed by the school quality review report and the school’s latest student assessment results, the school develops an updated vision and mission. Through online document editing and in-person focus groups with board members, school leaders, teachers, parents and possibly students, TLC helps define the elements that were, and should stay, unique to the school while keeping an eye toward continually improving student outcomes. The updated mission is succinct and clearly understandable by all stakeholders; the finalized mission statement should pass the “t-shirt test” by being printable and legible on a t-shirt.

STEP 3: HOW THE SCHOOL WILL GET THERE

Facilitated by TLC, the school determines the desired outcomes and action steps to meet the school’s updated mission. Specifically, through in-person focus groups and online document editing, the school determines SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timebound) Goals. To support the SMART Goals, school stakeholders (board members, school leaders, teachers, parents and local community leaders) develop a range of Action Steps (through online surveys, online document editing and video conferencing). TLC coalesces the recommendations into a draft document that the board and school leaders study, and provide input on, leading to TLC delivering a cohesive final version of the strategic plan.