Five Ways to Avoid a School Partnership Failure
by Scott Benson, Managing Partner
My colleagues and I at NewSchools have learned a lot from our work over the past several years with model providers — organizations that partner with schools to improve student success. They offer a bundle of integrated tools and resources (a “model”) and, by working alongside educators to implement their model, they are able to share responsibility for results.
Our work with model providers has taught us that there are certain Partnership Readiness Conditions that are associated with greater levels of success. In a new paper we’re releasing today, we will discuss five observations about the conditions that help partnerships thrive. To illustrate what this looks like in practice, we highlight two organizations that are using readiness conditions to select new school partners and maintain strong partnerships. While our focus is on model providers, we suspect that these observations might be helpful in any context in which a school and a third party engage in a deep, long-term relationship.
Our five observations about Partnership Readiness Conditions are:
- The impact of a model depends on the right conditions.
- Effective leadership and a growth-oriented staff culture are essentials.
- Model providers and potential partners should conduct an objective and cooperative evaluation of readiness conditions.
- The evaluation should inform a final decision and lay the groundwork for a productive partnership.
- Even after launching a partnership, model providers and their partners must continue to invest in and nurture their relationship.
Regardless of whether you’re a school principal, a district leader, or a provider to schools, focusing on Partnership Readiness Conditions can save you time, money and heartache in the long run. As I shared in another post below, I know that from personal experience.
