Replicating Great Options
Growing What Works
Growing Leadership Capacity
The Replicating Great Options (RGO) Fellowship supports school leaders by growing their capacity to deepen their impact through exceptional programming and operations and to extend their impact through strategic expansion and replication. Throughout the Fellowship, cohort members will experience a variety of supports including school visits, individual check-ins, full cohort convenings, and personalized thought partnership and consulting services. The RGO Fellowship seeks to increase the number of great schools and the number of students in those schools by growing the capacity of school leaders to:
- Deepen a school leader’s impact through exceptional programming and operations; and,
- Extend a school leader’s impact through strategic expansion and replication.
The RGO Fellowship is aligned with the Texas Education Agency’s System of Great Schools approach and the Center for School Action’s broader goals, and it supports transformative leaders in building their tools to make meaningful change in their communities.
Fellowship Supports
Throughout the duration of the Fellowship, cohort members will experience a variety of supports including school visits, individual check-ins, full cohort convenings, and personalized thought partnership and consulting services.
School Leaders will:
- Develop multi-year strategic plans that will enable high-quality school outcomes through expansion;
- Join an enduring learning community of Fellows across the state to collaborate and learn from each other;
- Access best practices/ examples from comparable high-performing schools and emerging networks across the country;
- Access tools, templates, and frameworks to enhance data collection and decision-making; and,
- Strengthen adaptive leadership skills.
The Fellowship will provide school leaders with:
- A structured scope and sequence, aligned with each key element of a quality strategic plan;
- Detail-oriented project management to ensure Fellows’ comprehensive thinking and reflection at each stage of the process;
- An upfront diagnostic school visit to assess each Fellows’ “starting point” and to set individualized objectives for the Fellowship;
- Tailored thought partnership and one-on-one coaching, drawing from facilitators’ on-the-ground experience and expertise advising a wide range of school operators; and,
- Three or four in-person convenings and trainings to create space for reflection and enable best practice sharing across the cohort.
Great Leaders
The ideal Fellow is a high-capacity school leader who has a proven track record of success at his or her school and who is energized by the idea of expanding impact and reach to more students in his or her community. Fellows should:
- Be prepared to commit 15-20 hours per month to the Fellowship (fewer during the start or end of school terms and testing periods);
- Orient to an “end product” (plan) in addition to an adaptive leadership experience;
- Be intentional about bringing key stakeholders into the process; and,
- Push their own — and their stakeholders’ — thinking throughout the process.
Great Districts
The ideal district shares a System of Great Schools approach and is committed to strategically replicating a great school in an effort to increase the number and percent of students in great schools. The district must be commited to the following:
- Identifying and supporting a “right-fit” Fellow;
- Empowering the Fellow to establish an Innovation Management Organization to operate a Texas Partnership school to obtain benefits under Senate Bill 1882;
- Opening the replication campus in the next 1-2 years (assuming school and leader readiness);
- Transparency around critical issues that impact autonomy and flexibility; and
- Honest, open communications with stakeholders.
Districts may opt for additional support to identify a “right-fit” Fellow. The RGO Fellowship includes an optional “readiness assessment” phase, which evaluates district candidates’ fit for the Fellowship. The readiness assessment is a process that highlights where to invest to maintain a healthy school or network as it considers deepening and expanding its outcomes and reach. Participating districts and leaders receive a comprehensive, written report with an assessment of 30+ indicators across the school model. Districts may use the results of the readiness assessment to inform the selection of leaders who will benefit the most from the Fellowship.
Next Steps
Districts interested in having their leaders participate in the next RGO Fellowship have two options for initiating participation:
Open Call
Districts may issue an open call to all leaders to apply for the Fellowship or may encourage high-potential leaders to consider the Fellowship before selecting nominees for the Fellowship.
Encourage High-Potential Leaders
Districts may encourage high-potential leaders to consider the Fellowship and select a group to go through a “readiness assessment,” which evaluates candidates’ fit with the Fellowship.
To be considered for the RGO Fellowship, interested leaders must submit a statement of interest, a brief vision for their school, an updated resume, a data snapshot to show effectiveness in their role, and their supervisor’s endorsement.
Fellowship Opportunities
The deadline for the 2018 cohort has passed. Please check back in spring 2019 for more information about a late spring/early summer cohort. For more information , please contact the Division of System Support and Innovation (DSSI).
