New Initiative in Partnership with Florida Association of District School Superintendents
Aims to Help Districts Share Promising Instructional Practices Across Districts
TALLAHASSEE — Impact Florida, in partnership with the Florida Association of District School Superintendents (FADSS), today announced the launch of Districts for Impact, an initiative focused on sharing and promoting promising instructional practices across districts. Five Florida school districts will participate in the inaugural cadre: Collier, Miami-Dade, Osceola, Palm Beach, and Pasco counties.
“When we launched Impact Florida earlier this year, one of our primary goals was to design opportunities for districts to learn from each other,” said Mandy Clark, executive director of Impact Florida. “School districts across the state are doing amazing work to improve the quality of instruction for all students, and Districts for Impact will create a structured approach for them to share practices and successes with each other in a meaningful way.”
Between October 2019 and March 2020, a group of education leaders from each of the cadre districts will participate in a “Learning Walk” in all five districts to observe firsthand the high-impact practices that are bridging the opportunity gap and improving outcomes for all students. This cadre of educators will synthesize its learnings, and Impact Florida will publish a summary of the practices and learnings in a series of papers called Cases for Impact. The cadre will also present a summary of its experience and findings at Impact Florida’s 2020 Education Summit and at Superintendent and staff gatherings throughout the year.
“I am excited about the learning outcomes of this partnership between FADSS and Impact Florida,” said FADSS President and Pasco County Schools Superintendent Kurt Browning. “The best practices resulting from this initiative will provide a blueprint for all districts as we collectively work to close the opportunity gap throughout our state and deliver on our promise of providing access to a world class education for every student.”
“Creating opportunities for education leaders to learn about practices that have a positive impact in classrooms and student learning strengthens the ability of district leaders to identify and apply excellent instructional practices in their school systems,” said Dr. Debra Pace, School District of Osceola County Superintendent. “Providing space for district leaders to also be learners not only accelerates instructional improvement at the local level, it can also help drive systemic change across the state.”
Impact Florida and FADSS plan to organize additional Learning Walks in the future with new cadres of school districts. “Our goal is that all Florida school districts will participate in shared learning experiences like these,” said State Senator Bill Montford, CEO of FADSS. “The more we can implement proven and successful practices and support excellent and equitable instruction for all students, the more likely we are to bridge the opportunity gap as a state.”
ABOUT IMPACT FLORIDA
Impact Florida is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that believes excellent classroom instruction can move the needle for all students. It focuses on supporting education leaders and teachers with the knowledge and resources they need to ensure that great teaching and learning is consistently realized in all Florida schools.
ABOUT FLORIDA ASSOCIATION OF DISTRICT SUPERINTENDENTS
FADSS is a non-profit association that assists and supports Florida’s 67 district school superintendents as the chief advocate for Florida’s public school system and their role of ensuring every student has access to a high-quality public education system.