Case Studies
We currently work closely with a combination of schools and school systems (PK through higher education), government agencies, and nonprofits that are serious about growing their impact, optimizing outcomes, and stewarding resources responsibly. Here are a few examples of the impact we’ve had.
Case Study 1: Texas School Districts
The Opportunity
Implementing high-quality choice programs, new school designs, and innovative school models with excellence.
Texas school districts needed practical tools and processes that would empower them to be able to effectively implement an increasingly diverse set of newly-designed school models, created in response to family interest and industry demand. As districts shift away from a single approach to school (aka one-size-fits-all schooling) toward an array of different high-quality models (e.g., Montessori, Dual Language, International Baccalaureate, Single Gender, STEAM, workforce preparation), they want to ensure these models are implemented with fidelity and excellence, providing the highest-quality experience possible for their children.
ECHO Learning’s Support
We partnered with Chief Innovation Officers and teams across several Texas school districts to design a customized set of tools and processes used to monitor implementation of various school models. We also provided short-term thought partnership and coaching both to refine the resources and implement them effectively.
In one district, we assessed the overall quality of current choice programs and then designed and implemented a family engagement strategy to assess family interest for new types of school choices. We then facilitated executive leadership retreats to build a multi-year action plan to improve existing programs and create new programming in response to what families want.
The Impact
Each school system implementing new and innovative models is equipped to implement tools and processes that help them assess quality and make evidence-based decisions moving forward in ways that preserve the intent of the model. One school system also has a plan to improve and expand choice programs over the next few years.
Building a Strong Organizational Foundation for Growth
One non-profit organization was looking to strengthen the conditions needed to scale their impact as they grow to serve more communities. ECHO Learning engaged in a diagnostic process before working with the Executive Director and Executive Team to identify two pieces of needed infrastructure that would support getting better as they got bigger: (1) a standardized data dashboard; and (2) a refined and codified model. Then, ECHO Learning provided short-term advisory services and executive coaching to support the organization as it implemented the dashboard and refined the model.
Case Study 2: Leadership Summit
The Opportunity
School districts across Texas and New Mexico needed a way to identify solutions to meet the unprecedented impact COVID-19 had on their system, while maximizing the one-time-only federal resources from Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER). Specifically, districts needed to:
Address continued challenges related to unfinished learning due to the impact of COVID-19
Prioritize the most urgent need and actualize solutions effectively
ECHO Learning’s Support
ECHO Learning co-designed and facilitated a first-of-its-kind leadership retreat for nearly 30 public school districts in Texas and New Mexico. Check out ECHO Learning’s work with the first-ever Leadership Summit in Odessa American.
The Impact
All public school districts in attendance walked away with actionable plans that addressed two priority needs:
How they might more effectively leverage their ESSER funding by utilizing a mental model that better clarified the unique “unfinished learning” story in their school communities as a result of COVID
A bank of high-leverage ideas they could use, access to peers to help them sharpen their planning, and practical tools to help them prioritize and strengthen those ideas during implementation
Sponsored by
Envisioning a Stronger Future of Learning & Moving Forward
One high school was looking to engage in a design process that helped a team of faculty reimagine what the future of learning could be in that school and then pilot ideas to begin building the bridge from where they are to that future state. ECHO Learning designed and facilitated a multi-session, customized experience that: (1) provided opportunities for the faculty to better understand student demands in the future; (2) engaged students to more clearly understand their perceptions about current school; and (3) pilot ideas to build the bridge and respond to student perceptions.