The Work of the Task Force

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School Communities that Work: A National Task Force on the Future of Urban Districts (SCtW) was formed in 2000 to examine a feature of urban public education that had often been overlooked: the school district. Also, unlike previous education reforms, SCtW addressed not only what should be done but also how it should be done, through its work in two phases; the design and analysis phase (2000–2002) and the testing, implementation, and development phase (2003–2004). SCtW's work created a strong foundation for the Institute's ongoing work in redesigning school districts.

Accomplishments
SCtW concluded its Phase I design work in 2002 with the publication of the Portfolio for District Redesign – a series of tools to help districts perform three key functions:

• Provide schools, students, and teachers with needed supports and timely interventions
  
  
• Ensure that schools have the power and resources to make good decisions
  
  
• Make decisions and hold people accountable, using indicators of school and district performance and practice

The Portfolio was designed to meet districts and communities of varying capacity and history at different entry points, as well as to support the broader need for advocacy and knowledge sharing about district redesign.

SCtW concluded its Phase II implementation work in 2004 with the first Emerging Knowledge Forum.

Legacy
Annenberg Institute staff have continued to build on the work of School Communities that Work. Staff who are involved in the System Supports initiative, in particular, have continued to test and implement the tools in the Portfolio and to advance the district redesign agenda nationally through the following three strategies:

Introducing district redesign and providing ongoing assistance to redesign and reinvention networks.
Major reform efforts of the last two decades paid little attention to the role that districts must play in supporting systems of successful schools. Institute staff continue to help practitioners, policy-makers, and other stakeholders in local sites and regional and national networksbe informed about the challenges and promise of district redesign. Institute staff are currently working with several networks and providing ongoing support for their efforts for district redesign.

Providing direct, site-based assistance for district redesign.
The bulk of the implementation work is providing direct, site-based assistance to districts and communities interested in redesigning key district operations. Many existing districts can be redesigned to provide an infrastructure of services, policies, and expectations that support school-level improvements in teaching and learning and that ensure results across whole systems of schools. This process has often been started with one of the Portfolio tools: Central Office Review for Results and Equity (CORRE).

Developing knowledge, advocacy, and tools for district redesign.
District redesign as envisioned by SCtW requires new capacities among district leaders and staff; new knowledge for stakeholders, including national, state, and local leaders; and opportunities for all to deepen their understanding of district redesign through reflecting on and sharing experiences and insights. The Institute encourages building the knowledge base on district redesign through knowledge sharing, advocacy for district redesign, and refining our Portfolio for District Redesign.

The District Redesign staff at the Institute continue to expand understanding of key central office roles as part of these functions, including communicating big ideas, promoting a service orientation and a data orientation, increasing capacity, brokering partnerships, advocating for and supporting underserved students and addressing inequities.