Measuring the performance of schools and the value add of a school network. Now it’s a national model.

Problem:

A membership organization of urban middle schools needed to demonstrate to its funders the national impact of its member schools and the value its network was providing them. The organization supports its members with academic, strategic, operational and professional development guidance—but outcomes and value measurement is not a core competence. So the organization turned to Mission Measurement.

Solution:

In order to understand and communicate the national impact of its organization, the client worked with us to define success for their schools and to develop a practical and repeatable approach to gathering and reporting performance data.

The organization also turned the performance measurement lens internally in order to capture key data related to its own success, serving as a meaningful complement to school data.

The collection approach aggregated disparate data used to develop compelling performance reports; the organization used these reports to communicate its value to existing and prospective funders, as well as member schools.

Results:

Today, our client has fully integrated performance measurement into every aspect of the organization.

Annually, they use the data collected from member schools and from within the organization to understand how the organization and its members are performing as a whole and make needed strategy changes.

The work has been shared with existing and prospective funders as well as the U.S. Department of Education as a model for articulation of success, data collection and performance reporting.