SCHOOLWORKS® History

SCHOOLWORKS® is an education consulting company and certified women’s business enterprise (WBE) that provides a broad continuum of services to educators, administrators, institutions, and governing bodies in support of K-12 education improvement and reform. SchoolWorks provides actionable improvement support by helping schools, districts, networks, and education agencies identify strengths and weaknesses, develop and implement meaningful and achievable action plans, and monitor ongoing progress. SchoolWorks’ consultative supports span five key service areas: Accountability and Authorizer Supports, Quality Reviews, Instructional Supports, Leadership Supports and School Developer Supports.

The company was founded in 1998 by educator and entrepreneur Ledyard McFadden and was transitioned to long-term President and employee Kim Perron in January of 2020.

Evidence-Based School Quality Reviews

Initially contracted by charter school authorizers and departments of education, SCHOOLWORKS® conducted renewal site visits and district school reviews for accountability purposes. To frame this work, SCHOOLWORKS® developed the SCHOOLWORKS® Quality Criteria (SQC) in conjunction with a team from Harvard University Graduate School of Education to serve as a foundational set of standards that define effective school practices. Each criterion within the SQC is directly aligned to indicators that have demonstrated a positive impact on student learning and achievement via documented research. SCHOOLWORKS® maintains and regularly updates this evidence base, and the SQC continues to serve as the foundation for the company’s review protocol, classroom observation tool, and related improvement supports.

With a comprehensive evidence base, structured evaluation process, and a growing team of trained, experienced evaluators in place; SCHOOLWORKS® reviews broadened and deepened over the years to include formative school reviews, district and network level reviews, and a variety of specialized evaluations.

School Improvement Supports (Planning, Coaching, and Instructional Training)

To answer a growing need for high-quality school improvement supports, SCHOOLWORKS® evolved to develop and implement improvement planning supports, instructional supports, and leadership coaching aligned to its evidence-based framework. Over time, many of the company’s quality reviews progressed directly into multi-year sustainable improvement programs that included needs-aligned planning, intervention, and progress monitoring.

School Developer Supports

The company simultaneously evolved and refined a focused specialty in school design, expanding to provide expert charter application writing support for new school founders and renewal application writing support for operational charter schools. In 2020, SCHOOLWORKS® launched its Charter School Application Writing Bootcamp, the first online course specifically designed to support new school founders in the process of charter application writing. The course immediately became a key training component utilized by charter associations and fellowship programs nationwide.

Charter School Authorizer Supports

SCHOOLWORKS® also evolved and expanded its services for charter school authorizers to include third-party new school application evaluation, oversight management support, and needs-aligned technical assistance. In 2016, SCHOOLWORKS® was contracted by the Minnesota Department of Education to conduct the first evaluations of charter school authorizing practices. The company later was contracted by the Ohio Department of Education in the same year to conduct authorizer evaluation in the state of Ohio. SCHOOLWORKS® has since partnered with several other state agencies to support formative authorizer reviews.

As professional development resource for charter school authorizers, SCHOOLWORKS® launched its Charter School Authorizing Online Professional Development Course in 2021. Since its launch, the course has been used as an onboarding and training resource for authorizers in multiple states.

Looking Ahead

Today, SCHOOLWORKS® plays a partnership role in helping all of its education partners utilize data-informed insights to understand their strengths and weaknesses and develop and enact meaningful improvement initiatives. As we continue to expand our service offerings to meet the needs of educators, we maintain our commitment to offer professional, needs-aligned services that prioritize student success.

Contact SCHOOLWORKS®

To find out more about how SchoolWorks can help your organization, please reach out to us anytime at info@schoolworks.org . We look forward to talking to you.

Introducing SchoolWorks Charter Application Bootcamp!

Thinking of launching a charter school? Not sure where to begin? Check out our new online course, brought to you by the trusted experts at SchoolWorks.