Managing for Results in
America's Great City Schools
The Council of Great City Schools is pleased to present, Managing for Results in America’s Great City Schools. It is the product of a multiyear effort to identify performance measures, key indicators, and best practices that can guide the improvement of non-instructional operations in urban public school districts across the nation.
Michael Casserly
Executive Director, CGCS
Beginning in 2010, the survey and reporting system is fully web-based, giving school district leader’s instant access to a management dashboard system of performance indicators. All indicators are presented city-by-city, so members can compare themselves to each other.
Each of the goals, objectives, and structure were developed during the Council’s annual meetings of Chief Operating Officers, Chief Financial Officers, Chief Human Resources Officers, and Chief Information Officers; and the work was overseen by the organization’s Task Force on Leadership, Governance, and Management and its Task Force on Finance. The Council organized technical teams composed of member-district administrators with extensive expertise in each functional area to develop and manage the project.
In addition, the project used a detailed and sophisticated research approach to collect, validate, and analyze the data. The report includes analyses of key indicators—or measures—that were developed in the areas of business services, finances, technology and human resources. The Council will continue to work with its member districts to refine the effort, establish longer trend lines, share effective practices, automate results, and fine-tune the measures to allow cities to make better policy and resource-deployment decisions.
We thank the Hewlett Foundation, the Microsoft Corporation, and TransACT Communications, in addition to the membership, for their support, expertise, and considerable time on this project.