The Ahmanson Foundation Grants $90K to Springboard Schools for Southern California High Schools Best Practices Network.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Springboard Schools' High School Best Practices Network in Southern California kicked off on January 18th at the Sheraton Fairplex in Pomona, thanks in part to a generous grant of $90,000 recently awarded by The Ahmanson Foundation.

This new Network will bring together superintendents and high school principals from the Los Angeles area to acquire new knowledge and skills in a collaborative and accountable forum. Network meetings focus on best practice case studies and the practical strategies they provide. Between meetings, participants receive follow-up coaching from highly-trained Springboard Schools staff. This coaching helps to cement the new practices introduced in Network meetings, and ensure that they are actually implemented.

Springboard's High School Best Practices Network in the Southern California is modeled after the Central Valley High School Best Practices Network, which started last fall, and has received enthusiastic responses from its fifty-plus participants. Like the Central Valley Network, the Southern California event will seek to leverage Springboard Schools' research and that of others to show that it is possible for high-poverty schools to successfully educate their students and to impart their successful methods - their best practices - to the Network participants. This approach - research, followed by professional development on best practices and follow-up coaching on implementation - is proving to be both popular and effective.

The Springboard High School Best Practices Network is supported through a combination of public and private sector resources. Network meetings are underwritten by The Ahmanson Foundation and participating schools pay an annual per-school fee that covers the costs of follow-up coaching between meetings. Thanks to the generosity of the Ahmanson Foundation, participating schools pay far less than they otherwise would for this top-quality professional development series.

About Springboard Schools

Springboard Schools is a nonprofit network of educators committed to raising student achievement and narrowing the achievement gap. They work with education organizations and their leaders at every level of the system to provide them with knowledge, skills, and tools to create school systems in which good teaching is the norm in every classroom for every student. The Springboard Schools research team has developed a reputation as a reliable source of information that is useful to both practitioners and policy-makers.

Springboard Schools is located at 181 Fremont Street, San Francisco, Ca 94105. For more information, visit www.SpringboardSchools.org or call 415 348-5500.