The bravEd Cohorts

The bravEd Cohorts...

...build Benefits-Based accountability systems school by school and district by district. Accountability shouldn't be generic. Nor should it be to a governmental agency for high or rising test scores (that, surprise, surprise, don't mean what most of us have been taught to believe). Rather, accountability must be to students, parents, and communities for the educational benefit expected when young people are entrusted to a school.

The Cohort membership is the key to moving educational accountability to a better place by showing the world that a better way of accounting for what happens in a school is doable.

Even more remarkable is that no policy change is required. No policies exist nor can exist that would prevent an accounting of what matters. In fact, a great many policy makers tell us that having schools account for what matters was their intent when they built what we have. As you and your teams build better systems you open up a space for a different kind of accountability that might one day replace what we currently have.

We like to say as well that you don't need anyone's permission to account for what matters. Accounting for what happens in an organization will be done well or poorly, but it will be done. Doing it well, and accounting for what matters is what stakeholders already expect. Asking permission to do a job well is something no one need ever do.

The outcome of a Cohort is a set of leaders in each school and at the central office with the capacity to account for what each does in a deeply meaningful, trustworthy way. Having that capacity is transformational in a way few things are.

The national Cohorts start each fall and run for two years. We meet ten times during each school year for 90-minute virtual sessions. School and district leaders supplement that with a 30-minute weekly effort, aided by bravEd coaches who work regularly with those leaders.

Critical to the Cohort experience is our Doing the Work Community. This is our burgeoning knowledge repository and resource center that actively works to engage participants as they participate in the work.

Regional and/or Large District Cohorts start as schools are ready to engage in the work. Leaders in such a district are encouraged to reach out directly so we can plan together the best next steps to take.