New Partnerships


Allentown School District and Rowland Unified School District

The Ball Foundation is pleased to announce the formation of two new partnerships with Allentown (PA) School District and Rowland (CA) Unified School District. These two districts were chosen by the foundation in a selective process from a pool of 180 mid-sized urban school districts throughout the country.

Dr. Robert Hill, Executive Director of the Ball Foundation, said, "The districts we selected are already doing great work in teaching reading, writing, and oral language. Our partnership will build on those strengths to reach the goal of increased literacy achievement for all students. We believe that working with educators in a district to improve their professional practices will have a positive impact on their students' learning."

Dr. Maria Ott, Superintendent of Rowland Unified School District said, "I think we will have very meaningful outcome-driven conversations about teaching and learning and what constitutes the kind of teaching that's going to move our population that is so diverse."

Dr. Karen Angello, Superintendent of Allentown School District said, "I hope that we will develop and increase a community of learners among our staff, building on the conversation and collegiality that was apparent when we met with Ball Foundation staff. We could improve student achievement and we could improve instruction through the collaboration that the foundation would facilitate for us."

Prototype of Possible Partnership Activities [download pdf]
ACTIVITY PARTICIPANTS
Professional development to improve classroom literacy instruction Teams from cohorts of schools, district-level instructional staff
Communities of practice for teachers and principals to become more proficient in the use of effective literacy practices Principals, teachers, district-level instructional staff
Coaching to support and sustain systemic change Superintendent, executive leadership team
Coaching around effective literacy practices Principals, teachers, district-level instructional staff


 
 

 

 

Allentown SD press release (PDF)

Rowland USD press release (PDF)