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Our Work

The Ball Foundation partners with mid-sized urban school districts to transform schools into places in which all children learn at high levels. Everything the foundation does is grounded in a set of core beliefs and guiding principles (see below). The foundation believes that sustainable educational transformation is possible through partnership with school districts.

The foundation does not enter into partnership with a pre-programmed set of solutions. Together with a district, the foundation designs a set of activities and interventions that is appropriate for that district at any given point in time during the partnership.

Vision

The Ball Foundation envisions a high performance education system in which all children learn at high levels regardless of race, national origin, socioeconomic status, native language or culture.

Mission

The mission of the Ball Foundation, a partner in transforming schools, is to increase literacy achievement for all students using systemic changes to improve professional practice.

The Ball Approach


click to enlarge in new window -- graphic by Mary Corrigan

The Ball Approach is an adaptive process for change. [Download PDF version]

By supporting and enhancing organizational learning and building sustainable organizational capacity, the Ball Foundation works toward high literacy achievement for all students. In the Ball Approach, the foundation brings expertise from four domains--- communities of practice, data-driven literacy instruction, family engagement, and leaderful behavior---and combines them with school districts' existing assets. Throughout the phases of partnership---inquiry and engagement, implementation of design, and transition to sustainability---the foundation serves as coach, consultant, and critical friend to school districts.

Also see the latest version of the Education Initiatives theory of change.

Core Beliefs

Guiding Principles
  1. We believe that all children are capable of attaining high levels of academic achievement.
  2. We believe that a focus on English language literacy will result in all students being able to read, speak, write, think and reason at levels that allow them to fully participate in society as lifelong learners, productive workers and contributing systems.
  3. We believe that competencies of educators directly impact the opportunity for and probability of all students attaining high levels of academic achievement.
  4. We believe that educators, parents, and policy-makers are capable of leading transformational change.
  5. We believe that external organizations can provoke and support leaders of educational transformation.
  6. We believe that achieving sustainable educational transformation requires a systemic, rather than a programmatic or piecemeal approach.
  7. We believe that the learning required for systemic transformation occurs in a social context.
  1. We invest in strategic partnerships to produce sustainable improvement in student achievement.
  2. We build trustful relationships with our partners.
  3. We build a shared vision and engage in collaborative learning with our partners.
  4. We implement adaptive models in a continuous process of co-discovery, co-creation and co-intervention.
  5. We work with what's working and what's possible, not with what's wrong.
  6. We ground our work in research-based practices.
  7. We create connections between practitioners within and across partnerships.
  8. We practice ongoing reflection, feedback and evidence-based conversations with our partners.
  9. We honor our obligation to share our learning and to learn from others who work for school transformation.

Indicators of Impact

We expect our partnership work to result in sustainable improvements in

  1. Organizational capacity (as evidenced by changes in culture, competencies, and conditions)
  2. Organizational learning (as evidenced by changes in the way knowledge is created, acquired, interpreted, shared and used)
  3. Professional practices (as evidenced by enhanced instructional, organizational, and leadership practices)
  4. Student achievement (as evidenced by reading and writing performance)