Academic and Program Design and Improvement

Our Work

Our team has firsthand knowledge of what it takes to run great schools, school districts, and school networks, and to sustain thriving school communities through high-quality operations and planning.

We believe that when adults have the right skills, mindsets, tools, and resources, they create the conditions where deep and meaningful learning can happen for every student. Our work focuses on empowering educators and leaders to build systems and practices that sustain high-quality teaching and learning. By investing in adult learning and organizational capacity, we help ensure that every student has access to the kind of education that prepares them to thrive — academically, socially, and personally.

We partner side-by-side with a range of organizations and leaders, both one-on-one and in cohorts, to help them reach their goals. Our partners include charter schools, charter networks, charter management organizations, school districts, individual schools, cohorts, school leaders, funders, and state education agencies.

Our focus areas include:

• New School Planning: We help new schools build programs that center student success and implement those action plans.
• School Redesign: We help established schools close the gap between students’ current performance and their potential.
• School Improvement: We help high-performing schools go from good-to-great by codifying and strengthening their existing systems, including instructional models and culture systems.
• District/Network Expansion: We help school networks add more high-quality seats to serve more students and maximize their impact in communities.
• Curriculum Support: We help schools develop instructional visions and implement curricula that meet the needs of every learner.
• Instructional Management Systems: We help schools develop and implement instructional management systems, including professional development, data-driven decision-making, performance management, observation, and feedback.
• Executive and Instructional Leadership Coaching: We provide high-impact coaching that builds the capacity of leaders to effectively implement evidence-based strategies that drive results and school improvement.
• Access and Outcome Audits: We help organizations examine their policies, programs, and practices to ensure accessibility.
• School, Network, and District Health Assessments: We help school systems evaluate their key strengths and areas of opportunity to understand the best path forward.

Our Impact

Our team has worked with more than 200 districts, charter networks, and individual schools across the country, including:

Texas Education Agency – Improving Student Outcomes: As part of the Texas Education Agency’s Resilient Schools Support Program, we provided support including strategic planning, instructional coaching, curriculum implementation, and professional learning community facilitation to four districts and six charter networks across the state. Over the course of four years, Bellwether’s team focused on leveraging high-impact learning acceleration strategies for improving student outcomes through an inclusive approach that involved broader school communities — particularly campus leaders, teachers, and families.

Opportunity 180 and Clark County School District – Strategic Planning and Executive Coaching: We partnered with Opportunity 180 in Nevada to support several Clark County School District middle school leadership teams and develop their three-year strategic plans. The five-month cohort planning process included extensive engagement with teachers, families, and students to develop each school’s vision and priorities. We then provided 11 months of one-on-one coaching and implementation support for each school leader in the network.

Dove Schools – Instructional Design and Implementation: We partnered with Dove Schools in Oklahoma to create a five-year strategic plan that would strengthen its academic programs across Tulsa and Oklahoma City. As Dove expanded, Bellwether’s team supported Dove in creating a growth plan and multiyear financial model. We also helped the network create a cohesive K-12 literacy plan and provided comprehensive literacy training and on-the-ground implementation support to Dove leaders and instructional coaches.

Our Team

Anson Jackson
Senior Partner

Shirley Appleman
Senior Adviser

Akeshia Craven-Howell
Partner and Head of Early Childhood to Career Learning

Bill Durbin
Senior Partner

Molly Jamieson
Senior Associate Partner

Nithya Rajan
Partner