A network committed to achievement, equity & inquiry

The Mission

Springboard Schools seeks to transform schools throughout California into vital places to learn and to teach. We work with education leaders in both schools and districts to develop, assess and use the knowledge needed for schools to engage in a systematic and sustainable improvement process. Springboard Schools aims to help create a future in which all students learn to high levels and where race, class, language, gender, and culture are no longer good predictors of educational outcomes.

The Vision

We view the vision that guides our work as a series of fully integrated principles, none of which stands alone:

About Students

• Every student deserves to be held to uncompromisingly high standards that challenge him or her to grow intellectually, socially, emotionally, and ethically. Because children learn differently, they require teachers, schools, and school systems that are flexible and provide active support to ensure that every student can meet these expectations.
• Students learn best when they investigate, construct, apply, and demonstrate their knowledge with their teachers and others. Learning is an active, continuous, dynamic process.
• To learn well, students must experience their schools as caring communities in which they are well known and taught in ways appropriate to their individual strengths, needs, and experiences. Learning is a function of the whole child.

About Schools

• Good schools show a proactive commitment to equity by working to ensure that students of different genders and from different racial, class, cultural, and language backgrounds achieve similar educational successes.
• Good schools are self-consciously principled and caring communities built on a shared sense of purpose and a clear vision of good teaching and learning. This vision and sense of purpose are shared by many leaders, including parents, teachers, students, and administrators.
• Good schools expect teachers to meet high standards. Because challenging and productive classrooms require teachers to be active learners, a good school provides its teachers with access to outside expertise and with the time and resources necessary to develop a deep understanding of their subjects, to expand their repertoire of instructional strategies, and to work with colleagues to develop a coherent program for their students.
• Good teachers expect students to demonstrate deep understanding. They use multiple assessments of student learning, applying what they learn to adjust their instruction to students' learning needs.
• Good schools practice shared inquiry to improve the learning of all students, and have a focused strategy for improving instruction. They use data from multiple assessments to constantly and carefully evaluate what programs and instructional strategies work, adjusting the school's program in response.
• Good schools view parents and community members as important resources for understanding, supporting, and teaching students. The school works actively to involve parents and the community, regularly evaluating the school's performance and publicly assessing progress toward the community's shared goals for its children.

About School Districts and the Region

• Leaders in California – including leaders in education, business, and government – understand the importance of strong public schools and what it takes to create them.
• With a shared vision of teaching and learning, district leaders articulate a focused strategy for improving instruction.
• Districts use policies, political leadership, and the allocation of resources to improve instruction, enhance student achievement, build connections with their communities, and create an equitable system of schools across the Bay Area.
• School districts regularly collect, reflect on, and share data about the effectiveness of their school-support strategies. They report their progress publicly and work constantly to better support schools.
• Schools, districts, institutions of higher education, community agencies, and other Bay Area organizations that support students, families, and schools form a learning community that identifies, evaluates, and disseminates solutions to common challenges. They maintain high standards, support each other, and hold one another accountable for making progress toward their shared vision.
• Schools, districts, parents, and the public recognize that good public schools are the cornerstone of democracy. They agree on a vision of a good school and work together on behalf of all children.