The DMGroup Spotlight
When evaluating the efficacy of your district and school initiatives, can you answer the following questions with confidence?
- Which programs are achieving the intended outcomes?
- Which students benefit most from a particular program?
- What is the cost-effectiveness of each program?
In the absence of a coherent approach to determine which programs and initiatives are getting the best results for students, districts often rely on a combination of historical practices, stakeholder interests, and professional judgment to make decisions about various programs.
Performing an Academic Return on Investment (A-ROI) analysis can help you get answers to these questions and ensure that you invest district resources in programs that work for your students.
In this DMGroup Spotlight, we share information about DMGroup's A-ROI approach and how it can be used to drive better decisions, better budgets, and better student outcomes.
A-ROI Explained: What is it and Why is it Important?
To ensure that resources are being used most effectively for students, DMGroup has developed an Academic Return on Investment (A-ROI) approach to measure the benefits (student outcomes by student segments) and fully-loaded costs of individual programs.
With this approach, your district can use data to assess and compare programs and determine:
- Which programs are making a difference and should be expanded?
- Which programs should be maintained?
- Which programs should be tailored to specific segments of students?
- Should any programs be sunsetted?
SELF-ASSESSMENT: Are You Prepared to Adopt an A-ROI Approach to Resource Allocation?
Adopting an Academic Return on Investment (A-ROI) approach to resource allocation can be a significant shift in mindset and practice for a district. A few indicators can help districts determine whether they are ready, willing, and able to adopt A-ROI practices.
Bring DMGroup's self-assessment to your next leadership meeting to evaluate your readiness to adopt an A-ROI approach to resource allocation.
VIRTUAL ROUNDTABLE: A-ROI Approach for Equitable Resource Allocation in Atlanta Public Schools
Atlanta Public School leaders Dr. Tauheedah Baker-Jones, Chief Equity and Social Justice Officer, and Natasha Speed, Executive Director, share with DMGroup Director Alice Lai what led them to use the A-ROI methodology to evaluate the equity of the district programming (2-minute watch).
The Atlanta Public School Leaders also discussed:
- How they built stakeholder buy-in for the project
- How they decided to evaluate the impact of their Advanced Placement (AP) courses
- What are the takeaways from participating in the A-ROI Institute
- What are their accomplishments so far, and what are the next steps
SUCCESS STORY: Three Member Districts Leverage A-ROI Tools to Ensure Maximum Budget Impact
Top leaders of Boulder Valley School District (CO), Beaverton School District (OR), and Tigard-Tualatin School District (OR) applied A-ROI approaches and tools for integrating data into resource allocation decisions to ensure the greatest possible impact from district budgets.
Each of these districts was facing different challenges:
- Boulder Valley School District (CO) was expecting a new superintendent and a new strategic plan — the district needed a framework to determine what was working best;
- Beaverton School District (OR) was facing steep cuts in state budgets and wanted to use A-ROI to make thoughtful budget decisions;
- Tigard-Tualatin School District (OR) was making a big investment in technology to transform instruction — the district sought to develop the tools needed to measure impact.
Learn how the A-ROI methodology helped these DMCouncil member districts address their unique challenges and ensure that every dollar goes toward what helps students most.
DMGroup Currently Enrolling: Academic Return on Investment (A-ROI) Institute
Join DMGroup’s Academic Return on Investment (A-ROI) Institute to gain knowledge and skills to successfully and sustainably evaluate district programs and determine what works best for which students and at what cost.
The district team members will learn DMGroup’s 10-step A-ROI analysis process over four months, work together to conduct an A-ROI assessment on a critical program or initiative from their respective districts, and gain actionable insights. The program kicks off on March 7th.
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