A few weeks ago, we hosted "Managing for Performance," which focused on how performance management can help districts optimize the performance of their central office, school zones, and classrooms. Hosted in partnership with the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation and the District of Columbia Public Schools, the event convened districts from around the country on the critical topic of performance management.

On March 7, Ascendant, along with the DC Public Schools and the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, hosted an event titled Managing for Performance. The event has over 60 professionals representing over 20 schools coming together to talk about performance management in education.

President Obama has tried to inspire the collegiate world by setting a goal for the United States to have the highest percentage of college graduates in the world by 2020. Looking at this goal very simply, the colleges, especially state universities need to start graduating more students. The situation gets a little more complex when you realize that colleges rely very heavily on state funding, and with the economic crisis, most budgets have been cut. The University of Hawaii system has seen its budget cut over 20% from 2009-2011. So, how can you increase graduate rates with fewer and fewer resources?

Uncommon Schools just announced its 2009-2010 education results. For those of you that do not know of Uncommon, they are a charter management organization that manages 24 schools with almost 5,000 students. Their schools operate in New York City, Newark, NJ, Boston, and upstate New York. They focus on creating a rigorous and joyful education environment, where the teachers can focus on teaching and most administrative functions are managed centrally. Like many charter organizations and public school reformers, they believe that all students can achieve, regardless of their background, race, or economic circumstances.

Rochester City School District is in the process of reinventing itself, and perhaps, reinventing the way that educational leaders across the country think about K12 educational performance. Rochester is on its way to improving its graduation rate, growing it from an abysmal 39% to an acceptable 75%, but Rochester's ambitions do not stop there.

Ten years ago, the Atlanta Public Schools (APS) had low and declining student achievement, demoralized teachers, crumbling buildings, high turnover among superintendents (average tenure of two years) and disaffected parents pulling their children out of the system. More than 60 percent of the city's high school students missed at least two weeks of school per year, and the district had more than 700 teaching vacancies. The system was failing its students and stakeholders. Fast forward 10 years, and Atlanta has reversed its dismal numbers.

The Washington, DC school reform effort has been getting a lot of press recently. I think the teachers and administrators in Washington deserve a lot of credit for the advances they've made so far, but I think to really reform the district they have to start focusing more on strategy. My quick comment on a LinkedIn discussion turned out to be a little more lengthy, so I thought I'd share it here, too.

The Wall Street Journal weekend edition last weekend covered Eli Broad and his philanthropy. If you don't know, Mr. Broad is retired from for-profit jobs where he founded two Fortune 500 companies. He lives in Los Angeles and manages a foundation with $2.1 billion. As Ms. Riley, from the WSJ points, out, he is living by the Carnegie mantra of "Who dies with wealth, dies in shame."

At a panel discussion at Harvard Business School Global Business Summit the topic was how to address the national crisis in public education. The all star list of speakers endorsed different approaches and yet agree on the fundamentals of how to transform the education system through disruptive education.

The Wall Street Journal reported today that the stimulus plan had $100 billion in it for school systems, with only one catch to the money. You had to demonstrate that you were making progress in improving the performance of students. This is money on top of all of the foundation money that is available to the same schools with the same challenge. "Show me you are making a difference."