Boston Public Schools: 
The Management Institute

KEY FACTS: 
Boston Public Schools


• ~ 57,050 students

• 8,035 total staff
• 4,220 teachers

• Total budget: ~ $821.4 million (FY 2011)





Situation Analysis

Like many school districts, Boston Public Schools (BPS) focused professional development resources on instructional staff, and rarely invested in development opportunities for its operational and financial managers. In 2009, growing pressure for improved performance led the district to invest in building management and leadership skills among central office managers and leaders. BPS partnered with The District Management Council (DMC) to establish a 15-week leadership development program, The Management Institute, to build management capacity across ten departments while realizing short-term performance improvements for the district.

Opportunity

The Management Institute is built on the idea that the best way to develop leaders is to ask people to lead projects and achieve results. The Institute combines four critical, complementary components to achieve this goal:


1. Formal Professional Development: these sessions embed a common language and practical skills with the potential to increase managerial effectiveness.
2. Performance Challenges: these are specific, measurable goals that contribute to a department priority. Each participant sets a performance challenge.

3. Peer Group Coaching Sessions: participants work in cross-functional peer groups 
of to define, refine, and work toward achieving their performance challenges.
4. One-on-One Coaching: participants receive individual feedback and support from a 
DMC coach providing real-time, practical professional development.

Key Outcomes

70 operational and financial managers participated in three cohorts of The Management Institute during the first year of the program. Results ranged from developing an IT system to backup and protect district data, to increasing the number of students participating in the district's breakfast program, to raising BPS' participation rate in the city's Employee Charitable Campaign. By achieving their performance challenges, these managers drove $4.2 million in annualized cost savings as well as improvements in quality of service, cycle time, and the student learning environment. Participants left the Institute with greater appreciation for their colleagues and improved managerial and leadership skills.