The Missing Piece of the School Improvement Conversation

School improvement often starts with asking what needs to change, but identifying the right strategy is only part of the work. Whether that strategy leads to meaningful change often depends on the leaders responsible for putting it into practice.

The next step in school improvement is not always another training, program, or strategy for a school to adopt. Sometimes, it is giving the people already leading the school the time, support, and resources to determine what needs to change and make those changes happen. That might mean creating space for leaders to think strategically, strengthening their leadership capacity, or giving them an opportunity to step back from the daily demands of running a school and ask a harder question: What, specifically, needs to change for our students to do better?

School improvement efforts often center on the things we can see and name, such as curriculum, tutoring, technology, instructional strategies, data, intervention programs, and new approaches to supporting students. Those things matter, but none of them work in isolation. Someone has to determine which priorities deserve attention, assess whether a strategy is working, build the systems to sustain it, develop the people responsible for carrying it out, and make adjustments along the way.

That responsibility falls largely to school leaders, yet leadership capacity isn't always treated as a central part of the school improvement equation. At Great Schools North Carolina, we believe it should be.

Meaningful Support for Leaders

When leaders have meaningful support around them, they have greater capacity to examine their schools honestly, identify the challenges that matter most, bring in the expertise they need, learn from other leaders, and develop strategies that reflect the realities of their students and communities. 

That's the thinking behind the School Quality Cohort, an 18-month experience for leaders of existing charter schools who are ready to identify specific levers of change and put them into action. Participants receive individualized coaching, strategic partnerships, peer learning opportunities, and $150,000 in funding to support their school improvement efforts.

Apply for the School Quality Cohort today.

The support is intentionally flexible because schools have different needs. One school may need to strengthen its leadership team. Another may need to rethink its instructional systems, make better use of data, strengthen student supports, or build systems that can keep pace with growth. The goal is to help leaders identify what their school needs most and build a strategy around it.

GSNC’s Inaugural School Quality Cohort

The inaugural cohort offers a glimpse of what that can look like in practice. At RISE Charter School, the School Quality Cohort created an opportunity for the leadership team to invest in its own development while strengthening the leadership infrastructure needed to support the school’s continued growth.

“As a school leader, I have rarely prioritized spending limited resources on my own development because investing every possible dollar directly in students has always felt more urgent,” said Dawn Arthur, Executive Director of RISE Charter School. “The School Quality Cohort gave the RISE leadership team something incredibly valuable: the resources, time, and permission to invest in our own growth. We received thoughtful coaching, stepped away from the daily demands of school leadership, and learned alongside an inspiring community of charter leaders who generously shared their wisdom, challenges, and encouragement. Sometimes the most powerful gift is being reminded that you are not alone—and that others believe in your work and want to make sure you have what you need to succeed for kids.”

That investment helped RISE strengthen its leadership team through coaching and leadership development, building capacity that supports the school’s broader work. Today, RISE ranks among North Carolina’s top-performing public charter schools for academic growth.

At Pioneer Springs Community School, leaders used their grant to strengthen the school's academic framework and instructional systems, including the systems supporting its Multi-Tiered System of Supports.

The schools had different priorities, but both demonstrate an important reality about school improvement: identifying a challenge is often easier than determining what to do about it. Moving from recognizing a problem to implementing a sustainable solution requires thoughtful analysis, clear priorities, staff engagement, strong communication, and the ability to adjust along the way.

Why This Support is Essential

That work is particularly demanding because school leaders are managing far more than academic improvement. They are balancing staffing, operations, family relationships, school culture, accountability, and the everyday demands of running a school while also building teams, making difficult decisions, and keeping their schools moving toward a long-term vision.

Leadership development, then, isn't separate from school improvement. It is one of the conditions that makes improvement possible. Investing in a school leader means investing in the team they lead, the systems they build, the decisions they make, and the environment they create for teachers and students.

This is especially important for established schools. There is considerable attention given to the beginning of a school's story, from a founder's vision to the opening of a new school. Successful schools receive attention, too. The years in between can be less visible, even though they are often when leaders are working through some of their most important questions. Schools grow, student needs change, staff teams evolve, and systems that once worked may need to be redesigned.

GSNC Invests in Leaders

Great Schools North Carolina invests in these leaders because strong leadership creates the conditions for meaningful, sustainable improvement. The goal isn't to tell experienced school leaders how to run their schools. It is to give them access to coaching, expertise, resources, and relationships that can help them address their most important challenges and move their schools forward.

If we want stronger schools, we cannot invest only in what schools do. We also have to invest in the people responsible for leading the work.

Applications for the School Quality Cohort are open through September 8 for leaders of existing North Carolina charter schools who are ready to identify the changes that could make the greatest difference for their students and turn those priorities into action.

The most important school improvement strategy may not be something new that a school needs to adopt. It may be giving the people already leading the school the support to make the right changes happen.