Rapid Results Approach At Work For a Non-Profit Organization

Using our Rapid Results Approach, Schaffer Consulting helped a non-profit organization in New York increase graduation rates of inner-city youth. Schaffer worked with the interdisciplinary teams of leadership and staff to help raise both testing scores and, more importantly, confidence of the students involved.

Increasing College Graduation Rates of Inner City Youth

Schaffer worked with an innovative, non-profit organization whose mission is to dramatically increase the college graduation rates of inner city youth through supporting the students’ academic, social, and emotional development.

Strengthening the Capabilities of Interdisciplinary Teams

Schaffer supported a series of school-based Rapid Results projects that resulted in significant achievements in accelerating academic performance (i.e., improved reading, writing and numeracy scores), talent, and social emotional development and operational efficiencies – including closing a $50MM budget deficit.

These results were accomplished by supporting a series of project teams to accelerate District-wide performance. Through intensive work with the leadership team and staff, Schaffer helped strengthen the capabilities of the interdisciplinary teams responsible for providing support and advocacy in each of the schools.

One school, for instance, selected a Rapid Results goal of improving 5th grade students’ ELA writing scores by 2 or more levels (according to the New York state 6th grade ELA writing rubric) within 75 days.

Rapid Results Helps Measurement Scores Soar

ELA writing scores improved markedly. Within 75 days:

• Students increased their average score from 8.75 to 12 (out of 15)

• 19 out of 24 (79%) students improved at least 2 levels

• 21 out of 24 (87.5%) students showed improvement of at least 1 level

Improvements Expand Beyond Academics

Additional benefits noted by the team included:

• Increased student engagement – students viewed themselves as writers

• Increased student stamina for writing assignments

• Students both appreciated and used feedback to revise their work

Schaffer went on to help the school district run a GE-style WorkOut to deliver universal health-care coverage to the thousands of school students who were uninsured. This involved coordinated efforts by the school district, government agencies, community-based organizations, and religious institutions.