Syracuse school superintendent's challenge: 100 days to fix a problem in a school

Sharon Contreras, Syracuse School Superintendent, has been making great strides. With help from Say Yes to Education and Schaffer Consulting, she introduced the Rapid Results Approach to one school in the 2008-09 school year with great success and has now expanded use of the process to the entire district.

Goals range from 95% on-time arrival from the transportation department to increasing reading levels of fourth-grade students.

The schools are developing the projects themselves with support from a consultant. The idea is that after 100 days, if data show students are doing better, the schools can apply what they’ve done on a larger scale. Contreras points to the “Rapid Results” projects as the most immediate action she’s taken to make changes in city schools.

Read the Syracuse.com news story.