Timeline
April — Ongoing principal consultations with school leadership teams
May 1 — Selection window closes
May 15 — SSO matches finalized (subject to Community District and High School Superintendent review)
June 1 – Network matches determined by SSOs
Selecting a School Support Organization
This spring, all schools have the opportunity to select the support services that they believe will best help their students succeed. All schools will select a School Support Organization to provide instructional guidance including professional development for teachers, curriculum development, mentoring, and interventions for struggling students and teachers. Schools may decide to renew their commitment to their current Schools Support Organization, but they must actively express that choice using an online selection tool. Each school community will approach the School Support Organization decision in its own unique way. Below are a few key steps to consider.
Consult with the school community throughout the decision-making process. Principals are required to engage in meaningful and informed consultations with their School Leadership Team and should reach out broadly to ensure that all the needs of the school community are taken into account during evaluations. Principals can refer to the following guidelines for engaging their school community:
- Provide school community members with information about each of the School Support Organization options. Information is available on this website and printable links are also available on most pages.
- Invite school community members to “Learning Opportunities” such as open-house events, webinars, and other sessions offered by School Support Organizations.
- Host a meeting for all school community members to learn more and share their opinions.
Evaluate School Support Organizations. The profiles found in this guide can be used to help schools determine which support choice will best serve the needs of their community. Each profile contains the following information:
- Summary of the organization
- Description of key service offerings in the areas of accountability and instruction, youth development, special needs supports, organizational and professional development, and any other support services
- Overview of organizational design, leadership and experience
- Description of schools that would be a “best fit” with the organization and its services
- Price and contact information
Principals can compare the services offered by each organization to the needs of their school. If a School Support Organization offers specific programmatic elements, principals should consider whether or not their school wants these supports.
Choose a School Support Organization. After consultation with the School Leadership Team, principals will use an online selection tool to rank their top choices of School Support Organizations. Principals’ Weekly and the Principals’ Portal will provide a link to the online selection tool that principals can access using their DOE network username and password. Principals can submit their selections at any time before May 1. Principals facing circumstances that prevent them from making a choice by May 1 should e-mail a request for an extension directly to the Chancellor and state the reasons.
Principals should consider the following when making a selection:
- To ensure that schools are matched with their top choice, it is essential that principals rank the Schools Support Organizations in their true order of preference.
- Most schools will get their first choice, but some organizations have capacity constraints. A school may not get its first choice if it selects a Partnership Support Organization and that PSO is either:
- over-subscribed (more principals choose it than it has places for) or;
- under-subscribed (to reach sufficient scale, PSOs have a defined minimum number of schools that must choose them)
- If a school ranks a PSO as their first selection, they must rank additional options, in order of preference, until they have selected either the Empowerment Support Organization or one of the Learning Support Organizations. At that point, a school will then be guaranteed a match, because ESO and LSOs have no capacity constraints.
- If a PSO is oversubscribed, schools already in the SSO are assured a space. The DOE will use a “smart lottery” to determine allocation of the remaining spaces. This “smart lottery” aims to ensure the most principals possible receive their highest choice possible.
- New this year, schools will have the opportunity to express a network preference. So be sure to explore network opportunities, and express those when selecting an SSO. After the SSO selection process has closed, principals and SSOs will work together to finalize network assignments.
Please note that before electronically submitting their School Support Organization selections via the online selection tool, principals will be asked to certify that they have consulted with their School Leadership Team about the selection decision. The final match will be subject to the review and approval of the Community District or High School Superintendent. Principals will also need to confirm their agreement to the Terms of Performance when making their SSO selection. This is a two-year agreement.
Evaluate Network Options Many SSOs organize into smaller networks of principals/schools. While researching various SSO options, principals may also consider the networks that would work best for their school needs. On the SSO selection tool, principals will have the opportunity to express a network preference. After the SSO selection process has closed, the “preferred network” information will be shared with the selected SSO to help speed the networking process. Principals and SSOs will work together to find the best fit and finalize network matches before June 1. Each SSO uses its own network process, and principals should ask their SSO for more details about their process.