Case Study: Guadalupe Centers Charter Schools
CLIENT
Guadalupe Centers Charter Schools
THE CHALLENGE
The Guadalupe Centers Charter Schools network, based in Kansas City, Mo., began with an alternative high school focused on dropout prevention serving 15 students in the basement of a church. Now operating four schools and serving the full preschool through 12th grade continuum, Guadalupe Centers Charter Schools is dedicated to the success of more than 1,000 students each year, primarily from Latino families and lower-income backgrounds. The network engaged Insignia Partners to develop a long-term strategic plan that would be grounded in what families needed from the school, and flexible enough to adapt to new challenges impacting students’ learning.
OUR SCOPE
School Quality Review
Strategic Planning
Implementation Consultation
Ongoing Support
Established in 1918 in Kansas City, Mo., Guadalupe Centers holds the distinction of being the longest continuously operating agency serving Latinos in the United States. In the 1980s, Guadalupe Centers formalized its longstanding focus on education by creating its first school, an alternative high school aimed at dropout prevention. Today, Guadalupe Centers Charter Schools is a network of four schools serving the full preschool through 12th grade continuum. With ambitious goals centered on academic achievement for all students, Guadalupe Centers Charter Schools needed a plan to guide its day-to-day decision-making and operations that would reflect what families needed from the schools as well as centered on the most impactful goals, objectives, and action steps.
“Education isn’t cut-and-dried; the work is constantly changing. Insignia Partners has helped us work through challenges as they come up — working better as a system, addressing issues in a productive manner, and growing as an organization.”
The Insignia Partners team, led by Marisol Rodriguez, began the process with a deep dive into clearly defining the targets that the plan would work toward. They brought together widely representative groups of families, teachers, administrators and Board members for rich focus-group discussions. Those conversations informed the development of five pillars upon which the plan was constructed, including clear goals, objectives, and action steps. Anything but cookie-cutter, the process pushed Guadalupe Centers Charter Schools to surface what their stakeholders valued, and what actions would be most impactful in working toward those goals.
“Insignia Partners didn’t let us just scoot by with what we thought was important. They really probed and made us think differently about our organization and where we wanted to go.”
-Joe Palmer, Superintendent, Guadalupe Centers Charter School
Over five months, Insignia Partners worked closely with Guadalupe Centers to shape a comprehensive plan that addressed every part of the network’s operations, from academics to culture. Through in-person facilitation, group conference calls, and one-on-one consultation, Insignia Partners created a true partnership with network leaders and stakeholders in the planning process.
“Insignia Partners is really good at identifying what needs to be done, without saying exactly how you need to do it. They allowed us some autonomy, and that’s a strength.”
After the planning process concluded in the fall of 2018, Guadalupe Centers Charter School brought Insignia Partners back regularly to guide its implementation — monthly for a full year, now three times per year. Network leaders point to Insignia’s personal, relationship-driven approach as well as the intensive level of involvement as key to their ability to implement the plan with success.
“This has been an ongoing process and a big part of what we do day-to-day. We didn’t just throw a plan on the shelf. It’s a working document; that’s the best thing about it.”
Joe Palmer, Superintendent, Guadalupe Centers Charter School
The combination of a strong plan and support to see it through is showing results, as network leaders work the plan to improve everything from academics to culture to student support.
“We’ve tightened up our instructional model and staff development. We’ve seen a positive change in culture among our leadership team and teacher teams, with greater opportunities for teacher voice. We’ve made really strong gains in student attendance. And all of that is translating into more students meeting growth targets in our interim assessments.”
