Knowledge From the Field

Results-Based Leadership: Improving School Readiness in DeKalb County, Georgia

Published: November 2010

Publisher(s): Annie E. Casey Foundation

Funder(s): Annie E. Casey Foundation

View Report (6 pages; 2.70MB; PDF)

Results-Based Leadership: Improving School Readiness in DeKalb County, Georgia

Area of Focus: Teacher Quality and Leadership

Abstract

This report discusses the Leadership in Action Program (LAP) in DeKalb County, Georgia and its role in aiding community leaders in improving school readiness through a variety of initiatives, including a pre-kindergarten program for refugee children and social workers encouraging early literacy.

Key Findings and/or Recommendations

+Several positive results have occurred from instituting LAP initiatives. An example is KinderCamp, which was designed to smooth the transition of pre-K students into school, and has been shown to both alleviate stress for children and parents and build partnering relationships between teachers and parents.

= LAP initiatives are implemented through a process known as “Results-Based Accountability”, where community leaders define the desired results, address and integrate issues regarding race, class, and culture, identify and promote practices to take back to their home organizations, and make group decisions and build group consensus to take aligned actions.

-The county has traditionally experienced many barriers to student success, including high rates of poverty, single-parent homes, non-English speakers, low high school graduation rates, and low elementary student scores on Georgia’s academic achievement tests.

Geographic Focus: Local; DeKalb County, Georgia

Subjects/Keywords: Community Improvement/Development; Philanthropy and Voluntarism, Capacity Building; Children and Youth

+ Successful strategy
= Observation
– Challenge