• What we teach and how we teach
• PK-8th grade over a quarter million devoted to students
• Small class sizes, 2 teachers in a class of 20. Started at 85 students
• Incredible amount of individual support
• Transportation is 7% of the budget. 
• Breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day
• Wraparound services
• On-site partnership with Dayton’s Children's Hospital - full-time mental health, doctor, and other services for kids.
• Startup year - be naive about what starting a school entails. 
• Temporary site - Fire marshall
• Working with a local Medicaid provider
• 30% higher in every category than every other child on Medicaid
• Looking at lots of data for whole-child outcomes
• 51% at grade level at the start, and 85% at grade level at the end of the year.
• Not all roses and sunshine
• Screenings for character, mental health, etc. 
• Age 27 goals. 
• How they teach - Tried finding instructional strategies that really moved the needle. 
• Influenced by Hattie’s work - prioritized by effect size.
• Teacher quality matters
• Benjamin Bloom’s Research - Acton Academy
• Using personalized tools in a smart way. 
• Zearn math program - typically used as supplemental
• Thrown the idea out the window
• Mixed-age classrooms. 
• Start teaching at the instructional level, not the age or grade level.
• Personality and character benefits
• Looking at Age 27, and how that reflects in 1 year. 
• Hire in the top 10% of teachers. 

About AJ Stich

Adam J. Stich (A.J.) is the founding principal of The Greater Dayton School.  Prior to starting in this role, he spent nearly seven years as a principal in Chicago Public Schools, where he drove strong outcomes for students and teachers.  You can hear his first interview on Transformative Principal at this link.

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