This post was written by second year, Ambika Ahuja. Ambika interned this summer with the Houston Independent School District through an Education Pioneers fellowship. Ambika’s internship was supported by CASE’s Summer Internship Fund (learn more about SIF at the bottom on this post!)
I started my summer internship with Houston Independent School District (HISD) at a time when change was the order of the day. The largest school district in Texas – the seventh largest one in the country – was pulsating with a sense of possibilities. HISD operates 279 schools and had recently embarked on an ambitious journey to put an effective teacher in every classroom. They hoped to close the achievement gap in a place where 80% of 203,000 students come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds and only 15% of those who finish high school graduate from college within four years.
At the heart of this effort to close the achievement gap is the ‘Effective Teacher Initiative,’ a four-step engagement process including:
- smart and focused recruitment,
- useful appraisal systems,
- individualized support, and
- new career pathways and differentiated compensation systems.
The Effective Teacher Initiative aims to retain the best teachers, attract the nation’s top teaching talent, and offer students access to high performing teachers in high-need schools and subject areas.
I was involved in the last piece – the Career Pathways and Compensation system – to help HISD with its stakeholder engagement process as it transitions from a system that rewards teachers for their years of experience and academic credentials to one that rewards instructional excellence and student growth.
I was on a team that helped design career pathways, leadership roles, and non-monetary recognition to incentivize teachers to stay in the classroom and counteract the alarming rate that effective teachers were either leaving for higher-paying administrative positions or leaving education altogether. Using key concepts from core marketing and strategy classes at Fuqua, I helped identify obstacles surrounding the stakeholder engagement process, assessed attitudes among teachers and school leaders, and conducted research on the history of performance pay in the Texas education system. After a busy summer, I synthesized my work in to a set of recommendations to build a new communications strategy, get the most meaningful feedback out of teachers and principals during focus group and advisory group meetings, incorporate this feedback into the system design process, and identified steps necessary for a smooth transition into the new system.
More importantly, serving as part of the Education Pioneers cohort for the summer gave me an exposure to the public education landscape. Meeting with thought leaders in education and brainstorming with high-caliber fellows from different graduate programs on education case studies gave me a more holistic view of issues surrounding education reform in the U.S. today. Thanks to the Student Internship Fund, this fellowship was a viable option for me.
The Summer Internship Fund (SIF) enables first year Duke MBA-Daytime students to learn about the rewards and challenges of social sector management without making a significant financial sacrifice. In addition, the program enables organizations that otherwise could not afford to hire MBA student interns to benefit from students’ expertise. The SIF has supported more than 130 students, distributed more than $400,000, and helped to further the mission of many nonprofit and government organizations. Funds are raised through student fundraising and from donors who believe in the mission of the program. If you would like to contribute, you can donate online using your credit card.