The Cleveland Plan
Cleveland’s Plan for Transforming Schools (the Cleveland Plan) was adopted in 2012 with the strong support of Mayor Frank Jackson, the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, the Cleveland Teachers Union, civic leaders, elected officials, charter school operators, business, philanthropy, community organizations, religious organizations, parents and students. Its goal is to ensure that every child in Cleveland attends a high-quality school and that every neighborhood has a multitude of great schools from which families can choose. The plan is built upon growing and expanding the number of excellent schools in Cleveland—district and charter—and holding schools to the highest standards as they work in partnership to create dramatic student achievement gains for every child. The Cleveland Plan is supported by House Bill 525 (signed into law in July 2012), which made sweeping changes to state law around district autonomy and flexibility, employment policies and practices, and charter school quality and collaboration. The Cleveland Plan has four major components:
Grow the number of high-performing district and charter schools in Cleveland and close and replace failing schools.
Focus district’s central office on key support and governance roles and transfer authority and resources to schools.
Create the Cleveland Transformation Alliance to ensure accountability for all public schools in the city.
Invest and phase in high-leverage system reforms across all schools from preschool to college and career.