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Building a Coherent, Network-Wide Evaluation and Coaching System: Excel Academy Charter Schools and Hendy Avenue
Since 2024, Excel Academy Charter Schools (Excel) and Hendy Avenue Consulting (Hendy) have partnered to design and implement a comprehensive, coherent system for developing, supporting, and evaluating both teachers and leaders across the network.
What began as rubric refinement and committee work evolved into a holistic system that now includes:
- A comprehensive Teacher Observation and Feedback Tool
- A School-Leader Evaluation System, including a year-long Leader Development & Evaluation Framework (LEDF) pilot
- A codified, network-wide instructional coaching model
- Embedded leadership coaching for senior academic leaders
Together, this partnership moved Excel from tool design to system implementation — aligning evaluation, coaching, and leadership development under one shared theory of change.
The Goals of the Work
Across phases (October 2024–June 2026), the partnership between Hendy and Excel centered on three major goals.
1. Articulate a Clear Vision of Excellence
Excel sought to define:
- What excellent teaching looks like.
- What excellent school leadership looks like.
- What excellent instructional coaching looks like.
- How all three connect in one coherent system.
Excel partnered with Hendy to design several tools and frameworks to codify these definitions. Together, Excel and Hendy created:
- A comprehensive Teacher Evaluation Tool – The Excel Observation Rubric
- A comprehensive School-Leader Evaluation System
- A unified Leader Development & Evaluation Framework (LEDF) pilot for 2025–26
The goal was not just documentation — it was clarity. Leaders and teachers needed a shared understanding of excellence and growth. These frameworks provide that clarity.
2. Operationalize the Vision Through Implementation
While quality tools that define excellence is a start, implementation of that definition with aligned support is what really changes practice. In 2025-26, Hendy and Excel’s work shifted explicitly toward operationalization of these frameworks. This work has included piloting the LEDF across the network. This pilot includes:
- Training for evaluators.
- Collecting feedback through surveys and focus groups.
- Refining guidebooks based on that feedback, and building supporting materials.
The work has also included executing on a coherent instructional coaching model across the network. Hendy has worked with Excel instructional coaches to:
- Train coaches and leaders on a defined coaching model.
- Conduct site visits at schools to support coaching and development around elements of the coaching model.
- Host recurring professional development and office hours to provide both proactive and responsive support for coaching.
3. Build Internal Leadership Capacity
Beyond tools, Excel wanted to refine leadership muscle. Over the two years of our partnership, Hendy has supported building Excel leadership capacity through leadership coaching for the Managing Director of Academic Leadership and the Director of Talent. Our work has also included ongoing weekly strategic check-ins with the Chief Schools Officer to ensure coherence and alignment across the work. And, Hendy has worked to develop internal facilitation capacity by creating training sessions that Excel leaders are supported to deliver directly to staff. The long-term goal of this support is to ensure that Excel can sustain excellence without the support of an external partner.
The Partnership Model
The success of the partnership between Excel and Hendy is rooted not just in goals and deliverables, but in the nature of the partnership.
1. Strategic, Not Transactional
The weekly check-ins with senior leadership created a rhythm of decision-making, troubleshooting, prioritization and iteration. This work is not “deliver and disappear” consulting. It is embedded strategy work.
2. Co-Construction with Stakeholders
Committee structures were central in both teacher and leader system design. Excel leaders participated in design sessions; provide feedback; pilot components; and refine language and tools. Co-construction has created buy-in to the strategies, and helped to avoid change fatigue so common when new initiatives are implemented.
3. Change Management Embedded Throughout
Each of Hendy’s scopes of work with Excel anticipate change-management challenges:
- Balance feedback with decisiveness.
- Avoid overwhelming stakeholders.
- Clarify messaging.
- Stage implementation in phases.
Communication drafts, surveys, focus groups, and steering committees are intentional levers — not afterthoughts.
Results to Date
Excel’s effort to define excellence and implement systems is ongoing. By mid-pilot (SY25–26), Excel has:
- An embedded and system-wide adopted Teacher Observation Rubric.
- A unified leader evaluation framework.
- A year-long pilot generating structured feedback on the LEDF.
- A structured coaching model with ongoing PD.
- Internal leaders trained to implement and refine systems.
- Clear alignment between coaching and evaluation.
The system now connects: Teacher Practice → Coaching → Leader Practice → Evaluation → Growth
Conclusion
Over two years, Hendy and Excel have moved from defining excellence to implementing excellence.
The work has shifted Excel from:
- Tools → Systems
- Isolated PD → Coherent development arc
- Informal coaching → Codified coaching model
- Static evaluation → Iterative pilot with feedback loops
The next phase (SY26–27) positions Excel for full implementation of a coherent, internally sustained development system. Hendy is thrilled to continue to partner with Excel in this critical work.
Interested in a partnership with Hendy? Reach out to Jess to schedule a call.
Transforming Teaching: An Observation Coaching Protocol
Every educator knows that a rubric alone doesn’t change a classroom—it’s the conversation around that rubric that sparks growth. If you’ve downloaded the Hendy Instructional Excellence Rubric, then you know about the accompanying observation coaching protocol. This protocol provides a precise, 30-40 minute roadmap for leaders to effectively coach and support teachers.
We are excited to spotlight this protocol adapted from Paul Bambrick-Santoyo and Uncommon Schools. Uncommon maintains their position as pace setters in people development; check out Leverage Leadership 2.0, in addition to the Uncommon Schools’ blog for more incredible resources, in addition to- we, and the entire field, are indebted to their work.
Here is a breakdown of how this tool transforms a standard debrief into a high-impact coaching session.
The 6-Step Coaching Roadmap
The protocol is divided into six distinct phases designed to move from celebration to practice.
1. Precise Praise (1-2 Minutes)
Start by grounding the conversation in success. Leaders are encouraged to share concrete statements of praise that recognize strengths or the implementation of previous feedback.
- Pro Tip: Use specific language from the Hendy Instructional Excellence Rubric to ensure the praise is professional and objective.
2. The Discussion (10-15 Minutes)
This is the “meat” of the meeting, divided into three phases:
- Identify the Goal: Collaboratively define what excellence looks like for a specific rubric indicator.
- Explore the Gap: Present evidence from the observation to identify the difference between the current practice and the goal.
- Close the Gap: Use modeling, exemplar videos, or reflective questioning to determine how to bridge that gap.
3. The “Bite-Sized” Action Step (2 Minutes)
The leader names one specific, observable, and “bite-sized” action step. For example, instead of “improve monitoring,” a step might be: “Pre-plan a circulation route for the next lesson’s independent practice”.
- Key Requirement: Have the teacher restate the action step and write it down to ensure total alignment.
4. Plan Ahead (3-5 Minutes)
Don’t leave the implementation to chance. Collaboratively design or revise upcoming lesson plans to integrate the new action step. This involves reviewing materials and identifying exactly where the new strategy fits best.
5. Practice! (10-15 Minutes)
This is often the most overlooked step in coaching. The teacher practices the action step through role-play.
- Immediate Feedback: The leader pauses the practice at any point to provide feedback and the teacher repeats the exercise until it is successful.
- Increased Complexity: Once the basics are mastered, the leader adds “real-world” challenges, like a disruptive student or a more difficult question.
6. Follow-up (1-3 Minutes)
End by confirming the timeline. Set a specific date for the next observation or a deadline for reviewing a modified lesson plan.
Why It Works
By focusing on one measurable action and providing a safe space to practice before the next class, this protocol moves beyond “giving advice” and into true skill-building. Want your own copy of the Observation Coaching Protocol and Planning Guide? Download the Hendy Instructional Excellence Rubric, or reach out to Jess!
A Conversation on AI in Education: Aaron Cuny and Erica Murphy on the AI for Equity and Hendy Avenue Partnership
The partnership between AI for Equity and Hendy Avenue Consulting has been instrumental in helping school leaders navigate AI adoption. We sat down with Aaron Cuny, Founder of AI for Equity, and Erica Murphy, Hendy Consultant, to discuss their collaboration, what they’ve learned, and what’s ahead.
You two have spent over 2 years working closely with one another on AI initiatives. What is your counterpart’s superpower, and how have they amplified the work of AI implementation and adoption for AI for Equity partners?
Erica: Aaron is uniquely able to think both at the balcony level and the weeds level, basically simultaneously. He knows everything about the sector—stays up to date by reading everything—and then really works to identify next steps that would benefit our partners in the near term. It’s fun watching him think broadly about policy, funders, and scope, and then narrowly draft implementation plans that could be used the next day.
Aaron: Erica brings a rare combination of deep content knowledge and an intuitive understanding of the change management dynamics that sit at the heart of implementing anything in a school system. AI adoption isn’t just a technology challenge—it’s a people challenge, and Erica gets that. She understands how school systems actually operate, where the friction points are, and how to move leaders from awareness to action in ways that stick. That expertise has been especially valuable as our work has evolved from building general AI awareness among leaders to tackling the harder, more nuanced questions around instructional integration and AI literacy. On top of all that, she’s just easy to work with—which matters more than people realize in partnership work like this.
AI implementation can feel overwhelming for school leaders. What’s one piece of advice you’d give to someone just starting this journey?
Erica: Identify a problem you are already facing and then seek to find ways that AI can help. That way, it isn’t a new thing; it’s a tool to address something you are already grappling with. Getting started is the hardest part, so just try it!
Aaron: I’m going to make an opposite recommendation, here – start with governance, not tools. Before you dive into which AI products to pilot or what policies to write, clarify roles, responsibilities, and decision-rights. Who owns the AI strategy for your organization? Who’s making decisions about what gets adopted and how? Once that’s clear, validate for your team that this work is deeply connected to your mission of serving kids—because it is. And then be honest with your team about prioritization. Everyone is juggling competing demands, so leaders need to name that this matters and create real space for people to engage with it meaningfully.
I love how two differing approaches to AI implementation surfaced in your last responses. Both make a lot of sense! I’m curious, how has this partnership changed your own thinking about AI in education?
Erica: Outside of my work with AI for Equity, if I were still a CAO, I would likely think AI was just “another thing,” and I doubt I would prioritize it. Aaron has shown me the full spectrum potential—both positive and negative—of AI and really made me think critically about the changing world our students will enter. If we don’t change with them, our K-12 system isn’t preparing them with what they’ll need to thrive in the workforce.
Aaron: Erica has been a real value-add in evolving our thinking about the implementation challenges on the instructional side of the work. Early on, a lot of our focus was on helping leaders understand AI and build organizational readiness—things like strategy, governance, talent implications. That work remains critical. But as we’ve gone deeper, Erica has helped sharpen our thinking about what it actually takes to move AI from the leadership level into curriculum and instruction—into the classroom, where it ultimately has to reach students. That’s a fundamentally different implementation challenge, and her perspective on the pedagogy, the change management, and the practical realities of instructional communities has made our approach stronger.
What are you most excited about for the next phase of this work?
Aaron: I’m really excited about the AI Literacy Collective. We’ve brought together an incredible group of ecosystem partners—TNTP, Leading Educators, Student Achievement Partners, Teaching Lab, Bellwether, Hendy, and others—to tackle a challenge that no single organization can solve alone. Right now, most school systems are finding that AI student usage policy isn’t enough. Policies don’t give teachers sufficient task-level clarity, so students are having wildly inconsistent experiences depending on which classroom they’re in. What the sector needs is AI usage expectations embedded directly into curriculum itself. That’s what the Collective is building—open-source instructional frameworks across core content areas that we believe will inform the next generation of curricula and digital learning. We’re defining how students should interact with AI in ways that uphold rather than collapse academic rigor, and mapping that to specific content-area skills. I think this work has the potential to shape how curriculum developers and publishers think about AI integration for years to come.
Erica: Well said, Aaron – and ditto! Our AI literacy instructional frameworks and potentially partnering with ELA curricular providers to integrate literacy at the materials level have me really energized as we round the corner on the next phase of our collaborative efforts.
You can find out more about AI for Equity by visiting their website: https://ai-for-equity.org.
Building Toward Equitable AI Implementation In K-12 Schools: Hendy’s Partnership with AI for Equity
By Hendy Avenue Consulting
Artificial Intelligence has the potential to enhance educator efficacy, efficiency, and sustainability. It also has the potential to exacerbate educational inequity if school systems serving under-resourced communities don’t have the support, training, and planning necessary to benefit from this technological advancement. This dual reality, AI as both opportunity and risk, is exactly why Hendy Avenue Consulting partnered with Aaron Cuny, founder of AI for Equity, in 2023.
Over the past three years, this partnership has been an incredible opportunity to collaborate with a visionary thought leader (hey, Aaron!), work alongside motivated educators pushing the envelope on what teaching and learning look like in the age of AI, and continue honing our skills as advisors in the education space.
The Genesis: Why This Partnership Matters
When Aaron Cuny founded AI for Equity, he understood something crucial: the AI revolution in education would either narrow opportunity gaps or widen them dramatically. There would be no neutral middle ground.
School systems with resources, technical expertise, and planning capacity would adopt AI tools strategically. Systems already under-resourced would fall further behind, unless early adopters intentionally built the infrastructure, knowledge, and support structures to level the playing field.
That mission aligned perfectly with Hendy Avenue’s commitment to creating equitable opportunities for all students. Our expertise in implementation, change management, and building educator capacity made us natural partners for AI for Equity’s vision.
The result? A three-year collaboration (and still going strong) that has touched hundreds of educators, developed critical frameworks and resources, and influenced how school systems approach AI implementation with equity at the center.
The Work: From Communities of Practice to AI Literacy Standards
Years 1-2: Building the Foundation
AI for Equity Communities of Practice
We began by co-facilitating Communities of Practice where education leaders learned about AI, grappled with its implications, and supported each other through the uncertainty of this rapidly evolving landscape.
These weren’t typical professional development sessions. They were spaces for honest conversation and collective sense-making. Leaders asked hard questions: How do we approach AI when we barely understand it ourselves? How do we ensure equity when these tools are built by companies that don’t understand our communities? How do we balance innovation with protecting students?
Resource Hub Development
Recognizing that scattered information was a barrier to thoughtful implementation, we built comprehensive resource hubs:
- AI Literacy Curriculum Hub: Vetted curriculum resources, lesson plans, and implementation guides
- Talent Resources Hub: Tools and frameworks for how AI affects recruitment, development, evaluation, and retention of educators
These weren’t just link collections. They were curated, contextualized resources designed specifically for K-12 realities.
AI Product Reviews
We systematically reviewed AI products and platforms, helping school systems cut through vendor hype to assess: Does this tool actually work? What are the equity implications? What implementation support is needed? What are the privacy concerns? Our reviews helped systems make informed decisions rather than reactive purchases.
Year 3 and Beyond:
AI Explorers Cohorts
Aaron’s priority has always been bringing intentionality to how he creates space for education leaders to wrestle with AI adoption and literacy. After reflecting on the impact of AI for Equity’s Communities of Practice, Aaron launched the AI Explorers Cohorts, accelerated communities of practice aimed at bringing newly interested schools and systems up to speed.
Hendy’s Rachel Modica-Russell facilitated two AI Explorers cohorts in 2024-2025, reaching over 15 additional school systems nationwide.
AI Literacy Framework Development
As the partnership matured, we moved from general AI awareness to building specific literacy frameworks. Anchored in the OECD AI Literacy Framework, we defined what AI literacy actually means for K-12 students across three domains:
- Creating with AI: Collaborating ethically with AI systems in creative and problem-solving processes
- Managing AI: Intentionally choosing how AI supports and enhances human work
- Designing AI: Understanding how AI works and its social and ethical impacts
This wasn’t theoretical work. It was grounded in what students would actually need to thrive in an AI-saturated world.
AI Literacy Collective
Over the last year, Erica Murphy has spent much of her time contributing to the AI Literacy Collective – an ecosystem of partner play, bringing together organizations like TNTP, Leading Educators, Teaching Lab, Bellwether, Student Achievement Partners, and others (including Hendy!) to collaboratively develop and disseminate a framework to use when integrating AI literacy into core content instruction.
What Makes This Partnership Work
Reflecting on three years of collaboration and heading into year four, several factors have made this partnership fruitful:
Complementary Expertise Aaron brings visionary thinking about AI’s trajectory and deep connections to tech and policy worlds, along with extensive experience as a leader in the K12 space. Hendy brings implementation expertise, change management frameworks, and intimate knowledge of how school systems operate at scale. Together, we bridge the gap between possibility and practice.
Shared Values Both organizations are anchored in a commitment to equity. This shapes every decision we make about which tools to recommend, how to structure learning experiences, and which schools to prioritize for support.
Learning Orientation Neither organization pretends to have all the answers. AI is evolving too rapidly for that. Instead, we approach the work with curiosity, humility, and willingness to learn alongside the educators we serve. When we discover we were wrong about something, we adjust quickly.
Why This Partnership Matters for Hendy
Beyond the direct impact on school systems, this partnership has shaped Hendy Avenue Consulting in important ways.
It has kept us on the cutting edge of a rapidly evolving landscape, ensuring our consulting work stays relevant and forward-looking. It has connected us to innovative educators and thought leaders across the country, expanding our network and learning. It has challenged us to think differently about implementation. AI requires different change management approaches than traditional initiatives.
Most importantly, it has reinforced our belief that the future of education depends on thoughtful, equity-centered partnerships between organizations that bring different expertise to the table.
An Invitation to Join the Work
If you’re an education leader grappling with AI implementation, you don’t have to figure it out alone. AI for Equity has built the infrastructure, frameworks, and community to support thoughtful, equity-centered AI adoption.
Learn more about AI for Equity by visiting their website:,https://ai-for-equity.org/ , or reach out to Hendy Avenue Consulting to explore how we can support your system’s AI journey.
The Power of Precision: Defining the CAO and CSO Partnership
In many of the systems we support, there are two cabinet-level roles that are critical to student and teacher success: the Chief Academic Officer (CAO) and the Chief Schools Officer (CSO). In many instances, the CAO is the person responsible for curriculum, instruction, and assessment. They might manage the content-area experts who drive instructional quality in specific subjects or areas. They hold responsibility for defining what needs to be taught, and how. The CSO is the person often responsible for the schools themselves. They manage school leaders, and are responsible for ensuring that the systems in schools foster student learning. Both roles are vital, and achieving system-wide excellence requires extraordinary clarity regarding their respective domains.
The ideal in this structure is not just separation of duties and responsibilities, but intentional distinction rooted in alignment, partnership and unity. By establishing clear CAO and CSO ownership and accountability, a school system minimizes friction and avoids duplicating efforts. At the same time, this ownership must be rooted in alignment across departments – both leaders are responsible for different things in service of the same goal: excellent teaching and learning.
When the CAO’s focus on curriculum and instruction is measured by metrics tied directly to the CSO’s oversight of school performance, their efforts become aligned. They are two distinct lanes working toward a common, measurable destination, ensuring that clarity in roles ultimately fuels a powerful, unified pursuit of student success.
Clarity on roles does not mean working in silos. The most effective partnerships thrive on a shared nature that is more specific than just an outcome. This is achieved through implementing shared goals and metrics. This typically means defining what is joint work between the CAO and CSO, and what is distinct in ownership and accountability. For example:
- Joint work: Planning, strategy, priorities, goals, student outcomes, teacher and leader development
- CAO: Program – what we teach, when, and how
- CSO: Implementation – pedagogical moves, accountability, fidelity to the instructional vision
This synergy only happens with clear definition, planning and communication. Teams benefit from articulating a theory of action that defines the joint work and distinct ownership between the two functions, and how that structure will ultimately lead to student achievement. It includes articulating both a shared vision and non-negotiables in the work to ensure alignment. It also requires clear operational strategies – like shared meeting structures and data management – so that the alignment is practical.
Are you interested in exploring ways to strengthen your CAO / CSO focus? Reach out to Jess to talk.
The Heavy Lifting Framework: Getting Kids To Do the Thinking
In our work supporting schools and school systems, we get the honor of visiting classrooms across all grades and subjects. And, regardless of the school system, geography, age of kid, or content, we are seeing similar challenges in all of our visits: kids are too often not being asked to do the rigorous thinking work at the heart of the lesson. Instead, teachers are holding too tight and reducing the cognitive load on kids. The result – a lack of independence in students.
Why is this happening? In almost all systems we support, schools and teachers have adopted and are using high-quality instructional materials (HQIM). That’s a good thing! What we’re seeing, though, is that teachers often hold so tightly to the lesson structure or over-scaffold the work using those materials that students are left merely copying, following steps without genuine struggle or connections, or being guided in a way that stifles independence and problem-solving. This results in “adults doing the heavy lifting,” which prevents students from developing the deep thinking capacity we want to see.
How the Heavy Lifting Framework Can Help
In these classrooms, the ingredients are there: HQIM, productive classroom environments with kids ready to learn, and willing teachers who are working diligently to support their students. We created the Heaving Lifting Framework to support instructional leaders to coach teachers to move from doing the thinking to putting the work on kids. This framework provides coaches and instructional leaders with a clear lens to diagnose this challenge and coach teachers effectively. It focuses on two core components for creating a classroom where students own the thinking: Planning and Execution.
1. Diagnose the Issue (Planning)
Instructional leaders can use the framework to ask:
- Bottom Line: Does the teacher know the precise learning goal—the bottom line—of the lesson, and are all tasks driving directly towards it?
- Exemplary Work: Has the teacher clearly identified exemplary work (written or verbal) aligned to grade-level expectations, which defines the high bar they are listening for during the lesson?
2. Support the Teacher (Execution)
The framework offers concrete support for in-the-moment coaching:
- Lesson Structure and Work Time: Does the lesson structure include sufficient, uninterrupted time for students to think, write, discuss, and apply the concepts? Is the teacher circulating during this time to identify trends in student data and to provide feedback on student work?
- Appropriate Scaffolding: Is the teacher providing an appropriate amount of scaffolding? This means offering enough context to launch students into the work, but resisting the urge to overscaffold with too many leading questions or by telling students how to solve the problem. Do students have what they need to get started and try on their own?
Supporting Teachers To Pass Off the Thinking
It’s easy to say that kids should be doing the thinking in the classroom, but we’ve found that it’s a lot more difficult to articulate the teacher moves to make that happen. The Heavy Lifting Framework has proven to be useful for the instructional leaders we support. The framework can be a meaningful tool to guide both planning and instructional walkthroughs to support teachers to shift the balance of cognitive work. This is how we support students to ensure that they build the independence they need to succeed.
Want to learn more about supporting kids to do the heavy lifting? Reach out to Jess to schedule a call.
From 46% to 73% Proficiency: Building a Culture of Mathematical Thinking at Hebrew Public – Hebrew Language Academy
A Case Study in Sustained Partnership and Leadership Development
By Hendy Avenue Consulting
The Challenge
When Hebrew Public’s new Chief Schools Officer reached out to Hendy Avenue Consulting nearly seven years ago, the network was ready to transform its mathematics program. They weren’t just looking for curriculum recommendations or professional development sessions. They needed a partner who could help them fundamentally shift how their schools approached math instruction – from procedures and algorithms to deep understanding and critical thinking.
Changing math mindsets and instructional practices requires more than content knowledge. It demands leadership development, strategic thinking, and sustained support to build capacity at every level of the organization.
The Partnership Approach
What began as a math program evaluation evolved into a comprehensive, multi-year partnership spanning talent strategy, leadership development, and instructional improvement. This case study focuses on one powerful example of that work: Hendy’s coaching relationship with Daniella Steinberg, Head of School at Hebrew Language Academy (HLA).
Building on Strengths
When Hendy consultant Jeremy Abarno began working with Daniella more than five years ago, Daniella had already been a teacher and instructional leader at HLA for many years and brought critical leadership strengths to the role: her decision-making was always student centered, she had a strong eye for quality instruction, a keen ability to consider multiple perspectives, and a balanced approach to communication – kind and direct.
The initial work with Daniella was around clarifying her vision, strategic planning, goal setting, and developing content-based strategies to drive teacher development and student results.
The Coaching Process
Jeremy’s coaching approach centered on three interconnected elements:
1. Clarifying Vision and Strategy They used a theory of action to articulate goals and the strategy to achieve them. This framework became the north star for all decisions about curriculum, professional development, and resource allocation.
2. Making Ideas Actionable Coaching sessions weren’t just about reflection – they were about doing. Jeremy and Daniella worked together on strategic planning, turning ideas into concrete implementation plans with clear measures of success.
3. Building Accountability Systems They established rhythms for measuring progress and adjusting when necessary, ensuring that strategy didn’t just exist on paper but lived in daily practice.
As Jeremy describes it: “Our coaching process was based around goal setting, honest conversations about growth areas and aspirations as well as lots of doing – doing the strategic planning together, helping her articulate and make her ideas actionable and then partnering with her to ensure that she had an implementation plan.”
The Frameworks and Tools: Several key frameworks and protocols drove the work at HLA:
Theory of Action: A clear articulation of goals and the strategy to achieve them, ensuring all stakeholders understood not just what they were doing but why.
Consistent Data Review: Both short and long cycle results allowed the team to study their rate of improvement and make strategic adjustments. This data-driven approach kept the team focused on outcomes rather than falling in love with inputs.
Content-Based Protocols: Intellectual preparation and planning protocols ensured instruction remained at a rigorous level, with teachers deepening their understanding of grade-level concepts and the connections across grade levels.
Walkthrough Protocols with the Hendy Instructional Excellence Rubric: These protocols engaged Daniella’s leadership team in calibrating their observations and then engaging teachers in cycles that balanced support and accountability.
Practicing Crucial Conversations: Repeatedly rehearsing and refining the conversations needed to help people grow – because leadership development isn’t just about knowing what to say, it’s about being able to say it effectively.
According to Jeremy, “The main ingredients that made this approach successful were humility, investment in growth, and a willingness to let the data and outcomes tell us how we were doing rather than falling in love with our inputs.”
The Three Fundamental Shifts
Over the course of the partnership, three key transformations emerged in mathematics instruction at HLA:
1. What Was Valued Changed
From: Valuing correct answers
To: Valuing proof of understanding
This shift was driven by changing assessments and curriculum to focus on critical thinking and problem-solving that required proof and connection-making. Students needed to demonstrate not just that they could arrive at an answer, but that they understood why it worked.
2. Teacher Training and Coaching Evolved
From: Focusing primarily on content delivery
To: Emphasizing thinking for both teachers and students
Teachers engaged in intellectual preparation sessions where they deepened their understanding of grade-level math concepts as well as preceding and following grade levels. This allowed them to understand what foundational knowledge students needed and what connections students could make to future learning.
Student thinking became centered in two ways: teachers anticipated how students might solve problems, and they reviewed student work to understand what students were demonstrating and what they still needed to learn.
3. Student Investment and Engagement Transformed
From: Students as passive recipients of procedures
To: Students as active mathematical thinkers
Students became eager to share their thinking with the class – presenting strategies, defending their thinking, and even critiquing their classmates’ reasoning. Students knew their ideas were valued and that they could learn from each other.
The Results
The numbers tell a powerful story:
- School Year 2021-22: 46% of students in grades 3-8 achieved proficiency on the NYS math exam
- School Year 2023-24: 73% of students achieved proficiency. That’s a 27 percentage point gain – representing hundreds of students who are now on track to meet college and career readiness standards in mathematics.
But the quantitative data only captures part of the impact. The qualitative transformation is equally significant:
- Teachers who now approach math instruction with deeper understanding and confidence
- Students who see themselves as mathematical thinkers, not just answer-generators
- A school culture that values critical thinking across all subjects, not just math
- Leaders equipped with the tools and frameworks to sustain and continue this improvement
HLA has gone from having about 4 out of every 10 students being on track to meet college and career readiness standards to having 7 out of 10 students on track – and they’re not stopping there.
The Most Significant Transformation
While the math gains are impressive, Jeremy identifies something even more important: “The most significant transformation is the connections that leaders and teachers at HLA have made across the curriculum. Comprehension and critical thinking isn’t just a math skill – it is something that the school strives for in every subject.”
This is the power of deep, sustained partnership. What began as mathematics improvement evolved into a fundamental shift in how the school approaches teaching and learning across all content areas.
The Hendy Difference: What Made This Partnership Work Over Nearly Seven Years?
Contextual Expertise Over Generic Solutions
This isn’t consulting where you deliver a manual and move on. It’s partnership where you understand the specific people, culture, and challenges of an organization and adapt proven approaches to fit their reality. “Matching, or meeting folks where they are is just as important as expertise,” Jeremy emphasizes. “You build capacity by understanding context, investing in and clarifying the leader’s goals, and supporting their attainment of those goals.”
This principle shaped every coaching conversation, every framework implementation, and every strategic decision throughout the partnership.
What’s Next
Over 5 years in, and the partnership between Hendy Avenue Consulting and Hebrew Public Charter Schools as a network continues. The work has expanded beyond mathematics at one campus to encompass talent strategy and leadership development across the network.
The foundation built at HLA – the frameworks, the mindsets, the culture of critical thinking – continues to drive results. The HLA team is equipped with the tools, the experience, and the track record to continue pushing toward even more ambitious goals.
And throughout that building, students are defending their mathematical reasoning, critiquing each other’s strategies, and discovering that they are mathematical thinkers capable of solving complex problems.
That’s the real measure of success.
Hendy Avenue: The 2025 Year in Review
We always love a good end-of-year recap, and we’re here with our own “Best Of” list! 2025 was a phenomenal year of deep thinking, high-impact partnerships, and big news. So, queue up the celebratory playlist and let’s dive into the year that was for Hendy Avenue Consulting!
The Headliner List: Our All-Star Clients
Our clients are the reason we do what we do, and collectively, the organizations we supported in 2025 served over 850,000 kids nationwide. That is an incredible impact we are honored to share.
We were lucky enough to partner with outstanding organizations, including:
- AI for Equity
- Breakthrough Public Schools
- Chicago Public Schools
- Delaware Department of Education
- Excel Academy Charter Schools
- Foundation Academies
- Hebrew Public Schools
- NYS CTE Technical Assistance Center
- PAVE Schools
- Urban Community School
Want the full list? Check out the details of all our current and past client projects here!
Our Vibe Check: What We Had on Repeat
Our work spanned the full spectrum of academic and talent systems this year. If 2025 had a few core themes, they would be:
- The Power of “Basics”: Instructional improvement in math and ELA.
- Next-Level Leaders: Leadership coaching and support.
- Improvement Synced: Performance management strategy.
- The Future is Now: Implications, planning, and implementation of AI.
- Talent Blueprint: Talent policy and planning.
The Marathon Minutes: How Long We Rocked Out
We spent many, many minutes collaborating this year including:
- Client Check-ins: Clocking in at more than 37,000 minutes.
- School Site Visits: 9,600 minutes dedicated to being on the ground.
- Team Huddle: Our team check-ins totaled 2,400 minutes.
- Coaching & Cohorts: 5,300 minutes across cohort meetings and one-on-one coaching.
- Steering Committees: more than 1,000 minutes leading decision-making committees.
Big Drop of 2025
Every day is a “biggest working day” in its own way, but May 1st was our main event! We celebrated the legacy of our founder and President, Sarah Rosskamm, as she transitioned from her role, and officially welcomed Jess Wilson as our new President. What a day for Hendy!
Big Birthday: Level 12 Unlocked!
Hendy is officially 12 years old! We’re incredibly proud of the impact we’ve created in service of kids and the adults who support them.
Cheers to an even greater impact in 2026—let the next track begin! Want to join our playlist? Reach out to Jess or schedule a call!
Keep Your Best Talent: Implementing Stay Conversations
The winter break can be an opportunity to relax and refresh in preparation for a strong start to the second half of the school-year. But for some teachers and leaders, winter break can also be a time to consider their next professional move. That’s why we encourage leaders to engage in stay conversations with each of their teachers and team members. This informal, but highly cultivating conversation can be a meaningful tool in a leader’s retention toolbelt.
What is a “stay conversation”?
A stay conversation is just that: a brief conversation with an employee that provides a chance for the leader to clearly state that they value the person and want them to stay at their school or system for the following year. This conversation can be brief, 5-15 minutes, and can happen as a part of a standing check-in or in a separate meeting.
When should stay conversations happen?
Now! Ideally, stay conversations happen right before or right after a break, when teachers may be more likely to be thinking about a job change. But, it’s never too late – stay conversations can be just as meaningful in late winter and early spring.
What should I share in a stay conversation?
Be specific; communicate why the teacher or staff member is an important part of your team. Share examples of ways the teacher or staff member makes a difference to your school community. Be transparent about challenges the school or system is facing, and how valuable the team member is to being a part of addressing those challenges. Listen for motivation; ask for specific ideas from the teacher about what could be improved, and leave the lines of communication open.
A stay conversation is the lowest cost and one of the highest leverage retention strategies leaders have. Consider holding stay conversations with your staff members this winter! Check out our other posts on stay conversations here and here. Or reach out if you want to learn more about retention strategies, or talk about how Hendy can help!
A CASE STUDY FOR LONG-TERM PARTNERSHIP: URBAN COMMUNITY SCHOOL
BUILDING CAPACITY FOR SUSTAINABLE INSTRUCTIONAL EXCELLENCE
ABOUT URBAN COMMUNITY SCHOOL
Urban Community School (UCS), founded in Cleveland in 1968, strives to break social and economic barriers to success for Cleveland’s near west side children by providing an individualized, innovative, and challenging education. The school has served as an anchor of the community, serving a diverse student population from ages 6 weeks to 8th grade. Learn more about UCS by visiting their website: https://urbancommunityschool.org/.
THE OPPORTUNITY
In March 2021, Urban Community School (UCS) approached Hendy Avenue Consulting with an ambitious goal: identify strategies that would attract and retain excellent teachers while also building pathways for teaching assistants to grow into teacher roles. Through diagnostic work – analyzing UCS data, benchmarking neighboring schools, and engaging leaders and teachers in conversation – Hendy and UCS leaders recognized an even more fundamental opportunity. Before building talent systems focused around instructional excellence, UCS needed to more explicitly define what excellent instruction looked like in their context, build the leadership capacity to coach toward it, and create the systems to support and sustain it.
UCS leaders leaned into this reframe. Rather than implement a set of talent initiatives that might reward less defined expectations, UCS chose to invest in building the instructional foundation first. This decision – and their openness to letting the work evolve based on what they were learning – marked the beginning of a four-year partnership with Hendy that has fundamentally impacted the instructional core of the school.
THE HENDY VALUE PROPOSITION: PARTNERSHIP THAT BUILDS CAPACITY
Schools and school systems partner with Hendy Avenue when they have ambitious instructional goals and want to build the internal capacity to achieve and sustain them. Hendy’s approach is distinctive in several ways:
We start with what’s true. Hendy doesn’t deliver predetermined solutions. Instead, we partner with leaders to understand current reality, name what’s working and what needs to shift, and design strategies that fit the school’s specific context, culture, and capacity.
We build toward independence, not dependence. Every engagement includes an explicit strategy for transferring ownership. Hendy decides what to do “for,” “with,” and “through” client leaders based on current capacity, always with the goal of ensuring school sustainability of change with fewer support directly coming from Hendy over time.
We see the whole organization. While Hendy often starts a relationship with a specific project, we develop deep knowledge of the school’s systems, culture, and people. This allows us to spot connections, anticipate challenges, and support adjacent needs as they emerge.
We commit to the long game. Sustainable instructional improvement takes time. Hendy stays with schools through implementation challenges, leadership transitions, and the inevitable ups and downs of organizational change.
We balance push and support. Hendy brings high expectations alongside genuine partnership. We celebrate victories, share struggles, and maintain relationships where honest feedback and hard conversations happen with care and trust.
The UCS partnership demonstrates each of these principles in action.
THE PARTNERSHIP ARC: FROM “HENDY LEADS” TO “UCS SUSTAINS”
Over four years, the partnership moved through distinct phases, with Hendy intentionally shifting from a more direct role in carrying out the work to supporting UCS leaders as they took ownership, ultimately positioning them to sustain systems independently.
Phase 1: Building the Foundation (2021-2022)
In spring 2022, Hendy conducted a comprehensive diagnostic visit to understand UCS’s current instructional practices and to support the UCS team to identify priorities. With UCS leaders, the full Hendy team spent two days on campus observing classrooms, meeting with teachers and staff, and examining existing systems. This diagnostic revealed that while UCS leaders and staff had strong relationships and a commitment to students, there was room to align on common instructional language, shared schedules, and structures for observation and feedback.
Rather than just name the gaps, Hendy helped UCS leaders envision what was possible. They facilitated visits to high-performing schools in New York City with similar student demographics, allowing UCS leaders to see excellent instruction in action, and to envision what’s possible for kids. Then Hendy facilitated summer planning retreats where the team established clear instructional priorities and began building the systems to support them.
During this foundation-building phase, Hendy did significant direct work with UCS leaders: creating professional development materials, co-observing classrooms with leaders, and building frameworks and tools. This intensive support gave UCS leaders concrete examples of what excellent systems looked like and how to implement them.
Phase 2: Gradual Release (2022-2024)
As UCS added leadership capacity – hiring additional directors, creating a Chief Academic Officer role, and expanding the instructional team – Hendy began the intentional work of building up the capacity of UCS to lead more of the work directly. The focus shifted to working “through directors,” coaching leaders to implement and adapt the systems Hendy had modeled.
When UCS decided to adopt a new ELA curriculum in 2023-24, the school took a teacher-driven approach to the process. Hendy focused on building UCS leaders’ capacity to train and support their teachers through implementation of the curriculum. Hendy designed intellectual preparation structures and coached directors to lead those meetings effectively. The team built data collection and analysis systems, then gradually transferred ownership to UCS’s own data coordinator.
The work became increasingly collaborative. Hendy would model a practice, then co-facilitate with UCS leaders, then observe and provide feedback as leaders facilitated independently. This gradual release approach ensured UCS leaders gained both skill and confidence.
Phase 3: Sustaining Independence (2025-Present)
By the 2025-26 school year, UCS was driving their own teacher development and coaching with increasing independence. Directors lead intellectual preparation and observation cycles. The instructional leadership team uses shared language and structures. Teachers follow common schedules and assessment rhythms. A tier 2 intervention system identifies and supports students who need additional support.
Hendy’s role has evolved to strategic thought partnership: troubleshooting implementation challenges, analyzing data for patterns and insights, coaching directors, and coaching the CAO to manage and support director development. The relationship remains strong, but UCS leaders are in the driver’s seat.
RESPONSIVE PARTNERSHIP: EVOLVING AS NEEDS EMERGE
While instructional improvement formed the core of the work, the partnership repeatedly expanded when UCS identified adjacent needs – demonstrating Hendy’s responsiveness and ability to see and serve the whole organization.
Strategic Planning Support
When UCS’s Board of Directors engaged in strategic planning in 2024, UCS hired Hendy on a separate contract to support the academic team with their pillar of the strategic plan. This work allowed Hendy to help UCS document the significant instructional improvements the school had made and set clear, ambitious priorities for future growth – work that required both knowledge of where UCS had been and vision for where they could go.
Whole-Organization Partnership
Over time, leaders across UCS came to see Hendy as thought partners for challenges beyond the formal engagement scope. The Chief Operating Officer calls to problem-solve. The Chief Strategy Officer engaged Hendy to explore innovative school models and refine the school’s aftercare program. This reflects the trust that has developed – a belief that Hendy understands their organization deeply and has their best interests at heart.
THE RESULTS: SUSTAINABLE SYSTEMS AND MEASURABLE GROWTH
Four years into the partnership, the transformation is visible in both data and daily practice.
Student Achievement: UCS has seen consistent growth in student achievement, particularly in ELA following the curriculum adoption and implementation support. Students are meeting grade-level benchmarks at higher rates than in previous years.
Instructional Culture: Teachers have embraced the observation and feedback cycle. Instructional time is protected and used purposefully. Common schedules and assessment rhythms allow for meaningful collaboration across grade levels and departments.
Leadership Capacity: UCS has grown from three directors to a full instructional leadership team with clear, complementary roles and shared practices. Leaders are high capacity and have had a measurable impact on teaching and learning in their building. The systems are self-sustaining and improving.
Organizational Systems: UCS now has defined, systematic tier 1 and tier 2 academic intervention systems, data collection and analysis protocols, role clarity across all adult positions, and structures that ensure adults are strategically leveraged to support instruction. These systems persist through staff transitions because they’re embedded in how UCS operates.
What UCS Leaders Say About the Partnership
When asked what they value about working with Hendy, UCS leaders consistently mention three things: the thoughtfulness in how feedback is shared, the instructional vision and expertise Hendy brings, and the way Hendy pushes them to be better while remaining genuinely supportive.
WHY THIS PARTNERSHIP WORKS: THE CONDITIONS FOR SUCCESS
Hendy’s relationship with UCS feels like a true partnership. We celebrate their victories and share their struggles. The work is challenging but joyful, and our relationship is built on trust, mutual respect, and a shared vision for what could be.
The result is a school that is sustaining and continuing improving their instructional systems independently – proof that investing in capacity building, not just quick fixes, creates lasting change for students.