Autonomous Management and Performance Schools (AMPS)

Overview

Autonomous Management and Performance Schools (AMPS) supports principals and schools implement innovative plans for school improvement developed at the local level. Schools must follow state law and district policy but are encouraged to be innovative in their approach to serving students. AMPS status was originally granted based on high academic and operational performance, but the program has expanded include some “innovation schools” that apply based on a plan for using autonomy to increase student achievement.

Goals

The AMPS department seeks to reinforce our district theory that schools are the unit of change for district improvement and to enable principal to lead that change. To that end our goals are:

To test and pilot innovation that could later be used across all schools
To attract and retain high quality principals to CPS
To learn what existing district services are valued and are working for schools
To allow CPS to focus time and resources on schools with greater need.

Current Initiatives

The AMPS department is supporting various initiatives designed to improve school performance. Such initiatives are often test cases for ideas that could be considered for the district as a whole. Some AMPS initiatives include:

Principal peer evaluation
Principal professional development cohorts based on a common instructional focus
School and teacher-led professional development
Formative assessment pilots

Accomplishments

AMPS was created in 2005. Since then, the number of AMPS schools has grown from 80 to 128. AMPS schools designed a process for peer evaluation. They also collaborated on over 20 professional development teams designed to address the most pressing instructional issues at their schools.

Resources

The theory behind AMPS is to put resources directly in schools and let them decide how to manage those resources. The AMPS team consists of an Officer, Director of Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment and an assistant. We also utilize coaching support from retired principals and assistant principals. Starting in 2007, AMPS schools were able to apply for modest financial grants that promote collaboration and best practice sharing between schools.