Services

School Finance

MAP principals and associates include many of the nation's recognized school finance experts who have participated in virtually all of the nations' school finance reform and litigation efforts of the past three decades. MAP has contributed to the design of school finance schemes in 20 states and has the capacity to develop school finance systems that address adequacy, equity, and efficiency. We offer comprehensive analysis and design of school finance systems, including school facilities finance and simulation models; redesign of both the tax and distribution sides of formulas; and tailoring school financing to cost differences.

Educator Performance Pay

MAP can assist in the design, implementation, and evaluation of performance pay systems. MAP principals and consultants are among the nations leading experts on educator compensation. This knowledge extends to fringe benefits and pensions and, especially, performance pay. This expertise stems from having designed and operated the nation's only randomized field trial on performance pay. As well, MAP principals provide technical assistance to all of the federally funded Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) sites throughout the United States. Finally, MAP has participated in the design and evaluation of performance pay in local school districts throughout Florida, Tennessee, Texas and at Kamehameha Schools in Hawai'i.

Litigation Support

MAP analysts are among the most experienced and widely published experts in the United States on education finance matters. While MAP makes no claim at legal expertise, our extensive experience in education finance enables us to provide advice in the design of a legal theory or legal defense, to tailor social science inquiries to the issues at hand, and to testify as experts at trial. MAP has experience analyzing law-related issues such as equity and adequacy; capital construction financing, racial desegregation; school discipline, student dress, and behavior codes; and organizational effectiveness.

MAP personnel have undertaken analyses and have testified in more than three dozen court cases, both for defense and for plaintiffs. These cases have taken place in approximately 25 states, and include landmark decisions such as Serrano v. Priest, Bradley v. Milliken , and Skene v. Minnesota. Since 1998, MAP principals have participated in school finance litigation in Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Minnesota, South Carolina, New York and Wyoming.

Curriculum, Professional Development and School Reform

MAP offers clients extensive services related to school reform initiatives. MAP principals have led standards-based curriculum and assessment development efforts for districts, states and at the national level. We assist in the design and delivery of professional development programs to implement standards-based curriculum and get increased results in student achievement at the elementary, middle or high school level. MAP also produces professional development materials including handbooks, videos, and CD-ROMs to prepare large numbers of workshop leaders to provide effective professional development for large-scale reform efforts.

Performance Appraisals of Education and Social Service Agencies

MAP offers clients the ability to appraise leadership capacity, goal setting, program delivery, and performance. We have worked with states to examine organizational structure and effectiveness, success in communicating with important constituencies, and organizational efficiency, including cost reduction and resource reallocation. MAP has unparalleled experience in producing statewide reports assessing the conditions of education. MAP employs sophisticated computer programs to analyze fiscal and demographic effects of alternative school district boundary reconfigurations. In addition to providing public reports on these appraisals and audits, MAP is prepared to give confidential briefings to governors and agency heads as appropriate. MAP principals have conducted comprehensive appraisals of the California, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and South Carolina departments of education, as well as large school districts such as Fresno and Long Beach, California.

Policy Analysis and Development

MAP is positioned to conduct analyses of state education systems or their components and to develop cost-effective, immediate and long-term strategies for sustained improvement. Our principals and associates bring extensive experience and expertise in everything from school facilities and technology to academic and fiscal accountability systems and teacher certification. We have worked with dozens of states and school districts to help address governance issues, to reorganize service delivery, and to develop comprehensive strategies for education reform.

Program Evaluation

MAP can evaluate education and other social service programs using sophisticated statistical research techniques, public opinion polls, surveys, and intensive field work. Our evaluation reports provide policymakers with insights into the effectiveness of programs, as well as lucid, practical recommendations for enhancing productivity and performance.

Support for Policymakers

MAP has been retained by several states and organizations to augment existing staff capacity for research, analysis, and policy development. We can provide the best thinkers and seasoned experts on issues which confront you for the first time and at a fraction of the cost required to hire full-time staff.

The MAP Advantage

Many MAP principals have themselves been elected officials or have worked for state and federal executive and legislative branch agencies. MAP conceptualizes tasks and complete them on time, on budget, and to a high standard. We know how to deal with multiple constituent groups and the media in a professionally appropriate manner and simultaneously juggle political and technical complexity.