Today we are pleased to present a Contributor Column from Jennifer Stern, the CEO of Great MN Schools.
We provide a bio for Jennifer below.
Jennifer has 30 years of experience leading innovative, transformational strategic initiatives, including 20 years in education reform. She currently leads Great MN Schools, a non-profit working to ensure that every child in Minneapolis attends a high quality school that prepares them to thrive in their lives, careers, and community. Jennifer previously served as the executive director of Talent Management and Strategic Programs for Denver Public Schools, where she oversaw the district’s human capital strategies, including for recruitment, development, evaluation, and retention of high-performing educators. Prior to DPS, Jennifer was a founding vice president and partner at the Charter School Growth Fund, a national venture philanthropy organization designed to provide financial and strategic resources to replicate high-quality charter schools serving students from low-income households. She began her career in education at the New York City Department of Education, leading work for the CEO of Human Resources on business transformation and the customer experience. Previously, Jennifer spent several years at American Express, where she worked in Strategic Venture Capital before leading marketing teams in loyalty and acquisition marketing. She began her career at Bain & Company, working in both the San Francisco and Johannesburg offices. Jennifer has a BA from Pomona College and an MBA from Harvard Business School. A native of Arizona, she is the daughter of a teacher, the mom of a kindergartner and 6th grader, and has acquired many different winter coats over her 8+ years in Minneapolis. There’s no bad weather – just bad gear!
From Good to Great: Transforming Education for Minneapolis Students
Across Minneapolis, traditional public schools have struggled to meet the needs of BIPOC students, leading many families to seek alternatives in charter schools. Today, 42% of BIPOC students in the city are enrolled in charters, drawn by the promise of a more culturally affirming environment. However, while Minneapolis charter schools often excel at creating inclusive spaces, and are outperforming district options for BIPOC students, many have fallen short on delivering the type of strong academic outcomes that our students deserve.
At Great MN Schools, we’re committed to tripling the number of students in Minneapolis attending excellent and equitable schools by 2030. To achieve this goal, we’ve developed a comprehensive approach toward working with promising schools around school improvement. The charter schools in our portfolio are demonstrating what is possible – the schools we work with have seen their proficiency levels for low-income students increase by 33% since COVID (vs. flat district proficiency levels) and are now producing almost double the proficiency rates for these students vs. the district schools.
It has been five years since we began our Good to Great approach – a framework that helps schools amplify what works, address gaps, and sustain improvements over time. Since then, we have supported 14 schools in building out strategic improvement plans, reaching 7,649 students (83% low-income, 89% BIPOC).
How Good to Great works
At its core, Good to Great is about partnership. We don’t just fund schools – we work closely alongside them to build strong systems, including effective operations, engaging curriculum, and a joyful culture—that drives student success. Over a four-month planning process, we partner with Bellwether Education Partners to help school teams develop a comprehensive, multi-year improvement plan. This process begins with a thorough analysis of each school’s strengths and challenges:
School Quality Review
- Collect and analyze school outcome data
- Interview staff to understand key elements of the academic program model, approach to student culture, and other core school model components
- Conduct a full day site visit to observe classroom instruction and conduct student, teacher, and parent focus groups
Strategic Planning Support
- Define a student success profile (knowledge, skills and mindsets the school seeks to build in its students)
- Identify priority outcome goals
- Determine strategies, tactics, and programmatic initiatives
Develop Action Plan to implement multi-year improvement plan
- Develop a roadmap that includes overall timeline, budget, major activities and key milestones to drive success
- Conduct annual progress reviews to support course corrections and continual improvement
Each school is paired with a dedicated Portfolio Director who ensures accountability, delivers consistent coaching, and connects them to best-in-class strategic interventions throughout both the planning and implementation process. We work closely with the schools, supporting them in addressing implementation challenges and roadblocks along the way. Schools receive direct funding, access to strategic interventions, and participate in learning cohorts to build community across our charter sector and problem solve together.
Through Good to Great, participating schools have implemented high-quality, standards aligned curriculum, established structures to ensure teachers are receiving coaching and feedback, built processes to support data-driven instructional practices, strengthened their talent management practices and built stronger family-school relationships.
The Impact of Good to Great
When we look at how schools are recovering from COVID learning loss, schools we support significantly outperform other options. In 2024, 82% of schools in the Great MN Schools Portfolio outperformed the Minneapolis average when compared to similar options(MCA proficiency, 2024), and 75% are beating expected growth on formative assessments (NWEA/MAP data 2021-2024)
Beyond these encouraging numbers, we also partnered with the Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement (CAREI) at the University of Minnesota to conduct an in-depth study of the ‘Good to Great’ strategy. Through focus groups and interviews with 116 participants, document review, and data analysis the study confirmed that Good to Great works, and identified the key elements driving success:
- Customized roadmaps that help schools focus on what matters most
- Consistent support from a dedicated portfolio director
- Plan-aligned flexible funding
In addition to academic results, the University of Minnesota also found that GMS Portfolio schools are making progress on the important indicators that lead to student success, including developing a culture of continuous improvement, using data in decision making, and using effective governance.
Closing the Gap, One Student at a Time
Prodeo Academy, one of our long-term partners, exemplifies this impact. By prioritizing data-driven decision making and differentiated support, Prodeo empowers students like Pa Htoo. When Pa began kindergarten, he was in the lowest percentile for learning. Today, thanks to consistent teaching of standards-aligned curriculum and personalized support, Pa is thriving in Fifth Grade, performing above grade level and exceeding growth expectations.
This work is really challenging. Minnesota has one of the largest gaps in the country. Great MN Schools partnership, and the support that comes along with it, is what makes it feel possible to stay in this and get to the side where we want to be which is truly closing the gap for kids. – Chancey Anderson, Co-founder of Prodeo Academy
At Great MN Schools, we’re proving that with the right approach and support, transformative change in public education is not only possible—it’s happening. Our vision of a city where every child has access to an excellent education feels closer than ever. For students like Pa and thousands more, this isn’t just a promise; it’s a pathway to a brighter future.