Building Leadership Capacity To Transform Schools

When I work with partners, it’s because they do something no one else does—and Big Rock has consistently operated at that level across every role I’ve held. Their coaching is evidence-based, precise, and rooted in clear rubrics that help leaders actually name, practice, and implement the behaviors that shift instruction. I’ve watched them change practice through real modeling and bite-sized action steps, not theory. I’ve yet to find another partner that does this work to that degree.

Big Rock Educational Services isn’t a consultant to us. They are part of my team. They step in with clarity, enforce expectations, and keep our leaders focused on the work that matters most: instruction. What changed our district is that they didn’t shift students — they shifted adults. We didn’t replace our teachers or our kids; we trained our leaders, and the outcomes changed.

It’s truly about the system. Even if a leader leaves, the system is still there.

Thank you to my coach Leetha-Nicole who was amazing. Big Rock Educational Services provided a foundation for me and my team as we established ourselves on a new campus. BRES provided a tool for our instructional leadership team to set the tone, collect data and provide immediate feedback. BRES allowed us to use the protocol and systems in order to identify our campus gaps.

BRES is one of the best PDs I have ever attended, and the work we did together at our school this year allowed our campus culture and systems to improve tremendously. The research-based practices we were taught helped bring the consistency and proactive planning our campus needed to be successful. Our students were more engaged in our classrooms, and learning was constantly occurring on campus. Our BRES coach Sharon Duplantier was amazing and so helpful. Her presence really helped our Admin team, teachers, and staff connect and provided numerous opportunities for us to give great feedback and coaching to our team. We also developed practices and plans for PLCs that allowed us to improve rigor campus wide. I look forward to having BRES working with me and my staff this year, and feel that any campus would benefit partnering with this amazing company.

Partnering with BRES through our district was one of the most extraordinary things I have experienced. BRES coach Sharon Duplantier is an exceptional coach and leader who helped me structure my coaching abilities through accountable calendars and her enthusiastic persona, which strengthened my bonds with teachers and fellow administrators as they sought my guidance to develop others on campus. Her expertise and nonjudgmental ways inspire me to continue being the best coach I can be to help my campus accomplish our goals.

This past school year  I had the privilege of being introduced to Big Rock Educational Services (BRES).  Partnering with BRES coach Leeth-Nicole Harper and the BRES team has really helped me to grow as an instructional leader.  Leetha-Nicole’s support was targeted and specific.  She worked patiently and diligently to ensure the BRES process was implemented with fidelity in order to maximize success.  I am looking forward to continuing our journey with BRES and the growth of our students’ success!

Partnering with Big Rock Educational Services, (BRES) has helped refocus our leadership teams back to instruction and away from all of the fillers and even distractions, that take time and energy away from instruction. We were confident in our decision to partner with BRES because their reputation and results had been vetted through our Texas Education Agency technical advisors. BRES employs research-based and effective practices and most importantly, they have high success rates! BRES helped dramatically redesign and restructure our campuses to create a culture of academic success!

Based on pre-COVID interim data, it was expected that all campuses were going to earn at least a B Texas Education Agency rating. We must also not ignore the power of anecdotal evidence, such as positive organizational health inventories on our campuses, astronomical decreases in discipline data with significant decline in referrals across all 4 campuses, and increased enrichment, and community involvement. It is evident to us that the turnaround of the Lubbock Partnership Network campuses is working for our school community and there is no doubt that our partnership with Big Rock Educational Services has been a partner in our success!

We all know that monitoring classroom instruction is a move that we all need to make in order for implementation to really happen in our classrooms. However, having your calendars synced with your target and clarity around a process to monitor your targets is sometimes challenging for campus leaders to build and execute. Our coaching from the BRES team has enabled our campus leaders to build, implement and maintain effective classroom monitoring systems around student culture and high-yield instructional strategies. The partnership with the BRES team has been powerful because it has allowed our leaders to “learn by doing”!

Big Rock Educational Services provided our school the game-changing structures and systems necessary to improve scholar engagement over 50% in three months.

BRES was able to listen to our needs, diagnose next steps, draft rubrics based on our systems, and then come in to coach our team to align to culture rubrics. BRES led a process that was focused, collaborative, and effective. We have attended many trainings on coaching, but working with them allowed us to be precise and articulate in coaching practice. After one day with BRES, we are so excited to continue to practice using the rubrics and coaching protocol.

Having known Scott since he joined the Dallas Ed Reform landscape a number of years ago, I was happy to see him focus his considerable talent on supporting fidelity of high leverage leadership practices. Teaching Trust is happy to be an early adopter of BRES services and has received valuable training for our coaches as they work to strengthen and calibrate their leadership development.

This past year, Scott has had a tremendous impact on me and my leadership development. He has pushed me to articulate clearly what I believe and want to be true in a school, and to translate those beliefs into big rocks that can be communicated, measured, and lived through every aspect of the school. Additionally, he has helped me develop strategic systems that will allow me to prioritize my time as a leader intentionally and in the highest impact areas. In every interaction, I know that my experiences, strengths and beliefs about schools are both valued and leveraged to have the highest possible positive impact on my teachers, leadership team, and students.

As a founding school leader, I have learned that having a great vision and mission for our school is not enough. Through working with Scott Hudnor, BRES, I have been able to pinpoint the systems that will get our students and staff closer to that vision. After identifying the systems, we worked together to create detailed criteria for achieving excellence within each system. This allowed me to plan more intentionally the way in which I will communicate with and support my staff in the implementation of these systems. I have a peace of mind knowing that I have indicators that I can study to determine whether we are on track or need to adjust course in order to meet our mission, which is to prepare our students to succeed in college.

The support and development I received from Scott Hudnor as a teacher has provided me with the tools to succeed in my later leadership roles as Dean and Director of my school. Scott’s observations and collection of objective data helped me to see my highest leverage areas of growth and he always delivered that feedback with a very collaborative and supportive demeanor. Scott has a knack for pinpointing the next big “thing” that is needed in the classroom setting in order to achieve his vision of excellence. He eats, sleeps and breathes student achievement.