For the 2007-8 and 2008-9  school years , California’s Fresno Unified School District accomplished  historic gains in math achievement for K-6.  The superintendent attributes  the fast pace of success to a unique collaboration with California’s  Long Beach Unified School District, using Cisco TelePresence.

The Fresno Unified and Long Beach  Unified K-12 school districts have much in common, including tight  budgets, high poverty rates among student families, and a strong  commitment to improving student math scores. Fresno  Unified Superintendent Michael Hanson and Long Beach Unified  Superintendent Chris Steinheuser shared ideas when they saw each other  at conferences, but realized that an effective partnership would require  more frequent collaboration. Traveling the 250 miles to each other’s  districts was not an option because of time and budget constraints, and  telephone conversations come up short for strategic discussions.

Sharing Lessons Learned Without Travel

The districts found their solution in  Cisco TelePresence. Each district has a Cisco TelePresence system,  which provides a live, face-to-face experience over the network. A  large, ultra-high-definition display and high-fidelity audio quality  create an experience that rivals in-person interaction. And launching a  Cisco TelePresence session “is as easy as it gets,” says Superintendent  Hanson. “We push a button and Long Beach is on the other side.”

The  Proof is in the Numbers

In spring of 2009, Long Beach Unified sent a group of math  teachers to Fresno. While there, they and their counterparts from Long  Beach joined a Cisco TelePresence session with other Long Beach teachers  to talk about a common assessment framework. “In one day we completed a  project that would have taken months without this technology,”  Steinhauser says, noting that the two districts are “accomplishing more,  faster, and at lower cost.” The results  were swift and impressive. In the 2008-9 school year, 2000 more  elementary school students in the Fresno Unified School District scored  proficient or advanced in mathematics than in the prior year. “That’s  2000 lives, futures, and sets of promises that we now have to hold as  they move through the system,” Hanson says. Long  Beach Unified School District also gained from the collaboration.  “[Cisco TelePresence] takes professional development to a level we  haven’t seen,” Steinhauser says.

Muliplying the Gains

Now Fresno Unified is looking forward  to replicating its math gains in middle school, as the first students  to benefit from the collaboration move up. The district will capitalize  on a winning formula by using Cisco TelePresence to get new ideas for  the curriculum and learning strategies. California’s Garden Grove  Unified and Oakland Unified School Districts are implementing their own  Cisco TelePresence systems and will join the partnership, so that all  four districts can learn from each other’s experiences.

For more info, watch the video of  Superintendent Mike Hanson and Superintendent Chris Steinhauser  discussing collaborating on math achievement with Cisco TelePresence.