About Us
About Us
Through years of work ensuring all students have access to quality education,
Momentum has a unique perspective into the limitations of both typical
accountability systems and facilities, and a great vantage point to inform the
next generation of research, measurement, assessment, and system-level
accountability. Momentum works with a wide variety of partners to support,
promote, disseminate, and document innovative efforts and resources for
supporting student and school needs.
History
Co-founders Jim Griffin and Dr. Jody Ernst previously worked together at the Colorado
League of Charter Schools (the League). Jim was the League's founding President, Jody the Senior Director of Research and Performance Management.
Together at the League, Momentum's co-founders pioneered two lines of work that gained
national attention. The first line of work centered on research into the quality of charter school facilities,
and ensuring access to facilities and funding options. The second line of work focused on research and evaluation of what we refer to as alternative education campuses (or AECs). Publication and
presentation of the results of this work led to multiple requests for replication outside of Colorado and ultimately, to capitalize on the momentum of the work, led to the foundation
of Momentum Strategy & Research. To this day, Momentum continues to focus on these two, seemingly disparate, areas of focus.
The common thread between these research and policy areas is in their intent to ensure that all
students have access to quality educational options--whether by keeping schools open by ensuring they are evaluated accurately, or by ensuring that charter schools are able to access
funding and resources that allow them to operate in
buildings that meet the same standards as those of other public school buildings.
We continue to work with new partners to expand our data and knowledge base in other areas including the
evaluation of non-classroom-based school models (e.g., full-time virtual, hybrid, and independent study), expeditionary learning models,
competency-based models, and more.
Services
Momentum’s theory of action across initiatives begins with the strategic compilation of data and experience, research to draw the right lessons from the data, and implementation strategies to strengthen K12 policy and practice. While many of those lessons are published and disseminated through typical channels, much of Momentum’s research also leads to everyday application through services provided across a wide variety of organizations.
Alternative Education
Momentum has built and continually improves the nation’s only comprehensive
database of alternative schools, measure and assessment data, and related
public policy elements. Using that database and extensive experience related to
the use of measures and assessments in AECs, Momentum provides the following
services.
-
Policy Analysis: Alternative school policy analysis using Momentum’s
national database -
Measure Alignment: Ensuring the measures and assessments being used are
the best fit for a school’s mission and student population
- Performance Frameworks: Performance data analysis for schools and districts
-
School Performance Evaluation: A comprehensive diagnostic review
including the application of the best available comparison data for qualitative
review
-
Demonstration Projects: Supporting several projects ‘piloting’ alternative
measures and assessments for smaller groups of schools interested in
documenting the viability and impact of measures not currently part of their
accountability system.
School Facilities
For the better part of two decades, Momentum leadership has been at the forefront
of
strengthening charter school facility access and affordability through state
policy. More recently, Momentum teamed up with the Facility Center to produce
updated analysis across facility policy features. This combination of accumulated
data and experience provides Momentum with the background information
to support efforts including:
-
Policy Analysis: Around specifically identified policy questions using national
data for comparability. -
Landscape Scan: Multi-part review of a state’s policy landscape against a
national database of existing policies
Rural Charter Schools
Momentum has led research efforts into USDA financing for charter schools, and in
2020, published the first report documenting the relevant data and experience over
the past decade. Combining information from that research with experienced rural
and charter school financing expertise, Momentum supports schools’ facility
financing needs through
-
Schoolhouse Planning: Strengthening schools’ capacity to strategically align
growth and expansion plans with long-term facility planning -
Schoolhouse Support: Technical assistance to strengthen applications for
USDA CF financing
Additional Services by Audience
Momentum provides a number of services to a variety of educational organizations, including schools, authorizers, school districts, state departments, and local or national advocacy and support organizations. Below is a brief list of the types of services Momentum can be commissioned to provide, by organization type.
Services for Schools
- Survey selection & development
- School & program evaluation
- Data validation & analysis
- Measure selection, alignment, & goal setting
Services for Authorizers,
Districts, and SEAs
- Measure selection & framework development
- Evaluation of school effectiveness
- Landscape surveys & reports
- Data validation & analysis
Services for Support and
Advocacy Organizations
- Collaborative research projects
- Landscape analysis
- Policy scans
- Expert testimony
Staff
Jim Griffin
jgriffin@momentum-sr.org
Jim Griffin is the founding President of Momentum. Mr. Griffin has been involved in advocacy for charter schools, equitable charter school facilities and funding, and charter school designated as alternative education campuses (AECs) since the early 1990’s. Mr. Griffin was the founding president of the Colorado League of Charter Schools, where he was involved in the writing of numerous policies that designated AECs as schools needing special consideration under the state accountability system, as well as gaining Colorado charter schools access to local bond funds and other. Jim developed the first ever comprehensive survey of charter school facilities for Colorado, which later saw national application through the Building Charter School Quality Project. Continuing to promote quality data and analyses as the keys to shaping effective policy, Mr. Griffin co-founded Momentum, where both alternative school accountability and charter school facilities and facility funding remain the focal points of his work.
Dr. Jody Ernst
jernst@momentum-sr.org
Dr. Jody Ernst is the founding Vice President of Research and Policy Analytics for Momentum. Jody works with Momentum’s data team to provide research and evaluation work for schools, networks, districts, charter school authorizers, and state departments of education, generates original research reports, and oversees the data collection and maintenance of Momentum’s databases. Jody also works with these same organizations to select measures and metrics that are appropriate for accountability, particularly for AECs and other schools that are not well measured by traditional accountability system metrics. Prior to Momentum, Jody was the Senior Director of Research and Performance Management for the Colorado League of Charter Schools Jody received her B.A. from Mills College and her Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin.
Jim Griffin
Jim Griffin is the founding President of Momentum. Mr. Griffin has been involved in the advocacy of charter schools and AECs since the early 1990’s. Mr. Griffin was the founding president of the Colorado League of Charter Schools, where he was involved in the writing of several policies that designated AECs as schools needing special consideration under the state accountability system. Continuing to realize that quality data and analyses are the keys to shaping effective policy, Mr. Griffin co-founded Momentum, where quantifying AEC success across the country remains one of the foci of his work.
Dr. Jody Ernst
Dr. Jody Ernst is the founding Vice President of Research and Policy Analytics for Momentum. Jody works with Momentum’s data team to provide research and evaluation work for schools, networks, districts, charter school authorizers, and state departments of education, generates original research reports, and oversees the data collection and maintenance of Momentum’s databases. Jody also works with these same organizations to select measures and metrics that are appropriate for accountability, particularly for AECs and other schools that are not well measured by traditional accountability system metrics. Prior to Momentum, Jody was the Senior Director of Research and Performance Management for the Colorado League of Charter Schools Jody received her B.A. from Mills College and her Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin.
Brooke Quisenberry
bquisenberry@momentum-sr.org
Brooke Quisenberry is the Senior Research Associate for Momentum Strategy & Research. Ms. Quisenberry joined the Momentum team in 2019 after years of providing consulting services while working toward her graduate degree in Measurement and Quantitative Methods from the College of Education at Michigan State University. Ms. Quisenberry’s research and evaluation work supports all of Momentum’s strategic initiatives and client engagements—from collecting publicly available data on school performance and public policy to providing student level data analysis to inform schools’ continuous improvement efforts. Ms. Quisenberry also prepares analysis and reports for Momentum’s grant-supported projects.
Troy Dudley
tdudley@momentum-sr.org
Troy is a former social studies teacher turned principal from Red Canyon High School (an AEC in Eagle County, CO) where he spent 20 of his nearly 30-year career in public education. Troy leads and manages Momentum’s Colorado AEC related grant activities, Diagnostic Reviews, and other AEC engagement activities. Troy received his B.A. in secondary education from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and his M.A. in educational leadership from Adams State University.
Brooke Quisenberry
Brooke Quisenberry is the Research Associate for Momentum Strategy & Research. Ms. Quisenberry joined the Momentum team in 2019 after years of providing consulting services while working toward her graduate degree in Measurement and Quantitative Methods from the College of Education at Michigan State University. Ms. Quisenberry’s research and evaluation work supports all of Momentum’s strategic initiatives and client engagements—from collecting publicly available data on school performance and public policy to providing student level data analysis to inform schools’ continuous improvement efforts. Ms. Quisenberry also prepares analysis and reports for Momentum’s grant-supported projects.
Elizabeth Hackett
Elizabeth Hackett is Director of Innovative Initiatives for Momentum. Liz manages initiatives that work with alternative education campuses on their abilities to strengthen opportunities for their AEC students. Currently, this includes the Measuring Opportunity Pilot Program and the Student- Centered Growth System. Liz also supports organizational development and additional Momentum services. Liz received her B.A. from Providence College, her MA in School Counseling from Trinity Washington University and is a former Capitol Hill staffer in Washington, D.C.
Special Project Team
Kelly Chrisman
is the Project Director for Momentum’s Student-Centered Growth System.
Kelly Chrisman
is the Project Director for Momentum’s
Student-Centered Growth System.
Tisha Bouwmeester
is a Project Coordinator for
Momentum.
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