This paper synthesizes themes from a conversation NewSchools Venture Fund convened in May 2005 about public school systems’ shift toward becoming “performance-driven systems.”

Following the release of a NewSchools report on the adoption of these practices (“Anatomy of School System Improvement: Performance-Driven Practices in Urban School Districts”), the organization convened a roundtable of advisors to discuss the report’s implications. This paper summarizes the session’s wide-ranging conversation, and some of the next steps NewSchools is currently taking to further knowledge development work in this field.