The Children First Intensive (CFI) is a professional development program that supports school leaders and teachers to thrive in the Department of Education’s new environment of empowerment and data-driven accountability. The mission of CFI is to support each school in closing the achievement gap and expanding its sphere of success.

Children First Initiative engages in the following activities:

• Disseminates knowledge about the concepts behind the Children First Reform, including the Accountability Tools:
• Progress Report
• Quality Review
• Periodic Assessments
• ARIS


• Trains Senior Achievement Facilitators (SAF) to help schools integrate the Accountability Tools into school planning.  
• Develops school-based Inquiry Teams that engage in a process of deep self-study using quantitative and qualitative data. Made up of teachers and administrators, the teams select a target population of struggling students. By investigating the changes needed to accelerate these students' progress, Inquiry Teams reflect on and inform the structures of learning within the school as a whole.

To learn more about the Inquiry Team process, please download our brochure.

CFI Organizational Structure
Each SAF partners with a School Support Organization (SSO) network to support 20-25 schools. SAFs liase primarily with the Inquiry Teams at each school.

What are the responsibilities of the Senior Achievement Facilitators?

• SAFs work intensively with groups of schools to develop, align, and deliver training in support of improved student learning.
• SAFs identify, disseminate, and facilitate effective practices that use the accountability tools and other tools to differentiate instruction and improve  outcomes for all children.
• SAFs act as a feedback loop between schools and the Office of Accountability.

How do Senior Achievement Facilitators work with School Support Organizations?

• One SAF working with each SSO is designated the Lead SAF. This individual works closely with the SSO instructional leader to bring alignment between instructional initiatives and accountability tools.
• Lead SAFs and SSO instructional leads citywide meet in monthly Design Team meetings to develop professional development for the SAFs and network teams. Each Lead SAF and SSO instructional lead refines these plans in order to best fit their SSO.
• Each network team in the SSO meets with their designated SAF to form a Collaborative Achievement Team (CAT). Together they strategically plan for the development of the 20 to 25 schools they service.