Practice guide · Stratus Education
A partner list is not an operating system.
Five questions that turn a list of relationships into a useful leadership conversation.
Start with the decision.
Before collecting more information, name the decision leadership needs to make. Are you deciding what to renew, where to recruit, which needs remain unmet, or who should own the work? A portfolio becomes useful when it helps answer a specific question.
Know who owns the relationship.
A partner name and a contact are not enough. Identify an accountable district or school owner, the commitment being managed, and the next review date. If ownership is uncertain, record that uncertainty and assign someone to resolve it.
Connect support to a documented need.
Record which schools or populations receive support and what need the partnership is intended to address. Do not infer equitable access from the number of active partners. Review coverage with schools and compare it with current needs.
Separate delivery from outcomes.
Document what was promised and what was delivered. Then examine the evidence available about intended results. A contribution can be valuable without proving that it caused a change in student outcomes. Keep these claims separate.
Make the next action visible.
A portfolio review should end with a bounded next action, an owner and a review date. Choose one or two priorities rather than launching a districtwide redesign from an incomplete snapshot.
Use a short working session.
Bring the relevant school and district owners together. Review a small set of priority partnerships using the Clarity Map, identify the largest information gap, and select a next step that is within local authority. This is a practical discussion method, not a validated performance benchmark.
A Stratus practice framework, not an empirical research finding or validated benchmark.