Introduction to Outcomes Based Contracting
Transforming Educational Partnerships
Each year across America, school districts invest more than $70 billion in education services, hoping to drive meaningful impact. At the Center for Outcomes Based Contracting at the Southern Education Foundation, we are turning that hope into a measurable reality.
In 2024, we saw districts achieve breakthrough outcomes using OBC serving nearly 15,000 students through our groundbreaking edtech cohort contracts that include built-in accountability measures to ensure results. These successes prove that when we align financial incentives to student outcomes, transformation is possible.
Report Sections
Start of a Movement
Cohort Districts
Numbers can tell a powerful story of transformation. Since inception, we’ve seen OBC evolve from a promising concept into a model with growing evidence of scalability and results, demonstrating that OBC isn’t just effective—it’s expandable, adaptable, and increasingly impactful. What began with four pioneering districts has grown to 60 LEAs, ESAs, and SEAs across 25 states, but the real story goes beyond geographic expansion.
The trajectory of our growth reveals a model gaining momentum. From 2022 to 2024, we’ve seen remarkable growth across all metrics.
2022
2023
2024
14
LEAs and SEAs representing 8 states
36
LEAs and SEAs representing 8 states
60
LEAs and SEAs representing 8 states
Districts Supported
2022 Cohort
Denver Public Schools (CO)Duval County Public Schools (GA)Ector County Independent School District (TX)Fulton County Schools (GA)
2023 Cohort
Colorado Springs District 11 (CO)Jackson Public Schools (MS)Santa Ana Unified School District (CA)Uplift Education (TX)
2024 Spring Cohort
Cleveland Metropolitan
School District (OH)
Fresno Unified School District (CA)
Hillsborough County
Public Schools (FL)
Jefferson County
Public Schools (CO)
Orange County Public Schools (FL)
Colorado Springs D11 (CO)
Duval County Public Schools (FL)
Santa Ana
Unified School District (CA)
Uplift Education (TX)
2024 Fall Cohort
Aldine Independent School District (TX)Atlanta Public Schools (GA)Corpus Christi Independent School District (TX)Houston Independent School District (TX)Manchester School District (NH)Lynwood United School DIstrict (CA)
Contracts and Providers
2022
2023
2024
5
high-dosage tutoring contracts worth
36
high-dosage tutoring contracts worth
21
high-dosage tutoring contracts worth
4
providers engaging in OBC
5
providers engaging in OBC
12
providers engaging in OBC
Students Served
2022
2023
2024
6,600
Students Served
7,700
Students Served
29,300
Students Served
Outcomes Achieved
2022
2023
2024
44% of contingent dollars paid.
68% of contingent dollars paid.
Real Students, Real Progress
These aren’t just statistics; they represent milestones in our journey to transform educational partnerships and student outcomes. Each number represents real students making real progress. Each new district and provider represents additional opportunities for impact. Together, these numbers tell the story of an innovative model that’s ready for its next chapter of growth. Already, the work highlighted in this report shows the early success of outcomes based contracting.
The Power of OBC
The true power of OBC lies in its ability to unite everyone—districts, providers, and communities—around what truly matters: student success. As we look to the future, we know the best is yet to come. Our team is focused on scaling the impact of OBC while maintaining quality through structured programs, strategic partnerships, and enhanced operational capabilities. Through our commitment to empowering others and fostering collaboration, we’re not just modifying contracts—we’re transforming the very fabric of educational partnerships, and we invite you to join us in this journey.
By 2030, we strive to reach 1 million students through outcomes based contracts, achieving 2 million student outcomes.
Q1 – Growing the Model
OBCs for EdTech Interventions
[The provider is] absolutely holding their weight, and we’re not going to enter into partnership with someone who’s not going to give us what we need. If they can’t give us what we need, they’re the wrong partner.
– Zerina Hargrove-Brown, AssistantSuperintendent of Analysis, Measurement, and Accountability, Fresno Unified School District
Outcomes Based Contracting Enters the $50B edtech market
9 Districts across 5 states begin developing OBCs for edtech interventions
Launch of EdTech Cohort
What Happened
- Launched largest cohort to date: Nine districts across five states
- Successfully executed five contracts worth $500k total, including nearly $250,000 contingent on outcomes. Collectively, the contracts will serve nearly 15,000 students, targeting 23,000 contracted student outcomes.
Why it Matters
- Successfully expanded the OBC model beyond tutoring and into a new product line while dramatically accelerating onboarding and decision-making timelines—condensing the baseline two-year district decision-making timeline to three months
Signal for the Future
- Strong district and provider engagement in this new domain, combined with a demonstrated ability to continuously strengthen and condense the contract development process, suggests OBC can effectively transform procurement across multiple types of educational services at scale. Experts estimate that districts spend more than $50 billion each year on edtech products. Creating a market for outcomes in this historically inefficient market can transform student learning.
Q2 – Building the Evidence Base
Outcomes for High-Dosage Tutoring OBCs
OBC protocols significantly enhance mutual accountability between schools and providers. Early evidence and field observations have been promising, which is why we prioritize OBC as a competitive preference in our grant-making.
– Jen Bronson, Managing Director of Programs, Accelerate
Students Served
7 contracts valued at $7.2M, with $3.6M(49%) contingent on student outcomes
Academic outcomes achieved
Districts achieved 65% of all contracted outcomes
Launch of EdTech Cohort
What Happened
- Launched largest cohort to date: Nine districts across five states
- Successfully executed five contracts worth $500k total, including nearly $250,000 contingent on outcomes. Collectively, the contracts will serve nearly 15,000 students, targeting 23,000 contracted student outcomes.
Why it Matters
- Successfully expanded the OBC model beyond tutoring and into a new product line while dramatically accelerating onboarding and decision-making timelines—condensing the baseline two-year district decision-making timeline to three months
Signal for the Future
- Strong district and provider engagement in this new domain, combined with a demonstrated ability to continuously strengthen and condense the contract development process, suggests OBC can effectively transform procurement across multiple types of educational services at scale. Experts estimate that districts spend more than $50 billion each year on edtech products. Creating a market for outcomes in this historically inefficient market can transform student learning.
Q3 – Expanding Our Reach
Annual OBC Convening
I thought it was a really strong conference. I entered with very little understanding of OBC and I left with a strong grounding in what OBC is, why it could benefit my district, and the resources to start to implement some small pieces of OBC.
– John Ezaki, Manager of Strategic Investment Analysis, Tulsa Public Schools
Participants
Organizations Represented
Unique Sessions
Participant satisfaction score
Annual OBC Convening & Provider Summit
What Happened
- Hosted our most ambitious OBC Convening and first Provider Summit in OBC history, convening district leaders, providers, funders, policy experts, and non-profit partners from 90 unique organizations
- Quadrupled attendance from ~50 participants at the inaugural 2022 convening to more than 225 attendees in 2024, including nearly 150 district leaders representing 30 LEAs and SEAs across 17 states
- Innovative sessions, showcasing real-world implementation successes and emerging opportunities, were facilitated by both the OBC team and 20+ strategic partners, demonstrating the growing expertise in OBC across the field
- Officially launched the Center for Outcomes Based Contracting at the Southern Education Foundation, unveiling our bold vision to serve 1 million students through outcomes based contracts by 2030
Why it Matters
- Created first-of-its-kind space for cross-sector dialogue about OBC, with district leaders, providers, and diverse stakeholders collaborating to reimagine educational contracts
- Generated extraordinary engagement with over 90% participant satisfaction and 100% of Provider Summit participant responses indicating plans to engage with OBC through bidding or strategic partnership
- Established the Center for OBC as the national hub for excellence in outcomes based contracting, marking our evolution from a promising initiative to an industry-wide catalyst for transformation
Signal for the Future
- Strong attendance and cross-sector representation signal growing recognition of OBC as a systemic solution for improving educational outcomes
- Success of integrated district-provider programming suggests market readiness for accelerating adoption of OBC through strategic convenings and collaborative learning
Q4 – Accelerating Adoption
Diversified Pathways to Partnership
At Digital Promise, we’re committed to
empowering education leaders to make
informed, critical decisions about the tech
they purchase for their community. We are thrilled to learn how the OBC process can help realize this vision alongside the team at the Center for OBC.
– Sierra Noakes, Director of Edtech Evaluation and Contracting, Digital Promise
Fall Cohort
Participating Districts Serving 360,000
districts identified through 3 strategic partnerships
Fall Cohort Launch (October)
What Happened
- Launched first fall cohort for edtech and tutoring, bringing together six diverse districts that collectively serve over 360,000 students
- Secured participation from new districts through strategic partnerships
- Atlanta Public Schools (Georgia)
- Manchester School District (New Hampshire), facilitated by our partnership with NSSA
- 3 districts from the Texas Urban Council, facilitated by the Commit Partnership (Houston
Independent School District, Aldine Independent School District, Corpus Christi Independent
School District) - Lynwood Unified School District (California), facilitated by our partnership with Digital Promise
Why it Matters
- Demonstrated OBC’s versatility through a cohort model that spans:
- Multiple regions (Northeast, Southeast, Southwest)
- Various intervention types (edtech, tutoring, combined approaches)
- Different partnership structures (direct district engagement, intermediary partnerships)
- Demonstrated OBC’s ability to adapt to districts’ needs by diversifying cohort support models
Signal for the Future
- Strategic partnerships expand our reach to LEAs, broadening our network beyond districts with individual connections to the Center
- Replicable model for state-based implementation accelerates progress towards our 2030 goal of serving 1 million students
- Multiple cohorts throughout the year accommodate growing demand for broad, systemic adoption of OBC
Upcoming Strategic Priorities
Strategic Priority |
Measure of Success |
|---|---|
Evolve the OBC Support Model |
Develop and launch 250 high-quality OBC contracts with a minimum of 80% of districts |
Empower Excellence |
Produce and disseminate 100 high-impact resources that capture best practices of high-quality OBC, and ensure the resources drive measurable improvements in student outcomes |
Activate Strategic Partnerships |
Form 50 strategic partnerships with organizations that help spread the adoption of OBC to 100 districts through partner-influenced outcomes based contracts |
Amplify OBC |
Receive 500 media mentions and 25,000 views of our resources that demonstrate our success in elevating OBC’s profile and expanding its reach |
Build Our Future |
Obtain an 80% satisfaction score from key stakeholders on priority initiatives, and generate 30% earned revenue to enhance the Center’s long-term sustainability |
As we enter our first full year as the Center for OBC at SEF, we are positioned to accelerate OBC’s adoption and impact through interconnected initiatives across our strategic priorities:
Evolve the OBC Support Model
- Launch state-based partnerships, enabling deeper integration of OBC practices at a systemic level, facilitating greater regional buying power, and fostering peer learning among districts facing similar challenges.
- Pilot the first curriculum based professional learning (CBPL) cohort, bringing district-provider pairs together to develop contracts for ongoing CBPL that supports teachers’ implementation of high-quality instructional materials.
Empower Excellence
- Develop OBC Standards of Excellence to provide clear quality benchmarks across contexts, setting the foundation to launch the OBC Credential of Distinction, which recognizes best practices in outcomes based contracting.
- Leverage emerging technologies to provide districts with data-driven insights, including AI-powered tools for contract feedback and rate card calculations.
- Expand OBC resource offerings with specialized toolkits tailored to new intervention types, implementation contexts, and cohort models.
Activate Strategic Partnerships
- Launch the Strategic Advisory Council to leverage subject-matter experts in guiding industry-wide adoption strategies.
- Establish partnerships with local intermediary organizations to embed OBC sustainably within states.
- Expand provider engagement through increased learning opportunities and resources to empower providers with the knowledge and tools needed to effectively partner with districts to improve student outcomes.
Amplify OBC
- Launch the OBC Impact Storytelling Campaign to showcase the many voices, stories, and transformative experiences within the OBC community.
- Enhance OBC’s online presence through a new YouTube channel and interactive website features.
- Cultivate a network of OBC Ambassadors to increase awareness and engagement across the education landscape.
Build Our Future
- Streamline operations through enhanced financial management systems and automated workflows.
- Support the OBC team through comprehensive training programs and clear growth pathways for staff and facilitators.