Springfield Empowerment Zone Partnership

the springfield empowerment zone partnership (sezp) is a groundbreaking voluntary partnership of springfield public schools (sps), the ma department of elementary and secondary education (dese), and the springfield education association (sea) aimed at rapidly improving outcomes for a majority of springfield’s middle school students. the partnership seeks to rapidly improve the educational opportunity for springfield students. the empowerment zone consists of nine public middle schools, serving over 4,400 students, in springfield, and is governed by a seven-person board consisting of local and state appointees. sezp believes that individual schools are the unit of success in education, and thus has partnered closely with sps and the sea to ensure that each school has the necessary autonomy and flexibility to create the best educational environment for its students. individual schools, rather than the school district or sezp board, will make key operational decisions such as hiring, sche