Different educational programs report to different areas under the assistant superintendent for Instruction. AEIS A major factor contributing to these higher costs is the district's use of vertical teams. A vertical team is a team of principals serving schools grouped within attendance zones. In a sense, a vertical team of staff members is responsible for a school district within the school district. Students within a feeder group who are served by a vertical team attend a certain group of elementary schools, based on the boundaries of the attendance zones.
Students are than promoted to a smaller number of middle schools and, usually, a single high school.
The primary benefit of vertical teams is communication between schools that students will attend. For instance, communication of recurring student performance problems in an elementary school may prompt a middle school to develop or refine specific programs for these students. The superintendent established vertical teams during 1993-94 in an effort to foster communication among schools in the same feeder group. Each vertical team consists of a team leader and the principal of each school in the feeder group. Vertical team leaders report to the executive director of School Operations, who in turn reports to the assistant superintendent for Instruction.