There are a number of other models for delivering improvement, including academy chains and teaching school alliances.
Schools looking for help in a particular area contact the teaching school alliance, which acts as a broker in arranging support from a relevant SLE.
Teaching school alliances are responsible for recruiting SLEs, although applicants do not have to be from within the alliance as long as their school is willing to release them to work elsewhere.
The first teaching school alliances were created in September 2011, and there are now around 360 designated teaching schools, with a target of 500.
But while relative upstarts such as teaching school alliances, self-improving clusters and academy chains garner attention, federations still have their adherents.
Teaching school alliances typically charge £350 a day for an SLE's services and the intention is for the system to be self-funding.
Bryan Stephenson suggests an increase in the number of teaching school alliances will make it harder to deploy them, with more SLEs competing for the same market.
"Meanwhile, heads in disadvantaged areas walk around with a crick in their neck from looking over their shoulder for Ofsted, and the teaching school alliances in the affluent areas, who get outstanding inspection grades, will just find it easier to recruit the best candidates to train and keep for themselves, which will only make inequality even worse".
Ms. Hugentobler is teaching art classes at the Educational Alliance's Sirovich Senior Center, on East 12th Street, in exchange for being able to use the kilns, clay and glazes in her projects.
The first sessions are devoted to establishing a therapeutic alliance, giving psycho-education, and teaching relaxation skills and will take 60 minutes.
