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Global Skills for College Completion (GSCC)
Website: globalskillscc.org
Global Skills for College Completion (GSCC) deploys an online community of 26 outstanding basic skills faculty in 16 states on 13 campuses to innovate math and writing basic skills pedagogy to consistently increase pass rates to 80%. The project is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation with a grant of $3.6 million to the League for Innovation in the Community College in partnership with Knowledge in the Public Interest and LaGuardia Community College.
Read the full Gates Foundation press release.
State of Virginia Office of Adult Education (VDOE)
KPI began working with the VDOE as a consequence of a gubernatorial
mandate to double the number of GED holders in 18 months. The Director
at the time, Yvonne Thayer, asked KPI to help with this challenging
goal and its ambitious time line. Using a rapid pilot model and intense
online collaboration a working approach was developed by a small group
of program managers from across the state and then rapidly rolled out
statewide. KPI documented this work in a chapter of the book
Communities of Practice in Education. This initial assignment led in
turn to the formation of a broad online community for adult educators
in Virginia that enable program directors, staff members, assessors and
others to share experiences and solve challenges together.
The Middle College National Consortium (www.mcnc.org) is a not-for-profit association that drives educational reform by making college a reality for traditionally under-served youth. MCNC members form a network of small public high schools across the nation situated on community college campuses. With third party funding from organizations such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Consortium supports the leaders and staffs of member schools in implementing a unique educational model that lays the foundation for an excellent education leading to post-secondary success. Knowledge in the Public Interest (KPI) has been working with MCNC, providing thought leadership and building a digital collaboration infrastructure, since 2003.
We added an online community to MCNC's annual off line student conference. Where staff and students had worked independently until the conference itself, staff advisers now confer and collaborate on pedagogical and curricular approaches to the conference topic, and students from across the country work together online as they prepare their projects to bring to the conference. The result is that the conference topic is explored in depth by more than just the conference attendees, and those that attend arrive ready to get to work. By working virtually MCNC has generated considerable "data" on both pedagogy and on the student learning experience which will be cumulatively analyzed for its benefit and for the national education community.
The Education Commission of the States (ecs.org) helps states develop effective policy and practice for public education by providing data, research, analysis and leadership; and by facilitating collaboration, the exchange of ideas among the states and long-range strategic thinking.
Aligning Education, Workforce and Economic Development The leadership of the Education Commission of the States has identified the alignment of education, workforce and economic development as an area of primary focus. ECS is committed to collecting data that will help states develop, implement and sustain policies that foster alignment. Wanting to work quickly, deeply, inclusively, and cost effectively, ECS joined with KPI to conduct some of its initial work online. On October 22-23, 2008, with funding from KnowledgeWorks (wfdn.org) a national conference on Aligning Education, Workforce and Economic Development was held online. Eighty seven people completed a preliminary survey that informed the structure of the online exchange and thirty people posted in three discussion threads:
- Making the Case for Alignment: What's the Return on Investment?
- Creating Powerful Partnerships: Connecting People, Perceptions and Policy
- Building an Effective and Sustainable Strategy
Published by ECS on their website:
Revving the Education Engine: Aligning Education, Workforce and Economic Development. The leadership of the Education Commission of the States identified
the alignment of education, workforce and economic development as an
area of primary focus. ECS is committed to collecting data that will
help states develop, implement and sustain policies that foster
alignment. Wanting to work quickly, deeply, inclusively, and cost
effectively, ECS joined with KPI to conduct some of its initial work
online. On October 22-23, 2008, with funding from KnowledgeWorks
(wfdn.org) a national conference on Aligning Education, Workforce and
Economic Development was held online.
Knowledge in the Public Interest Jam Report on Education, Workforce and Economic Development
ECS_Jam_Report.pdf
Getting Past Go ECS has been funded by the Lumina Foundation, luminafoundation.org, (with Knowledge in the Public Interest as a partner) for a 3 year national public policy initiative to help states align state and system policy to increase the college success of the large percentage of students enrolled in postsecondary education who require remedial and developmental education by achieving the following objectives:
- Create a network of state, postsecondary system and institutional leaders committed to improving developmental studies policy and practice to increase college attainment rates in their states
- Develop model policies and practices states can adopt that are consistent with their goals and philosophy for increasing college attainment rates for developmental studies students
- Collect and analyze state and system policies and data on developmental studies to provide a clearer picture of state and system approaches to developmental studies
- Integrate developmental studies policies and practices into state P-20 efforts to better align college preparation standards with high school reform efforts
- Partner with state leaders in a select number of states to promote innovative policies and practices in developmental studies in their states
Project Outcomes
- Comprehensive set of policy and academic research and data that add knowledge to the field of developmental studies to include the impact and implications of specific state policies on effective and efficient implementation of developmental studies programs
- States will adopt policies and practices related to developmental studies that were informed by the work of the project and through the assistance of ECS and other project participants
- States will articulate through their state P-20 councils or other statewide efforts to increase college attainment rates the role that developmental studies plays in those efforts
Knowledge in the Public Interest is partnering with ECS to use our tools, process and methods to undertake key elements of the project.
The Workforce Strategy Center (workforcestrategy.org) works with state and national leaders to develop effective education and employment policies that complement one another in order to better align public resources. WSC and KPI joined forces in the Commonwealth of Virginia where the Governor elected to use Career Pathways to align education and employment resources in the state. WSC asked KPI to bring all parties involved in education and employment together virtually to help create a starting point for alignment work. KPI's analysis of this collaborative exchange served as the basis for the Governor's formal launch of the alignment project in the state.
Virginia's Career Pathways Strategic Plan
December 2008
This strategic plan details the Commonwealth of Virginia's blueprint for developing, implementing and sustaining its statewide career pathways system. Knowledge in the Public Interest designed, facilitated, and analyzed the Jam for the Workforce Strategy Center.
What Kids Can Do: First in the Family (whatkidscando.org)
Those who would be the first in a family to pursue higher education face particular challenges in getting into and successfully completing a course of study. What Kids Can Do believes that student voices are essential to understanding and addressing these challenges. Upward Bound is a program that works to help students make the transition. What Kids Can Do and Knowledge in the Public Interest organized a 2 day Jam (online exchange) with Upward Bound summer programs across the United States during which students shared their views of the elements of the Upward Bound program that give them the support and confidence to apply to college. The KPI analysis of the Jam identified key elements of support from Upward Bound and from other sources that have led these students to feel college ready. What Kids Can Do published the Jam analysis as a public report (see attached).
Partnership for Permanency
The State of Maine, through the University of Maine Muskie School of Public Service, is working to address the needs of children max'ing out of the state's foster care system. Because those involved in the system see the challenges from very different perspectives and because they so rarely have the opportunity to hear together from people who are approaching the end of foster care or who have made the transition, KPI was asked to hold a statewide Jam on Permanency. The Jam experience and the analysis that followed helped to reframe the concept of "permanency", broadening the options and policy implications for leaders.
