When leaders of community-wide education collaborations discuss their experiences in bringing elementary, secondary, and postsecondary educators together to promote reform, what do they talk about? In this publication, one of the culminating products of PSA's evaluation of Community Compacts for Student Success, three leaders had this to say:
- Very often, the need to attract new business is the reason for communities coming together to back education reform. Low scores on state achievement tests also serve as a wake-up call, as does the number of students leaving school with minimal skills and limited aspirations.
- While academic disciplines in some colleges and universities are forging relationships with teacher preparation programs, most are not doing that to the extent that they can and should.
- Achieving K-12 or higher education improvement alone is very hard. Some institutions of higher education are seeking a more balanced approach by redefining their courses to create greater continuity with the K-12 curriculum.
- Collaborations must continually accommodate new interests and forces into their organizational structures in order to stay on top of community concerns.
- When new CEOs are named to member organizations, other CEOs in the collaboration should meet with them to explain the importance of the collaboration. Collaborations renew themselves by involving newly appointed CEOs.
- Learning to collaborate involves understanding how other organizations work.
- The leaders of collaborations need to recognize new opportunities and capitalize upon them.
- Collaborations need multiple indicators of success; a single indicator may hide too much.
- A successful K-16 collaboration needs full-time, dedicated staff.
The education leaders who participated in this conversation included Susana Navarro, director of the El Paso Collaborative for Academic Excellence; Rochelle Nichols Solomon, director of the North Philadelphia Community Compact for Student Access and Success; and LeeAnn Withnell, director of the Pueblo Community Compact for Student Success. Kati Haycock, director of the Education Trust, facilitated the discussion.
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