Civic Education

In close collaboration with the United Way of America, the Forum for Youth Investment and the two local sites in Richmond, VA and Kansas City, MO, Collaborative:

• Reviewed project materials about the grant, as well as materials from both local sites.
• Developed an interview guide to structure the conversation in a way that would help pilot grant leads be reflective and open about the grant and how it impacted their organization and the community.
• Identified fourteen individuals (seven in each community) to interview.
• Wrote a report that included how the local effort unfolded, successes and challenges experienced, results achieved due to the efforts in each community, and lessons learned for other collaborative efforts.

Collaborative designed interview protocols, focus group guides, and observation rubrics to help facilitate the effectiveness of site visits at the three schools from the National Forum's Schools to Watch program. 

Once on-site, Collaborative led teams:

• Making classroom observations
• Interviewing teachers and administrators
• Conducting student focus groups

Once the observations were complete, Collaborative assisted with:

• Aligning the findings to the Math Panel recommendations
• Drafting and editing the case studies
• Presenting highlights of promising practices from these schools in a special section of the Mathematics Improvement Toolkit Web site

Collaborative researched Nashville's community aspirations and attitudes by doing the following:

• Completing a comprehensive review of existing public opinion data on Nashville and education in Nashville
• Conducting focus groups to listen for how the community talks about and engages the issues of education and community
• Conducting focus groups with principals and teachers to understand their priorities and their hopes for the vision

After gathering this initial information, Collaborative designed and facilitated working sessions with the Board of Education:

• Articulating an initial vision for schools and educational change
• Refining and shaping the vision based on feedback
• Writing and presenting the final vision to the Board for consideration

Since late 2007, there have been 25 community forums about the achievement gap in these six cities, engaging over 1,500 participants from a wide range of backgrounds, including those of Somali, Hmong, Hispanic, Korean, Native American, White, African American and Chinese descent. Educators, superintendents, principals and teachers participated in the conversations.

Collaborative attended at least two forums in each of the six participating cities and also conducted more than 20 follow-up interviews with educators, parents and students impacted by the achievement gap discussions.

Collaborative analyzed findings and compiled a report of key themes and future potential steps for the Kettering Foundation to take when seeking to engage communities in deliberations about aspirations and actions for educational quality.

Our approach was to create a series of promotional materials, Web site content, and implementation strategies that the ADE could distribute to a variety of prospective users.

Our first step was to create materials that demonstrate the benefits of IDEAS to district and school administrators. Once they understood the value of the online portal, they could then promote it within their district or school. We created a promotion plan and an implementation strategy that ADE staff could use to talk about and promote IDEAS with administrators at the district and school level.

Next, we developed an implementation plan for administrators, to help them introduce and promote IDEAS in their school or district. The plan is accompanied by supporting resources including IDEAS talking points, sample email language, a PowerPoint presentation and a promotional poster. We recommended all of these resources be available to administrators in a centralized location on the IDEAS Web site.

Our approach was to present the information in an interactive, online map of the United States. Individual states are colored along a spectrum of performance, from red (poor performance) to blue (high performance). This color-coding approach enables visitors to view comparative snapshots of state performance in public education. Users click individual states to view specific data on access, or the chance that a disadvantaged student will have access to a high performing school compared to a white, non-Latino student; proficiency, or the percentage of eight graders who scored proficient or above on the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) reading exam; and cost, or the total economic burden carried by state taxpayers because of inequity.

Collaborative looked at multiple indicators to identify potential expansion opportunities for NAF academies in California. We examined public education data, interviewed potential partners and identified existing support structures, to gain a clear picture of interest, need and support. We looked at how these indicators intersected and overlapped, to identify potential areas for academy expansion. We synthesized our findings in a written report that "maps" our recommendations.

In response to the need be able to update information and continue to explore new locations, Collaborative created the Community Readiness Assessment Tool, which helps to guide strategic thinking about a community's level of readiness to engage in the career academy approach. By capturing and documenting the process by which data can be used to inform decisions, Collaborative empowered NAF to continue its work in an effective and strategic way.

Collaborative Communications Group worked with NAF and its partners to create a standards document that would be useful to youth, schools and employers. NAF began the process by convening a Career Academy and Internship Task Force of national experts in work-based learning. Collaborative provided direction on the meeting agenda, materials and purpose; attended and documented the meeting in Oakland, CA; and identified the most relevant themes from the daylong discussion. We also attended a convening of employers in the Los Angeles area and gatherings of educators and intermediaries who deliver work-based learning activities to further test the identified themes.

Our process of creating the standards document included receiving continuous feedback from NAF staff, the Task Force and the field. When a change in scope resulted in the need for a slightly different product, we adeptly changed our approach to deliver a document that would be most useful to the organization in continuing to solicit feedback and funding to obtain support nationwide.

Collaborative began the project with the print design, creating a piece that balanced large amounts of text with compelling pull quotes and images that reinforced the text. Next, we developed an online platform that closely resembled the look and feel of the print piece. This interactive solution has a built in commenting feature that encourages users to discuss publicly specific recommendations put forth in the report, share ideas and challenge assumptions. The report site is also connected to Aspen's broader social media strategy, through blog posts, Twitter feeds and other online connections. Both the print piece and the online platform are available in English and Spanish.

Collaborative worked with PEN to produce part of the content for the Civic Index for Quality Public Education. This first-of-its-kind, comprehensive, online tool includes a national poll that measures public attitudes toward education. It assesses 10 scientifically-based categories of community support determined by the public and experts to be critical factors outside the school needed to support and sustain quality schools. The 10 categories are:

•    Tolerance and Inclusiveness
•    Officeholder Leadership
•    Parent Involvement
•    Media Coverage
•    Youth Development and Involvement
•    Business Involvement
•    School Board Elections
•    Community Organizations
•    Use of Data
•    Higher Education

The tool helps to tailor community engagement efforts for maximum impact in communities. Collaborative built strategies for engaging the public through public conversations, coalition building, town meetings and forums, and building stakeholder groups to advance recommendations. As a result, we researched and wrote two sections in the Index—Media Strategies and Strategies to Engage the Public. Our staff wrote, edited and revised content to ensure it would be accessible and relevant to users in communities across the country.