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Serving K-12 |
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Like the student body it serves, the K-12 domain is a complex – and dynamic – system. In fact, few systems are so intricate, involving multiple stakeholders with potentially conflicting needs, governed by multiple levels of regulation, and funded from myriad private and public sources.
For organizations navigating these waters, the stakes are incredibly high. Their efforts to educate children and prepare them for further education, work, and citizenship have the potential to shape the future of today’s youth and society overall.
Through our work with several of the organizations involved in these critically important initiatives, we have been learning about paths to influencing the activities of students, teachers, principals, parents, district superintendents, and politicians to create significant and sustained improvements in the outcomes of America’s K-12 population.
The materials collected here convey some of the lessons that are beginning to emerge. The Bay Area Coalition for Equitable Schools (BayCES) case study demonstrates the value of achieving the kind of clarity that becomes a touchstone for decision-making that reflects the aspirations of the organization’s mission and the constraints of its bottom line; while the Communities In Schools case study tells the story of how this national organization mobilized its entire network to achieve its full potential, and the Steppingstone Foundation case study describes how the organization is realizing its own potential for growth so that its scholars can realize theirs. Expanding the Supply of High-Quality Public Schools, by Bridgespan’s Susan Colby with Kim Smith of the NewSchools Venture Fund and Jim Shelton of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, represents new thinking about two key levers that appear to play powerful roles in determining how quickly and consistently successful schools and design models can be replicated.
We invite your thoughts and feedback.
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