As a grantmaker, I get the opportunity to hear about how organizations are tackling some of the most pressing issues facing youth in our state. One of the events that I look forward to most is the annual Grantmakers for Education conference, because it gives me the chance to learn how other funders are thinking about systemic education reform, and highlights some promising practices taking place across the nation. This year’s conference brought together nearly 500 education grantmakers in New York City for keynote speeches, site visits and panel discussions. This format may sound similar to other conferences you have attended, but what do 500 education grantmakers actually talk about when they come together?

The hot issues at the conference are probably not surprising to anyone who follows education reform. College and career readiness, the Common Core State Standards, STEM, better use of data, collaboration, district-level reform and digital learning were all topics that had a lot of buzz. I was especially interested in a session on “College and Career Readiness: What Do We Mean?” that was moderated by former West Virginia Governor Bob Wise, president of the Alliance for Excellent Education. The session featured an engaging trio of panelists including Nader Twal from Long Beach Unified School District, JD Hoye from the National Academy Foundation (NAF) and NAF alumnus Michael Durant. Frameworks developed by both NAF and ConnectEd were presented to describe what it means to be ready for both college and career.

What I found to be most encouraging, though, is that all the big issues being discussed at the conference — including college and career readiness — tied incredibly well to what we’re doing collectively as a Linked Learning field. For example, sessions on the Common Core were packed, and seeing that level of interest continued to reinforce that Linked Learning is ideally positioned to be a central way districts deliver the Common Core standards.

Our Opportunity Links for Youth initiative is an effort to extend Linked Learning to reach out-of-school youth. I previously described Irvine’s intention and thinking behind the initiative’s design: exploring new collaborations among nonprofits, postsecondary institutions and employers that can reconnect out of school youth to college and career opportunities. I am pleased now to share an update about how our partners are moving forward.

From Planning to Implementation

In the first half of this year, the community based organizations in this initiative worked through an intensive planning process to design programs that will reconnect out of school youth to postsecondary education and work opportunities in the healthcare industry or digital media, arts and design fields. (Here’s a list of the Opportunity Links grantees.) These grantees received technical assistance from Jobs for the Future (JFF), an organization with expertise in education and workforce systems. Based on implementation plans created through this planning process, Irvine’s board approved new grants last week to support the launch of the programs as well as an on-going process for refinement of the program designs. All of the organizations will launch their programs by January 2013 with carefully identified out-of-school youth participants, and will work simultaneously to support those youth to complete the program while also recruiting new participants for subsequent program cycles.

Our recent webinar on the benefits of career-focused dual enrollment drew nearly 200 attendees from around the country, including college and high school administrators and faculty, as well as federal, state and local policymakers. For those who were unable to attend, we’re pleased to make available a recording of the Sept. 10 webinar.

Panelists discussed findings and recommendations from our recent report, Broadening the Benefits of Dual Enrollment. Based on the results of an Irvine initiative, the report showed that dual enrollment, while historically geared toward high-achieving students, can also benefit underachieving students and those underrepresented in college, especially when combined with a career focus. Dual enrollment programs allow high school students to take college courses and earn college credit.

I would like to thank our panelist for participating and sharing their insights: Katherine Hughes, principal investigator for the Concurrent Courses initiative; Christopher Cabaldon, executive director of the Linked Learning Alliance; Linda Collins, executive director of the Career Ladders Project; and Melissa Brookman, director of the ACE Academy of Long Beach at Jordan High School, a participant in the initiative.

A free webinar on September 10 will share findings and recommendations from a report we recently released about the benefits of dual enrollment courses, which allow high school students to earn college credit. Although historically geared toward high-achieving students, the report found that dual enrollment courses can also benefit underachieving students and those underrepresented in higher education, especially when these offerings have a career focus. The webinar will outline recommendations for education practitioners and will also address policy matters related to dual enrollment programs.

If the demonstrated benefits of career-focused dual enrollment are to reach more disadvantaged students and have lasting impact on California education, state policymakers and community leaders will need to reduce current barriers to program development and student participation. Based on the experience and outcomes attained in high schools and colleges across California, here are three high-value policy recommendations:

At a time when the need for higher levels of education is rising, we are pleased to report some good news: Participation in career-focused, dual enrollment programs correlates to positive, measurable improvements in outcomes for a population of young people who face serious barriers to gaining a postsecondary degree.

In 2008, we launched the Concurrent Courses initiative to make dual enrollment programs — which allow high school students to earn college credit — available to underachieving students or those who are from populations underrepresented in higher education. When we began, we were already aware of the benefits that dual enrollment holds for the high-achieving students who usually participate in these programs.

A new research report by the Community College Research Center (CCRC) at Teachers College, Columbia University, shows how eight programs across California effectively integrated dual enrollment with a complementary career-focused strategy to engage struggling students.

Polls show that most Californians agree that our system of public education is not working for far too many of California’s young people. But there’s a lot less unanimity about how to fix our schools. Moreover, the common perception is that the debate on education reform is divisive, partisan and unproductive.

With funding from Irvine, researchers at UCLA’s Institute for Democracy, Education and Access (IDEA) recently set out to discover whether there is more common ground on education than is commonly believed. Their new report, Finding Common Ground in Education Values, revealed that influential Californians across the political spectrum actually agree on a broad set of education values. The report is based on interviews with a bipartisan group of legislators, legislative staff, and leaders from business, labor and civic life. The report found broad agreement on:

• A set of valued practices in teaching and learning, including active learning that allows students to participate in projects, and learning that can be applied in “real-world” settings;
• A set of valued knowledge and skills, including using technology and working in teams to solve problems; and
• Specific shortcomings of schools today, including an overreliance on testing that results in a narrow curriculum.