KnowledgeWorks subsidiary Strive, Living Cities, Coalition for Urban Serving Universities launch national cradle-to-career network

Speakers include USDOE’s Jim Shelton, SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher, and KnowledgeWorks CEO Chad P. Wick

ALEXANDRIA, Va. — KnowledgeWorks President Chad P. Wick, Strive President Jeff Edmonson, State University of New York Chancellor Nancy Zimpher, Living Cities and the Coalition of Urban Serving Universities convened education and community leaders from more than 30 cities across the country today to launch the first national cradle to career network. The title of the convening is "The New Normal."

They were joined by U.S. Department of Education Assistant Deputy Secretary Jim Shelton, who during a dinner address praised cradle-to-career partnerships for their efficiency and effectiveness. “The only person more excited than you about this national cradle-to-career network being the ‘new normal’ is me,” Shelton said.

The national network will be patterned after the successful Strive Partnership, a KnowledgeWorks subsidiary based in Cincinnati. Founded in 2006, Strive has improved student success in greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky school districts by bringing together leadership across sectors.

In Cincinnati, the leaders of more than 300 local organizations – including higher education, social services, business and industry, government leaders, and parents – have come together to help children succeed from birth through careers. Nine regions -- including Houston, Portland, Richmond, Va., and the state of New York -- have replicated the program.

KnowledgeWorks CEO Chad Wick, a co-founder of the Strive Partnership, said he is pleased to see the potential for Strive to be replicated across the country, especially with education budgets being constricted.

“The Strive model has been proven to be successful by uniting leaders from various sectors and having them support student outcomes using data,” Wick said. “We are seeing welcome increases in early childhood education, academic achievement and college enrollment. That sets the stage for our kids to become productive citizens and leaders of the future.”

Strive President Jeff Edmonson, who outlined his vision for the network during the opening, said, “Strive is a growing movement to support every child, cradle to career,” Edmondson said. “And the key to this movement, what makes it successful, is all of us working to build this together. We have to work cohesively to build this vision and make it a reality.”

A cradle-to-career network brings together leaders in Pre-K-12 schools, higher education, business and industry, community organizations, government leaders, parents and other stakeholders who are committed to helping children succeed from birth through careers. As demonstrated by the success of Strive, a comprehensive community effort can positively impact a region’s education pipeline and improve student success at every level.

In Cincinnati’s public schools since Strive’s inception, 8th grade math scores have gone up 15 percent and college enrollment has increased by 10 percent. At Northern Kentucky University and the University of Cincinnati, graduation rates for students from the local urban area high schools have increased by 10 and 7 percent, respectively. There have been additional improvements in the number of preschool children prepared for kindergarten, fourth-grade reading and math scores and high school graduation rates.

Zimpher, who helped launch Strive’s work in Ohio as president of the University of Cincinnati, has seen the impact a diverse, united community can have on helping children succeed.

“Our country is focused, and rightly so, on the education pipeline – what Americans are learning at home and in schools, from the time they’re born through college graduation and as they pursue a career,” said Chancellor Zimpher. “Higher education has a deep responsibility and great capacity to lead this critical national conversation and the creation of a National Cradle to Career Network is nothing short of the solution to many of the challenges that our country’s K-16 education programs face.”

Added Shelton: “As communities and education leaders continue to work together to share and replicate their innovative ideas for comprehensive programs that work, they will blaze the path to improving education and lives of children and youth in distressed communities throughout our country.”

Ben Hecht, president and CEO of Living Cities, a collaborative of 22 of the world’s largest foundations and financial institutions working to re-engineer America’s cities, said he is proud Living Cities has been able to support the important work underway in Cincinnati as well as the expansion of the Strive Model to other cities. “This type of collaboration will lead to a new normal in education – one in which private and public sector leaders set aside their parochial interests and use data to ensure a much greater good. As a result, our cities will be better served and we will all reap the benefits.”

Robert Wimpelberg, professor and dean of the University of Houston’s College of Education, agrees. “I have been involved in education for more than 40 years, and for the first time -- with the Strive model for building local civic infrastructure a national network to promote it -- I am convinced that we have the most comprehensive, democratic, and compelling system for developing fully ready and capable children and youth,” “This means that, with new generations empowered and living up their full potential, we can build a productive, competitive, and humane America.”

At today’s event, in the Hotel Monaco, participants from more than 30 cities set out to define a national advocacy agenda. The group will also commit to actions, including specific next steps for strengthening our progress around the four pillars of the cradle to career infrastructure: partnership development, evidence-based decision making; collaboration and continued improvement; and investment and sustainability.

Event speaker Mark R. Kramer, managing director, FSG Social Impact Advisors, wrote about Strive’s work in the winter edition of the Stanford Social Innovation Review. “Strive is successful because it has enabled a core group of community leaders to abandon their individual agendas in favor of a collective approach to improving student achievement. As their results demonstrate, there is tremendous power and impact in this approach,” Kramer said.

Dan Ryan, CEO of the Portland Schools Foundation, said “We are excited to be working with a broad cross-section of the community to improve outcomes for every child in our region. The opportunity to share what we have learned from others as part of a national network will certainly help expedite our success.”.

The convening ends Wednesday. To follow the convening on Twitter, use #StriveC2C hash tag or follow @StriveTogether.

The Strive Partnership, a subsidiary of KnowledgeWorks, is focused on the success of our children: every child, every step, from cradle to career. It unites common providers around shared issues, goals, measurements and results, and then actively supports and strengthens strategies that work.

KnowledgeWorks is bringing the future of learning to America’s high schools and creating widespread, lasting change in the communities and states we serve. Our portfolio of high school approaches includes New Tech Network high schools, EdWorks high school redesign, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) and Early College High Schools.