Solutions Resources

Solutions that help get more Minnesota children on the path to college range from the small things we do in our local schools and communities to major policy initiatives. Here are some resources to get the ideas flowing and guide you in developing solution strategies of your own. Send Us a Note to tell us about other valuable resources.
Dropout Prevention, America's Promise Alliance
America's Promise Alliance has developed Grad Nation, a guidebook to help communities tackle the dropout crisis as well as a toolbox for Dropout Prevention Summits being held across the country (a Minnesota summit) is scheduled for Nov. 17, 2009).
Seven keys to college readiness, Montgomery County Public Schools
Montgomery County, Maryland educators are promoting "Seven Keys to College Readiness — an attempt to spell out for parents what the pathway is for their children to earn a college degree.
Career Coaches, Virginia's Community Colleges
"Career Coaches are community college employees who are based in local high schools to help high school students define their career aspirations and to recognize community college and other postsecondary programs, including apprenticeships and workforce training, that can help students achieve their educational and financial goals."
Trends in College Spending (Jan. 2009), Delta Project (see Recommendations for Action)
This report offers five basic steps that higher education leaders and policymakers can take to refocus finance conversations in a way that addresses the troubling trend of spending more and getting less.
Coming to Our Senses: Education and the American Future (Dec. 2008), College Board
This report sounds the alarm about declining high school and college completion rates in the U.S. To reclaim our position of international educational leadership, a commission of 28 education leaders says that the U.S. must ensure that 55 percent of Americans earn a postsecondary degree by 2025. The commission recommends a 10-part action agenda that includes universally available preschool education, better middle and high school college counseling, improving teacher quality, recruitment and retention, and clarifying and simplifying the admissions process.
Smart Investments in Minnesota's Students (Oct. 2008), Growth & Justice
This report provides a way to think about investing new education dollars for better results. It proposes how to:
  • Invest in the whole student from birth to college following four principles of smart investment.
  • Choose approaches proven to “work best for less” based on evidence of outcomes and economic analysis.
  • Raise enough money fairly using a progressive reform of the current tax structure — to cost-effectively support students all the way to post-secondary success.
College-Ready Education Plan (Nov. 2008) Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
The foundation's new education strategy focuses on ensuring that a high school education results in college readiness and that postsecondary education results in a degree or certificate with genuine economic value. In remarks about the foundation's previous work, Bill Gates said: "In general, the places that demonstrated the strongest results tended to do many proven reforms well, all at once...but the defining feature of a great education is what happens in the classroom. Everything starts from that and must be built around it."
Counting on Graduation: An Agenda for State Leadership (Fall 2008), Education Trust
"Significant numbers of young people leaving high school without a diploma is not an abstract problem. Virtually every community is affected, and the consequences are real. State officials can show leadership by creating the conditions necessary for collaboration and action."
Student Voices: Should K-12 policy be redirected toward innovation?  Education|Evolving
Five college students who attended district and charter schools known for being innovative, review Education|Evolving's paper by Ted Kolderie, "The Other Half of the Strategy: Following Up on System Reform by Innovating with School and Schooling." See their responses on E|E's Student Voices site.
Students Speak Out, a social networking project of the Citizen's League
On Students Speak Out, young people report on their experiences in school — and share lots of good ideas and information. See their issues briefs on the Summaries and Findings page that reports on the conversations that students have had on this site so far.
Minnesota education: Motivation matters by Kent Pekel
Ramp-Up to Readiness maps out the "college knowledge" that students need to understand and act upon at each point in their progress through junior and senior high, and provides them with new forms of mentoring and support along the way.
Overcoming Obstacles, Optimizing Opportunities: State Policies to Increase Postsecondary Attainment for Low-Skilled Adults (March 2008), Center for Law and Social Policy
"If as a nation we are to meet the employer demand for skilled workers—and by extension help them and our nation prosper—then enabling many more adults to gain marketable skills must be a central part of the solution."
A-GRAD initiative, Hennepin County
Hennepin County has launched Accelerating Graduation by Reducing Achievement Disparities (A-GRAD) to ensure all Hennepin County youth graduate from high school. The county has begun implementing an advisory board's recommendations.
Smaller, safer, saner successful schools, Center for School Change, 2007
Case studies of 22 public schools serve as examples of some of the most effective and innovative district and charter schools in the country. The report highlights the benefits of smaller schools and schools that share facilities with other organizations. It shows how some schools have increased achievement while reducing or eliminating gaps between students of different races and income levels.
Additional Learning Opportunities in Rural Areas: Needs, Successes, and Challenges, Center for American Progress, April 2008
This report describes programs that are successfully providing additional learning services for rural students with the greatest challenges. These “extra” or “additional” learning opportunities are academically focused and are proving to be effective in serving the needs of students who require more than what is available through the regular school day.
Circles of Influence in Family Development: Educational Disparities PDF (1.7 MB), Children, Youth and Family Consortium, University of Minnesota, April 2008
This ecological model is a visual illustration of the multi-layered influences underlying the issue of educational disparities. It examines the different aspects of educational disparities and the achievement gap that occur in each of the circles of influence that affect children and their families.



<< These schools may emphasize different subjects, follow different educational philosophies, or build different school cultures, but they share the 3Rs: rigor, relevance, and relationships. >> 
Model High Schools, Gates Foundation

 

See Links to other organizations supporting school success