A Model for Collaboration

By: Gayle Dendinger Issue: Innovation, Growth, Job Creation Section: Inspirations

Building a Foundation for a Replicable Future

Meet Dennis Ahlburg

As the economic recovery inches along, I can’t help but think about the small, but meaningful, quality improvements that are being made across the nation and the state of Colorado to increase productive capacity — especially as demand starts to return and innovative investments, growth, and job creation slowly gain momentum.

While there are continued layoffs of our friends and neighbors, and while many Americans are chronically unemployed, small businesses, private businesses and entrepreneurs, though not flourishing, seem to be budding with new opportunities. In the wake of recent natural disasters and hypotheses about where the economy may or may not be going, these businesses are not waiting around to see what will happen; they’re thinking of new ways to recover from this country’s economic struggles.

Although economic predictions seem grim, I believe with good ideas and the right people, there is light at the end of the tunnel. It will take individuals working together to ease the strain, but collective unity, coupled with drive and determination to see the country succeed, I believe it is possible to replicate great and consistent ways of doing business that will elevate the U.S. to the next period of prosperity.

The backbone of an economy lies in developing infrastructure and educating people. But, there must be opportunities for growth. We cannot sit around to see what can happen — we must act now. It is in the face of despair that we must rise to the occasion and confront the challenges we share together by investing in the future, no matter how hard it may be.

While most high-level issues are discussed every day in committee meetings, in board rooms and in back offices, everyone concurrently, is not, perhaps, in alignment because the issues may be too large or too daunting to address.

The problems of this country cannot be solved solely in Washington, D.C. I believe it is imperative that we work together through this crisis. As General Patton once said, “In war, it takes more than the desire to fight to win. You've got to have more than guts to lick the enemy. You must also have brains.” Together, a collective can fight these issues and design something that can be successful and replicable.

The Biennial of the Americas in July of 2010 was a testament to this notion. Then mayor, turned governor, John Hickenlooper, helped to spearhead an event that would shape the way we look at problems and how we solve them. By bringing together disparate cultures through cultural events, as well as through political discussions, Biennial participants identified one common thread — shared challenges. It was also apparent that as a society, we are conditioned to provide remedial solutions to our toughest problems — solutions that only quell the pain but don’t stop the bleed.

Biennial roundtables on healthcare, education, energy and trade showed us the possibility of what could be done if people came together and shared best practices. We learned that much can be done to solve problems when people come together over one shared issue. We can move from talking to doing.

Early on, naysayers thought the Biennial was a ridiculous dream — that it couldn’t happen, especially in a state like Colorado. What people underestimated was that John Hickenlooper and the staff of the Biennial organization believed that Denver and the state of Colorado were not only a strategic place for these conversations, but that Colorado and its way of life would be the perfect model for collaboration.

As a firm believer in collaboration and people working together, I appreciate the tenacity of Governor Hickenlooper and his staff for seeing their vision through and putting Colorado on the map as a place where ideas have an open forum and a chance at completion. We look forward to the next issues brought forth by the Biennial and the years in between to see them brought to fruition.

Meet Dennis Ahlburg

By: Adam Cohen Issue: Education & Workforce Development Section: Advisory Board

Dean, Leeds School of Business, University of Colorado at Boulder

Meet Dennis Ahlburg Dennis A. Ahlburg is the Dean of the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Before joining the Leeds School on August 1, 2005, Ahlburg was the senior associate dean, and professor of human resources at the University of Minnesota, Carlson School of Management in Minneapolis. His administrative responsibilities included faculty and research, budget, human resources, executive development, information technology, learning excellence, and the Ph.D. program.

Ahlburg received his bachelor’s in economics with first class honors from the University of Sydney in 1972 and a master’s in economics from the Australian National University in 1973. In 1979 he received a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Pennsylvania.

Dean Ahlburg has taught human resources management, labor economics, and quantitative methods. He has consulted for the United Nations, the World Health Organization, and the U.K. and Australian Governments on human resources, health, and education issues. He has also served as an expert witness in age, sex, and race discrimination cases.

Ahlburg’s areas of interest include demographic economics, forecasting, labor economics, and the economics of higher education. He currently conducts research in the following areas: college dropout and youth labor market success, retention of employees, employment and poverty, and population growth and economic development.

Ahlburg is the recipient of many awards and honors, including a Fullbright Fellowship. In 1994 he was appointed by the Australian government to head enquiry into effects of population growth on economic development.

Meet Rebecca Saltman

By: Adam Cohen Issue: Education & Workforce Development Section: Advisory Board

Founder and President, A Foot in the Door Productions

Meet Rebecca Saltman

Contact Rebecca Saltman

700 Colorado Boulevard #351 Denver Colorado 80206

P: 303-388-7571 [email protected] www.foot-in-door.com

Imagine a world in which the real definition of the word “competition” is collaboration. This is a world where visionary non-profits are joined at the table by socially responsible corporate, public sector, and academic leaders. These relationships are at the heart of every successful collaboration.

Rebecca is the Founder and President of A Foot in the Door Productions - an independent, collaboration-building firm designed to bridge the varying needs of business, government, non-profits, and academia. A “serial social entrepreneur”, her three businesses (A Foot in Door Productions, Mission First Solutions, and repFIVE) are disruptive innovations providing social value and systemic change in how people do work, develop efficiencies and create sustainability.

With 20 years experience in public relations, fundraising, and collaboration-building, Rebecca first rallied her talents in Colorado on behalf of the Huntington’s Disease Society of America, developing many grassroots campaigns (including annual Hoop-a-thons) to fund Centers of Excellence nationwide. These campaigns continue to raise awareness and funds today.

Her efforts in both the private, academic and non-profit sectors have exposed her to people and events that have transformed into cultural milestones, and have spurred her to greater collaborative activity. Rebecca assembled and instructed production teams tackling one of the world’s largest, and at that time unheard-of, collaborative efforts: recording Holocaust survivor testimonies for Steven Spielberg’s Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation. Producing nearly 15,000 of the subsequent 65,000 testimonies recorded worldwide, she was also a key participant in the September 11, 1997, opening of the New York Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust.

Rebecca is proud of her recent contract work as the Interim Executive Director for the Alliance for Sustainable Colorado. Her work focused on a partnership with Progress Now and the Daily Kos to develop and implement the Big Tent, a $620,000 Bloggers and New Media Headquarters at the 2008 Democratic Convention in Denver. The Big Tent became a linchpin for the DNC’s media strategy and has since been chosen for curation at the Smithsonian Institute and the Newseum.

Rebecca consults as a personal publicist for Right Management, creating community connections and collaborations worldwide. She chose to work with Right Management because of its commitment to the health of the local community, and its investment in strengthening community by amplifying the careers and resources of Colorado professionals.

She proudly has worked with hundreds of non-profits and the businesses, agencies and academic institutions which support them - spanning from arc Thrift and Ballet Nouveau Colorado, to The Gathering Place and The Second Wind Fund. She has found academic institutions to be a unique source of collaborative energy as well. Daniels College of Business and The Women’s College both at the University of Denver have proven to be invaluable partners.

Rebecca spends most of her “free time” working with organizations such as Ashoka (supporting social entrepreneurs), the National Center for Community Collaborations (for which she is the Vice President) the Civic Canopy (where she is a board member) and increasingly, more of her time working with The Pachamama Alliance as a proud facilitator of the “Awakening the Dreamer” symposium.

I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community, and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake.

Life is no brief candle to me; it is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.

- George Bernard Shaw

Meet Beth Ann Parish

By: Adam Cohen Issue: Education & Workforce Development Section: Advisory Board

Program Manager, John J. Sullivan Endowed Chair for Free Enterprise Regis University

Meet Beth Ann Parish

Contact Beth Ann Parish:

3333 Regis Blvd. Denver, CO 80221

 

p: 303-458-4368 [email protected] www.regis.edu/sullivan

Eleven years ago, Beth Parish was a new mother, living on the east coast, working 60 hours a week in marketing for a large cosmetics multi-national when her husband had a new job opportunity in telecom; the hitch was that the new job was in Colorado. Never having visited the state, or really never having spent time west of New York, Parish said sure, she would leave everything she knew to move to the Wild West.

The move, which ended up transplanting her family to Boulder, Colorado, turned out to be a changing point in Beth Parish’s life. Having been committed to corporate America, with marketing skills honed at Procter and Gamble and The KAO Corporation, Parish took a look at her career and decided, to use her expertise to teach undergraduate marketing courses at Regis University, a Jesuit School committed to educating men and women of all ages to take leadership roles and to make a positive impact in a changing society. Working with students, faculty and the administration, Parish helped re-work the marketing curriculum to incorporate workplace needs with student engaging activities that integrated course learning objectives with ethics and a commitment to the Regis mission. While teaching at Regis, Parish has been twice honored with the prestigious Excellence in Teaching Award.

Four years ago, Parish was named Program Manager of the John J. Sullivan Endowed Chair for Free Enterprise at Regis University. The mission of the Sullivan Program is to forge multi-sector partnerships that use Free Enterprise solutions to address social needs. In the last year, the Sullivan Program has helped students, community associations, business, not-for-profit organizations, governmental representatives and faculty partners to develop Free Enterprise solutions to local, regional and national business and social dilemmas. Over the last four years, the Sullivan program has also collaborated with local, regional and national organization to bring speakers to the Denver area who can talk to students, faculty and the community about the impact of Free Enterprise on Social Issues.

One driving principle of the Sullivan Program is that true, sustainable change is going to come from partnerships and collaborations that marry the talents and resources of the for profit, not for profit, governmental and academic communities; often not for profit organizations are seen as “all good” while for profit businesses are seen as “all evil”. Numerous examples have shown that true change and positive impact comes from relationships that leverage the strengths of each sector of our community.

In her role as Program Manager, Parish worked with a collaborative team of committed organizations to bring Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus to Denver in March of 2008. The Social Business and Microeconomic Opportunities for Youth Conference brought over 600 individuals together in Denver to begin on the path to creating change and addressing global poverty. The experience of meeting Dr. Yunus and of working with a team of talented individuals and organizations to address global poverty has moved Parish to commit her efforts to forging partnerships with impact.

Building Bridges Through Global Business Education

By: Jan Mazotti Issue: Education & Workforce Development Section: Building Bridges

An Interview with Blair Sheppard, Dean, Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business

Building Bridges Through Global On September 15, 2008, Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business announced an ambitious and unique global expansion plan. Fuqua is identifying faculty and staff candidates for regions around the world and establishing collaborations with business and government leaders, who have welcomed the new expansion plans.

Fuqua’s Dean Blair Sheppard, the driving force behind the expansion, spoke with ICOSA about Fuqua’s new model for global business education.

Q: Dean Sheppard, can you briefly describe Fuqua’s global expansion plans?

Fuqua’s international presence is a starting point for Duke’s plans to engage with the world on a deeper and more meaningful level. This undertaking isn’t about a single degree program. Our goal is to become an integrated part of some of the world’s most important cultural and economic regions and to help provide solutions to the specific challenges they face.

The depth of our engagement in each region will be unprecedented in higher education. Each of our global locations will include MBA studies, a program from Duke CE (Duke’s corporate education arm), open enrollment executive education, at least two research centers, our own faculty or joint faculty appointments, service-based activities focusing on local needs, and the involvement of other relevant parts of Duke University.

We want to become the world’s first legitimately global business school, which requires reshaping 21st century business education and rethinking the boundaries of business school. To begin the expansion, we’ve chosen to redesign The Duke MBA – Cross Continent program to encompass studies in a number of important business regions: the United States, Western Europe, Russia, India, China, and the Middle East.

Q: How will Fuqua’s international relationships differ from those of other schools?

Previous international partnerships among universities have tended to be casual affiliations. What we have in mind is very different.

We’re establishing deeply embedded partnerships in each of our locations so that we are not simply observing what goes on, we are a part of what goes on, taking an active role in solving problems.

We will also bring to bear the resources of the many disciplines of Duke University, areas that touch upon business studies: law, public policy, environment, engineering, health care. It’s important that we take this comprehensive approach, because the issues business needs to address in the coming years are wide-ranging and complex.

In addition, no other school has a simultaneous presence in the regions most critical to this century in the embedded fashion we’ve designed. But Fuqua pioneered the Global Executive MBA concept that has been adopted by many business schools over the past decade, so we’re not strangers to breaking new ground in course design.

We want to deliver the complete Duke MBA experience in all of our locations, providing students of the Cross Continent program with all of the things that make Fuqua one of the world’s elite business schools: innovative course design, academically rigorous distance learning, one of the most productive research faculties in the world, and a truly global perspective on business and culture.

Q: What do you mean by “embedded partnerships”?

We believe that if you’re going to be a globalist or purport to understand the world’s challenges, then you have to be in these places in a manner that causes you to truly become part of them. As a business school, this means we must collaborate with the leading firms in the world, bringing together corporations, government entities, learners, and others to address urgent global problems.

To produce leaders who are globally aware and capable, we must educate in a globally distributed way.

Our partnerships form a network of influencers who can have a direct impact on addressing the fundamental issues of our time: enabling access to economic opportunity, protecting our environment while growing business, and providing adequate health care.

We’re establishing collaborations with a number of global partners because, by the very nature of the world’s diversity, each region requires different kinds of partnerships. For example, we’re actively engaging with a number of people and organizations in Russia right now, and of course Russia’s cultural and business environment is far different from what we encounter in China or Dubai. The social and business issues Russia is dealing with today require specific solutions and specific relationships to bring about those solutions. All the while, these regions are strongly connected by commerce.

In India, we’ve established a board of advisors to help inform our development there. The board is made up of business and civic leaders who can help us bring about positive change in the region. This board will help us identify the issues where Fuqua’s research can be most immediately and most effectively applied.

We will have similar, deeply rooted connections in all of our international locales.

Q: What is the significance of those particular locations? Why were they chosen?

We chose locations that are critical to driving the agenda for their regions and are key players in the world economy, both now and in the future. If you’re going to be in the places that matter in business, you must be in the U.S., Western Europe, Russia, India, the Middle East, and China. We already have a relationship with Seoul National University in South Korea, and we’re exploring how a Fuqua presence can be beneficial in places like South Africa.

Each of these locations presents compelling educational and research opportunities. For example, China is the world’s biggest polluter and perhaps its most dynamic economy. As a result, there is an urgent need to address environmental and business issues simultaneously, perhaps even as a single issue.

The leaders who solve problems like these will alter the course of history in a tremendously positive way. Fuqua should have a role in those positive changes.

In order to make our expansion plans work, we need partnerships in business and government that will aid us in drawing the best students and identifying research opportunities to address the problems specific to each region. The people and institutions with whom we’ve been working to implement our expansion plans have been overwhelmingly supportive of our goals. We’ve chosen the right places to enter and the right people to work with.

Q: Why is a global presence important?

Put simply, it is what the world demands. We can’t fulfill our mission as a school – to produce leaders of consequence – without a global presence.

By engaging with the dominant world regions through our education and research, we will be able to examine the world’s opportunities and problems, explore the interdependencies between the regions, form hypotheses and ideas about how best to address world issues, and devise strategies to exploit opportunities. Our goal is to prepare practitioners to be the change agents and informed leaders the world needs. Our global presence will enable us to identify problems unique to these areas of the world and find specific solutions tailored to each region.

For our students, our global expansion will mean they gain global competence and business acumen through real-world experiences and exposure to diverse cultures. Students of the program will be better prepared for their professional lives, better leaders. Cross-cultural communication will not only be part of the subject matter, it will be inherent in the situation itself.

We see our global expansion as a two-way education process. We will be learning from our international hosts as we educate. All that we learn from this wide range of cultures and economies will inform what and how we teach our students on our campus in Durham, North Carolina. In this way, all of our students will gain global competence.

Q: What are “leaders of consequence”?

Leaders of consequence are people with a drive to discover or focus their own worldview and purpose. They are leaders as well as team players. They are intellectually bright without being detached or aloof. Being able to appreciate and take advantage of these dualities is an important part of leadership.

On a professional level, a leader of consequence can be a capitalist and an environmentalist; a doctor and a skilled hospital administrator; a sustainable business leader and a non-profit executive.

Leaders of consequence set aside old models and conventions to expand personal and professional growth, both for themselves and the people with whom they work and interact.

Q: Why undertake the global expansion now?

Events in the financial markets over the past several months confirm the time is right to expand Fuqua’s presence internationally. If anyone had doubts before, it is now clear that the world is not a series of economies interacting. There is, in fact, a single world economy made up of different regions. As we’ve seen, financial unrest in one region automatically affects the rest of the world.

These interdependencies demand collaboration across oceans, borders, and cultures. As an education center without a vested interest in political or business fortunes, a university is uniquely equipped to bring together all the players who shape the evolution of business: corporate leaders, government officials, even service organizations.

In addition, the pace of the world economy has accelerated tremendously in recent years. While one side of the world is sleeping, the other side has already moved on into the future. When we wake up in the morning, we rise to a very different world from the day before.

Q: Why is an interdisciplinary approach important to Fuqua’s plans?

A business school touches on and complements many of the other areas of study at a university. This puts Fuqua in the best position to bring Duke to the world. We can pull together business and engineering, environmental studies, medicine, and a wide range of disciplines.

Fuqua has what I believe to be the world’s strongest business school faculty. In fact, Fuqua placed #1 in intellectual capital among full-time American MBA programs in the most recent BusinessWeek rankings. We have gathered outstanding talent in finance, economics, management, accounting, and all areas of business.

This expertise across a range of subject areas will help us provide a more comprehensive learning experience for students, equipping them with a global perspective on the issues that define the 21st century.

Q: What sort of benefit will Fuqua’s students outside the Cross Continent program see from the school’s global presence?

One of the most important parts of our global expansion plan is the idea that we will learn as much from our global locations as we teach them. The research to be undertaken by our faculty internationally – in the areas where the most fascinating phenomena are occurring across vastly different political, regulatory, market, and cultural contexts – will have a direct impact on the learning of all of our students, providing them with an acute awareness of the world’s interconnectedness.

The partnerships and collaborations we establish will provide our students with opportunities for internships, employment, and even community-oriented service projects. Given today’s tight job market worldwide, increasing opportunities for our students is of paramount importance.

Further, building our brand and our presence around the world will help us to increase the number of quality applicants to Fuqua’s programs. The ability to draw the most talented students available enhances the quality and reputation of The Duke MBA, which benefits the entire Fuqua community, including our students and alumni.

Q: What does this expansion mean for Duke University as a whole?

Fuqua’s global expansion is a Duke University expansion. One of Duke’s foremost goals is to increase its level of engagement with the world, and this undertaking is of vital importance to that goal. Fuqua will lay the groundwork for further Duke engagement around the world.

As I’ve mentioned, it makes sense for a business school to be the leading edge of this kind of international expansion, as business encompasses a number of other disciplines. Those disciplines – environmental studies, public policy, health care, engineering, law – will have significant roles in identifying and solving the world’s most pressing problems.

We want Fuqua’s global presence to heighten the world’s awareness of Duke and to build a foundation for further international engagement for the university.

Further information about The Fuqua School of Business is available at http://www.fuqua.duke.edu.

The Evolution of E-Learning

By: Kim DeCoste Issue: Education & Workforce Development Section: Jewel Of Collaboration

From the Classroom to the Boardroom

Evolution of E Learning “Moving from the one-room schoolhouse to the one-world schoolhouse is now a reality.” -Sr. Executive, Cisco Systems

How it Began:

Certainty is an overused word, but one thing I can say with 100% certainty is that I did not invent the internet. I have sometimes been fortunate enough to be in the right place at the right time, however. I continue to see online education, technology and their convergence impact professional development and revolutionize the world of work. This exciting intersection is the “place” where I find my personal passion to collaborate and make things happen!

The quick truth is that the internet (or Internet) - depending on how you use the word - was born slowly and collaboratively. It was born iteratively. It was formed, re-formed, refined and reapplied for multiple uses. It was partially and most prominently originally intended so that the United States of America could keep pace scientifically (politically) with war foes. Sputnik went to space. By early 1958, one significant but not widely-known United States response was the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA).

As time passed and people and ideas moved, the technologies also evolved. By 1983, an appropriate protocol for wide-area-network information sharing was available and by 1988, real commercial interests were popping up. Nestled between France and Switzerland, CERN published a “world wide web project” and credit for the invention of “the web” was given to English Scientist, Tim Berners-Lee in or around 1989.

From my personal perspective, I was introduced to the internet in 1995. I was a technical recruiter for a small firm in Los Angeles. I had graduated from the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC) - with a B.A. in Language Studies, not Computer Science or Education - and was lucky to have a roommate with a computer my freshman year. That computer and the “mac lab” were the full extent of my technical exposure in college. It was an IBM 286 with an amber screen and a very loud daisy wheel printer, but it was the first computer to which I had had access and I was glad to have taken “typing” in 8th grade. (Someone told me once that a girl should always know how to type to ensure she could find a job.) My roommate and I made extra money typing papers for people and we were lucky to have the resource.

I do not believe that there was prevalent internet access on our campus from 1988 to 1992 when I attended. If so, it was not emphasized for students of Language Arts and Linguistics.

My only previous computer exposure in the early 1970s had been the punch cards my dad brought home from work. They had words on the top and holes in them and they had something to do with “data processing” which was his work. This was the full extent of my technical background growing up until college other than Atari, but I don’t think “Pong” counts.

Fast forward nearly 15 years and I find it funny that a client in Los Angeles took his time on a Saturday to teach a small but successful technical search firm “What is the Internet” and why it “would be” important. We were minutes from UCLA by car and some of the most cutting-edge technical companies in Southern California and yet it was not until after that meeting/training that we even had email in the office!

Clearly, times have changed. According to the World Internet Usage Statistics News and Population Stat, as of June 30, 2008, 1.463 billion people use the Internet!

It’s a Tool. Is it “cheese”?

So in and of itself, the internet is not much more really than a medium. A tool. A new means by which or with which we can operate. It can connect us.

Computer Students It can educate us. It can allow us to do great things (or less-than-great things). But in the final analysis, it’s just a tool. Until it is applied to something or given a context.

The book Who Moved My Cheese by Dr. Spencer Johnson is a favorite quick read and I thought of it in the context of e-learning. One of the interesting outcomes of the application of the internet to many things (e-commerce, e-learning, e-everything, it seems.) is that suddenly we find many people struggling and scrambling around like Dr. Johnson’s characters, Sniff, Scurry, Hem and Haw. Many things - indeed many industries - have been fully transformed by the internet. And some have disappeared completely. the internet is not much more really than a medium. A tool. A new means by which or with which we can operate. It can connect us.

Certainly as a third party recruiter (a headhunter), it was a cataclysmic change we experienced in our industry when we went from really recruiting to keyword matching and posting on job boards.

I am fortunate, however, in that when the change was happening – and I was in the middle of it between a personal relocation and an industry upheaval - I got a chance to find a new way to apply my skills.

I moved to Denver in 2000 when unemployment was 2.9%. Within weeks of my relocation, the company I worked for in California had been acquired by TMG Worldwide (the parent company of Monster.com). I was recruited to work for a national firm in Denver and soon they also restructured – eliminating my team. I made a decision to apply my recruiting skills in a new way.

I was hired by Jones Knowledge, Jones International University. JIU was the first fully U.S. accredited fully online University in the world. With accreditation from the North Central Association of the Higher Learning Commission and with no brick and mortar campus, JIU had succeeded where many said it could not be done.

Glenn R. Jones, founder of JIU, said he set out to “democratize education” and at one point his vision was to have “a Harvard of the web”. Whatever one may say of the legacy of his University, it is inarguable that he did succeed in creating something many said would never happen. For-profit higher education was no longer a dream. And from that accomplishment the winds of change blew through the world of education with gale force. “There are two fundamental equalizers in life - the Internet and education,” says John Chambers, CEO of Cisco Systems.

E-Education - K-12:

The overall K-12 market is dynamic - consisting of “elementary students (usually kindergarten through 6th grade) and secondary students (7th- 12th grade). The U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) reports, after growing at a 7.4% average annual rate since the 1969-1970 school year, the K-12 school segment accounted for roughly $558 billion in expenditures in 2005-2006 (most recent data available) equivalent to about 4.2% of the U.S. annual gross domestic product.”

BMO research further suggests that the estimated forecast is that K-12 spending “will increase roughly 4.6% CAGR (Compound Annual Growth Rate) to nearly $834 billion in the 2014-2015 school year. Detailed information in the for-profit sector is difficult to find, but it is estimated that vendors will generate approximately $26.5 billion in revenue in the 2006-2007 school year.”

The only slowing in enrollment in the United States is reflected in the slower birth rate in this country, but BMO still projects an increase of approximately 0.4% annually.

Additional pressure for K-12 education was applied by the No Child Left Behind Legislation (NCLB) which mandated “proficiency” in key subject areas and that students be taught by “highly qualified” teachers. As BMO summarizes, “The NCLB legislation focuses on four main themes to achieve these goals: 1) accountability 2) flexibility 3) localized control and 4) an emphasis on doing what works based on scientific research.”

Therefore, the potential market in the K-12 space is significant. Data provided demonstrates that educational leaders recognize the growing need for technical learning solutions that up until recently had not been the focus of the K-12 market, but more of higher education. Data provided supports claims that there is a need for virtual learning solutions as young as pre-kindergarten and up to the 16th grade level. The widespread use of social networking tools by young people is also fully documented.

Finally, and of equal importance to the demands of students, teachers are recognizing the need for these tools not only for use in the classroom but also for use in their own personal and professional development.

Providing safe collaborative online communities for teachers expands their abilities to engage their students and provides an additional level of transparency for concerned parents who recognize that kids are using technology - but who want their children to be using technology in safe and productive settings.

Although there is a great deal of research surrounding the current and forthcoming demand for K-12 online e-learning, I think it is becoming a little-disputed point that technology does belong in schools.

The challenges we face both here in the United States and internationally are how to deploy the technology effectively and for what purpose, so that real, relevant learning takes place. The top five reasons cited by a Sloan Study for offering online learning include:

Offering courses not otherwise available in school

Meeting the needs of specific groups of students

Offering Advanced Placement or college-level courses

Reducing scheduling conflicts for students

Permitting students who failed courses to take them again.

Many U.S. Public School Districts (and states) are approaching e-learning and some are showing great progress quickly. Here in Colorado, the Douglas County School District (DCSD www.dcsdk12.org ) has a mission statement that says it all: “Learn Today. Lead Tomorrow.”

Under the guidance of Sohne Van Selus (Online Planning Principal) “eDCSD is dedicated to helping students acquire the knowledge and abilities to be responsible citizens who contribute to our society - any time, any place, anywhere.”

The District launched the program this fall and, “eDCSD [has begun] as a service to students whose needs are not entirely being met by the traditional high school. A variety of courses at all curricular levels and disciplines will be offered for students who choose to participate in an eDCSD course for credit recovery, extended learning, or because of schedule conflicts within their day. Ultimately, eDCSD will become a full service, diploma-awarding high school – a viable, quality option for the non-traditional student.”

Douglas County has also partnered with HopeCo-Op™. Hope’s mission: “Learn. Achieve. Graduate.” Under the direction of Heather O’Mara, Hope Online Learning Academy, is an online public charter school (under DCSD’s charter) that provides a high-quality education for K-12 students (www.hopeco.op.org).

Hope’s blended learning model is “based upon proven methods that utilize individual instruction. Students have the option to access the curriculum at a Hope Online Learning Center or at home, each coupled by support from experienced teachers and mentors.”

E-Education - Higher Education:

The market for higher education online is massive. There is just no other way to say it. There is conflicting data everywhere about how many students participate in online learning, how large the U.S. and international market share is or may be and – of course – who are the leaders in Online Higher Education.

There are distinctions still made between fully online schools with no campus offerings, blended models with some on/some off campus (or a choice) and the traditional brick and mortar campuses who are adding online delivery of their curriculum to keep students engaged in this way. It is not clear to me personally who will truly emerge over time as a leader in this market, however, The University of Phoenix (Apollo Group) has established itself firmly and is considered the largest private university in the world based on enrollment numbers.

Challenges to online institutions are numerous. Having worked in this industry specifically for nearly 7 years, I personally have witnessed the struggles between offering a solid curriculum and making sure students learn and are satisfied with the process. Online learning is not for everyone. I earned an MBA in e-Commerce in 2005 with an infant at home, a traveling husband, and a full-time job. I can say first-hand, you really have to want to finish that degree to get it done!

Typical adult online learners are not back in school purely in pursuit of knowledge. There is real pressure - now maybe even more than before - to keep skills sharp and to show professional initiative.

Online learning allows that. It is however, very demanding. It requires self-motivation and as I often told people who asked me about it, “you have to want to learn”. Anyone at any school can get a passing grade, I would argue. Online education is no different. In fact, in many ways it is more challenging.

You cannot just “show up for class”, coffee in hand, and sit in the back row and learn by osmosis. In order to learn online the student must engage. I saw a quote but did not capture the author, but I should have. I paraphrase it by saying, “Classroom teachers know their students’ faces. Online teachers know their students’ minds.”

Then, talk about collaboration! I have never enjoyed my learning experiences more than I did during the cross cultural and cross country interactions of my peers during my MBA. I had professors from Brazil, Ireland and Germany to name a few. We had students from Africa, active duty international military in Iraq and Afghanistan, citizens of all ages and genders in Guam, Hawaii, Switzerland, Mexico and more. Overall at JIU at the time of my departure, they cited students from over 80 countries. Jones also did work with a special United Nations project. So, it truly was a chance to learn with and from others.

Additional Collaborative E-Learning Discoveries:

In my penultimate role at the University, having been a recruiter and a student, I recognized the need for career services at the University. So often it seemed that the people with whom I studied and came into contact with were there either as career starters, career changers or career advancers. The bottom line was that they needed assistance with tying education to valuable professional development.

I worked with a team to create “The Total Professional Advantage™”. It has since been improved upon and revamped, but in its original form, it was intended to be a collaborative online forum for students to create a sense of community independent of their courses and in some cases even independent of their field of study. The Total Professional Advantage ™ (or “TPA”) as many liked to call it, gave students a place to converge, to share ideas, to expand upon class projects and to collaborate. And it continues to be successful.

I attribute much of that success to one key partner in the project. Colleagues from a company in New Jersey called ReadyMinds (www.ReadyMinds.com) founded by Randy Miller were instrumental in the development of The Total Professional Advantage™. With the help of dedicated colleagues, ReadyMinds had already established itself as the leader in legitimate distance career counseling. Neither the model nor the process of creating it were simple, but the idea itself was amazingly so.

Mr. Miller and his team wanted to:

Adopt Something You Could Believe In

Be “Go To” Counselors

Promote a Technologically savvy Professional Image

Incorporate Distance Counseling as a Supplement and Compliment of Traditional Counseling

Enhance the Power of the User

Increase Technological Utilization with Limited Discarding of Conventional Approaches

In their book - Distance Counseling: Expanding the Counselor’s Reach and Impact – Mr. Miller writes, “The availability of counseling in an online platform has and will continue to attract individuals who may have never considered any type of counseling or coaching in a traditional face-to-face environment. But because it is online in an environment they are comfortable in, barriers or preconceived notions…become less daunting and encourage participation.”

The same is often said about online learning in general. There is some comfort for many in the anonymity of engaging online.

From the Virtual Classroom to the Virtual Workplace to Work:

My final example with respect to what we can accomplish in e-learning business environments has to do with virtual internships. I came across a company some years ago, then in “beta test” but now up and running called www.internships.com. Another potential resource for my virtual career center, Internships.com allows employers to post openings and provides a platform for students (mostly university level) to get “matched” with opportunities. They get to do real, interesting, relevant work. They often get academic credit. Some get paid. Some find these internships lead to their first “real jobs”. C. Mason Gates, Founder and CEO of the company writes, “There is a generational shift toward more experiential learning for students. There is a demographic shift altering the world of employment. And there’s a need for all of us to learn, grow and get a leg up every day.” I believe Mason is correct.

The Rest of the E-World and What’s Next?

Thanks to LinkedIn, an old classmate from my MBA days found me a few months ago. She and I are now collaborating on projects (literally) from Guam to Hawaii to Arizona to Colorado to Western Europe. Jennifer Rush’s company is called Empowered Learning Solutions (www.empowerls.com). I asked Jennifer for some input and this is what she said, “On its surface, technology appears to separate people. Yet, as technology has advanced it has not only actually served to connect them, but to also give them personalized service. A perfect example of this is in the realm of education and training. As a corporate IT trainer for multiple years, my greatest frustration was that I really had no way of knowing what my students knew when they came into the class and what they really knew when they left. The next frustration came on the logistics side: the necessity of having a minimum class size to make running each class economically feasible. Technology has solved both of these crucial issues.”

Finally, with a few minutes (literally) before I have to send this article to ICOSA, I just got an email from a friend who I also invited to contribute if she had the time. Her name is Stori Hybbeneth. She earned a Master of Education in e-Learning: Global Leadership and Administration and now works for Cisco WebEx Consulting. Stori writes, “E-Learning is evolving. There was a time when the word e-learning was associated with boring self-paced courses - page turners. Today, the word e-learning should encompass any learning through electronic means. The evolution of the web and subsequently e-learning is affecting the roles of many professionals. Web 2.0 has brought us the interactive web. People aren’t passively reading anymore, they are interacting and contributing. The amount of content and information available is growing exponentially. I believe this change has tremendous impact. While there will always be a need for content development and formal training, I believe the need will shift from a focus on content to a focus on context. With the help of the web, we can find content on almost anything. Our jobs will require us to help our learners wade through it all! We need to create a context for learning; we will need to help the learner draw the lines. We’ll want to facilitate interaction and continued, informal learning.”

She goes on, “Although I think this change was inevitable, I think it will be hastened by the recent economic downturn.

People are trying to do more with less. Adoption of online education or training will increase as people look to decrease travel costs and reduce down time associated with travel.

Other efficiencies include increased re-use of materials, and increased use of user generated content.”

For me, e-learning is a passion and I believe Plato said it best, “Someday, in the distant future, our grandchildren’s grandchildren will develop a new equivalent of our classrooms. They will spend many hours in front of boxes with fires glowing within. May they have the wisdom to know the difference between light and knowledge.”

Or if Plato is not contemporary enough for your personal taste, please consider the words of Arne Duncan, President-elect Obama’s choice for Sectary of Education. He said, “[Education] is the civil rights issue of our generation and is the one sure path to a more equal and just society.”

Kim DeCoste is President of DeCoste & Associates. To contact Kim visit www.DeCosteAssociates.com or call 303.470.9898.

http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm Siber, Jeffrey. MBO Capital Marketplace 2007 Equity Research: Education and Training http://www.sloan-c.org/publications/survey/k-12_06.asp

Reaching For The Sky In Public Education

By: Bill Levis Issue: Education & Workforce Development Section: Jewel Of Collaboration

Academic Success in Some of the Nation’s Toughest Areas

Reaching For The Sky Public education is serious business in California.

Many employers would say it is the state’s most important responsibility. The question is how students can be motivated to excel and to reach for the sky.

Chuck Holland is the Program Improvement Coordinator for the Riverside County Office of Education, which has 400,000 students and 23 school districts. A principal for six years in a district with high poverty and low English proficiency, he was one of five principals nationally to receive a blue ribbon for academic achievement.

His answer to the problem is both obvious and challenging. “You need high expectations and commitment to turn high achieving into reality,” Holland said. “Some adults only have low expectations. While money gives some students a leg up, many poorer schools are also high achieving. It boils down to the teachers in the classroom and reciprocal accountability between teachers and principals. Leadership has to have a clear vision that is understood by everyone.”

It boils down to the teachers in the classroom and reciprocal accountability between teachers and principals. Leadership has to have a clear vision that is understood by everyone.

“Everyone” does not only include only those in the education community. It also involves a commitment by business. Holland’s efforts led him to the California Business for Education Excellence (CBEE) Foundation when it “selected my school as one of its honor schools three years ago. I was impressed with their genuine concern for students in the state.”

In 2008, CBEE and Just for the Kids-California singled out 911 public schools for their Honor Roll. These schools had both high student academic achievement and had made significant improvements in decreasing achievement gaps.

The Star Schools Award was given to 214 schools with a large number of socio-economically disadvantaged students who had shown significant improvement in grade-level proficiency for four years. The 697 schools receiving the Scholar Schools Award also had significant academic achievement but do not have the large numbers of socio-economically disadvantaged students.

The California Business Roundtable (CBRT), composed of companies to provide leadership on high-priority public policy issues, formed CBEE to focus on raising student academic achievement. CBRT recognized that the state’s education system faces many formidable challenges, including improving academic standards and assessments to ensure that the standards are met.

Several years ago, CBEE issued a report focusing specifically on improving academic standards and assessments. The conclusion was not to spend more money on education but to spend what already have been allocated more wisely. Among the report’s 11 recommendations were:

Hold schools accountable to ensure that students at all levels are attaining grade-level proficiency in reading, writing and mathematics as measured by the California Standards Test – not just achieving “growth” – but meeting standards.

Give parents, teachers, and school administrators the tools to effectively utilize existing student performance data to identify achievement gaps.

Use best practices learned from high performing schools to aggressively intervene early to reduce achievement gaps in chronically low performing schools.

Even with these efforts and improvements, much more needs to be done. Education is still viewed as a top public policy concern along with the economy and jobs, according to a survey done for CBEE in 2008.

In polling done two years ago, state business leaders ranked the quality of public education as well as health care as the issues that worried them the most. In what can only be viewed as a blaring wake up call, business executives graded California’s K-12 public schools as a D+. Fifty-four percent of the respondents said the problem in schools was due to a lack of accountability and not a lack of funding. Failure to perform at grade level reading, writing, mathematics and science was identified as a serious problem by 75 percent of the participants while 70 percent also felt that too much money was being spent on bureaucracy and administration.

That is where the success of Chuck Holland and the Val Verde school district, where Holland was a principal for six years, is so impressive. “At least 25 percent of my students spoke a language other than English at home,” Holland noted. “Sixty percent of the students were on free or reduced lunch. Yet we were able to go from the outhouse to the penthouse.”

Holland said the key is a child-centered, and not an adult-centered, school. “You can’t do what is convenient for the adults,” he emphasized. “It is leadership’s responsibility to set high expectations. You have to provide teachers and students with the wings and the flying lessons to get off the ground. You need a plan to insure success and support high expectations. Leadership has to monitor what is being done. Everyone, from the principal to the teachers to the parents to the children themselves, has to be on board so the students don’t fail.”

It is leadership’s responsibility to set high expectations. You have to provide teachers and students with the wings and the flying lessons to get off the ground.

CBEE and CBRT are on board as well. “Jim Lanich, CBEE president, is a strong proponent of high expectations and using data from school districts so that best practice can become common practice,” noted Holland.

In California, CBEE publicizes data available from more than 9300 schools, 40 percent of all student grade level data in the state. As a result of the information found in the largest such database in the country, parents and educators can measure the “opportunity gap” to set improvement goals that can be achieved.

The challenges in various classrooms and schools can be compared and improvements can be measured over time. Specific analysis of the data to be used to pinpoint and articulate the best practices and successful strategies can be used to help other schools. It also can serve as a basis for the implementation of an accountability system for school improvement.

“The problem has been is that we haven’t shared information and we don’t expect enough,” Holland added. “We expect only one of three children to exceed in California. Under No Children Left Behind (NCLB), we are supposed to be at 100 percent either advanced or proficient by 2014. After seven years of NCLB, we are up to only 40 percent. This is not a good business model.”

Lanich pointed out that “California already spends $67 billion a year on education, yet our students are not prepared for academic success.” Those surveyed are looking for simple ways to evaluate whether their schools succeed and for parents to get the information needed to make informed decisions for their children and to hold schools accountable when students do not perform at grade level.

According to CBEE, high performing schools have five strategies:

Data drives and informs improvement.

Common myths and excuses are dispelled.

Visits to high performing schools to learn what works.

Productive, organized and focused grade level meetings.

Targeted assistance that supports improvement.

Additional keys to success:

High performers provide support to low performers and provide peer to peer support through grade level meeting.

High performing schools use data to inform decision making.

The principal is the instructional leader.

The school board, superintendent, principal and teachers ALL have levels of accountability for academic success.

High performing teachers know what to do when a student is achieving and have a system of support.

High performing schools have a system to support teachers who are reaching the objectives for their students.

High performing school districts have a similar system of support for a principal who is not meeting objectives with teachers.

School boards, superintendents, principals and teachers getting the job done are recognized and given the opportunity to explain their best practices so that others can copy.

Very simply stated, the mission of CBEE is to highlight high academic achievements and how they can be met. CBEE issued a statement last summer praising Governor Schwarzenegger for sending a message to the State Board of Education that the eighth grade standard includes proficiency in Algebra 1 and not General Math that tests sixth and seventh grade math skills.

Lanich emphasized that, “We should not perpetuate a two-track system of high standards for some students and lower standards and expectations for the rest. Students in the lower level math courses are disproportionately minorities and economically disadvantaged students. A watering down of rigor would be a huge disservice to these kids who need the most help. We must keep the expectations high and stay the course that all students take Algebra in the 8th grade.”

The CBEE president recognized that “more focus is needed in the earlier grades to support struggling students and to provide them with the foundational pre-algebra skills. We must stay the course and support the brave step that California took several years ago to require that 8th grade math be based on Algebra 1 standards only. This policy set in motion a huge increase in the number, and diversity, of students taking Algebra in the 8th grade. Students placed in the lower level course have not increased their proficiency; they have remained at about 23 percent proficient over the five year period.”

For Holland, Lanich, CBEE, CBRT and large employers in the state, setting objective standards high enough so that students have to reach for the sky to obtain proficiency is the only way to ensure that they are prepared for life after school.

Leave it to Holland to summarize the business philosophy the most succinctly. “CBEE has an incredible philosophy which is to shine a bright light on the best practices and replicate them with similar population and income level of students across the state and the nation.”

“CBEE is debunking the argument that academic achievement cannot be raised where there are serious adverse conditions. They are opening our eyes to new possibilities. By sorting through data, they are sharing best practices with all of us. I love the fact that it is the private sector that is doing this,” noted Holland.

Learning Across Industries

By: William A. Liggett, Ph.D. Issue: Education & Workforce Development Section: Jewel Of Collaboration

The Benefits for K-12 Public Education

Learning Across Industries

























Southwest Airlines was plagued by late departures due to slow aircraft turnaround at the gate. The company wanted to improve, so it asked, “What industry does a similar task better than anyone else?” The “light bulbs” flashed on as they thought of formula-one racing -- pit crews servicing cars in seconds. So, Southwest studied how Indianapolis 500 pit crews choreographed their actions, applied this learning to their gate crews, cut their times by half, and became the leader in their industry for on-time departures.1

Such dramatic examples of learning across industries are rare, but opportunities abound for the seeking.

Teamwork and Education

Trends in organizational innovation tend to sweep through industries in the United States. We search for solutions by looking outside our organizations for “best practices” by others in the industry. For example, a current best practice is to form teams of educators who meet regularly and collaborate on ways to improve their students’ learning. These teams function as professional learning communities or PLC’s.2

Most nationwide educational innovations in the recent past share a common process of discovery and development. Each was first described in conferences, journals, books, blogs, or newsletters, where their promises of improved student achievement were extolled. Sooner or later, educators embraced the new ideas and worked to implement them in their schools.

What is likely to be missed in this within-industry process is the history of trial-and-error learning, successes, and failures of similar innovations in other industries. This is because each industry has its own communication channels, and, more importantly, leaders in each industry do not often see the relevance of innovations in industries outside their own. School administrators frequently hear teachers protesting that, “We don’t manufacture ‘widgets’ in our schools.” This is a way of saying that their jobs do not resemble those on a manufacturing assembly line. True, but do teachers realize that some of the original “PLC’s” were formed in the 1930’s by researchers at a Westinghouse manufacturing plant where assembly line workers collected and reviewed data, diagnosed problems, and improved their processes – the same activities that educators are learning to do now in order to improve student achievement?3

Do they understand how potent the team approach to work has become in other industries and, therefore, its huge potential for education?

The “Medical Model” and Other Recent Innovations

Another recent innovation sweeping the country is the restructuring of public education through what is called “Response to Intervention” (RTI). RTI has been characterized as the “medical model” applied to public education, and entails frequent assessments and targeted interventions that are deployed in schools to ensure that all students receive the help they need.4

A similar system of clinical testing, a hierarchy of tiered interventions, and evidence-based practice, has been used to treat patients since specialties emerged in medicine in the 1930’s.

The team approach to work, although studied in the 1930’s, was ignored by American business and manufacturing industries in the U.S. until the 1980’s, when the Japanese demonstrated potency of teams for improving quality and productivity. This cross-continent learning was followed by cross-industry learning when multidisciplinary, patient-focused teams swept through health care in the 1990’s. Educator PLC teams are just now taking hold in the first decade of the twenty-first century in public education. These teams share the same underlying philosophy of continuous improvement of processes and outcomes by engaging groups of staff members who work directly with the product, patient, or student to find ways of making significant improvements quickly.

The parallel innovations across industries in Table One underscore the point that, although our missions may be different, our underlying problems and solutions tend to be remarkably alike. If this assertion is true, would it not behoove educators to seek solutions to their challenges in other industries, as well as their own?

In spite of the potential benefits there are voices of caution, as well, in the field of education. Hess indicates that he fears that, “...both ‘data-based decision making’ and ‘research-based practice’ can stand in for careful thought, serve as dressed up rationales for the same old fads, or be used to justify incoherent proposals.”5

It is critical that educators do not simply adopt terms from other disciplines without deep understanding and fidelity of application of the new concepts. For example, the term “research-based” could convey everything from studies with random testing and control groups to anecdotal reports in professional journals.

Rigorously tested educational interventions are relatively few in number and still require monitoring to verify that they work in each new setting. Dynarski asserts that most educators, “...are not trained to evaluate data and research or translate findings into on-the-ground practices or approaches that can improve student learning.”6

This lack of training and experience can leave educators at the mercy of the sales pitches of gurus and vendors of packaged programs who claim to provide research-based solutions to their instructional challenges. Physicians face similar risks of blindly accepting the pitches of pharmaceutical salesmen.

Steps to Ensure Fidelity to Intervention Design

What can educators do to embrace innovations from other industries while avoiding superficial changes having limited impact on student learning? One answer is for educators to gain a deep understanding of the innovations through face-to-face collaboration with practitioners in other industries who have first-hand experience with the new practices. In public education this could look like inviting health care practitioners and business executives to sit on key school district committees to advise administrators on their approaches. Another answer is that schools can engage in the collection of data to monitor and adjust the implementation of innovations.

It is tempting for busy educators to make assumptions that “research-based” means that the innovations are certified to be effective, like a drug, and all they have to do is administer it. It is even more critical in education to ensure that the intervention is being carried out true to its design, and that the unique circumstances of the school are tracked and accommodated during the course of the intervention. Education tends to be rich in interventions, but poor in data about the intervention process. Recently, companies have begun to develop tools to help schools meet this need for monitoring the implementation of major innovations, such as PLC’s and RTI.7

Educators can also learn from other industries what it means to be data-driven by what are called process “metrics.” For example, Hess makes the point that, “School and district leaders have embraced student achievement data but have paid scant attention to collecting or using data that are more relevant to improving the performance of schools and school systems.”8

Hess is referring to the kinds of metrics that health care, business, and manufacturing organizations use to manage their overall organizational performance with tools such as “balanced scorecards.” These include critical support processes such as staff hiring, payroll, food service, information technology, and maintenance. Cross-industry sharing and collaboration about metrics and other ways of ensuring continuous quality improvement have become structured through the Baldrige National Quality Award Program9 and its many state affiliates10 that now encourage organizations to follow best practices relevant to business, health care, education, non-profits, and government entities.

Examples of Opportunities for Cross-industry Collaboration

Physicians and teachers are both semi-independent professional practitioners. Health care and education face similar challenges of getting their practitioners to change their behavior to conform to findings from evidence and research. A successful pilot study demonstrated that primary care providers can change their behaviors to provide proactive preventive care of diabetic patients, rather than using the traditional approach of waiting to treat more serious complications.11

This was accomplished, in part, by providing monetary rewards to physicians based on evidence of fewer complications requiring more expensive treatments. Perhaps educators should investigate a similar financial reward system as an incentive to induce greater behavior change in classroom teachers. Collaboration with health care might suggest approaches that educators have not yet considered. Other collaborative opportunities for educators might include:

Learning from successful training done in manufacturing, service, and the military.

Learning from successful businesses to create metrics and balanced scorecards.

Learning from more agile industries to interpret and apply research studies.

Learning from local employers to identify authentic twenty-first century skills, including interpersonal ones.

Learning to manage education with the lean, results-oriented focus of for-profit businesses.

Learning from sports teams and performing arts organizations to provide teachers with needed feedback while simultaneously enhancing their motivation.

We need solutions to common, generic problems while avoiding thoughtless, superficial attempts at change. Educators have been thrashing for years, while help may exist in industries “down the street” for solutions to their particularly intransigent challenges. The key is to engage in thoughtful collaboration and work methodically to design, pilot, and gradually deploy meaningful innovations, while constantly monitoring and adjusting them. Our students deserve the best our country has to offer, from whatever source.

William A. (Bill) Liggett, Ph.D. is currently the president of an education consulting company, Leader’s Edge Network LLC, specializing in online surveys to evaluate innovations in public education and other industries. His background reflects interest, training, and experience in a range of industries including secondary education science, applied social psychology, community mental health, behavioral science (16 years with IBM), health care strategic planning, and program evaluation and research (large public school district). You can reach Dr. Liggett by email at: [email protected] or at the company Website: www.leadersedgenet.com.

1 Gary Naples (2000). Beyond the Numbers. (p. 17) London: Society of Automotive Engineers. 2 Richard DuFour, Rebecca DuFour, Robert Eaker (2008). Revisiting Professional Learning Communities at Work™: New Insights for Improving Schools, Bloomington, IN: Solution-Tree. 3 History of team building. Retrieved December 5, 2008. The Team Building Directory Web site: http://www.innovativeteambuilding.co.uk/pages/history.htm. 4 Robert Howell, Sandra Patton, Margaret Deiotte (2008). Understanding Response to Intervention: A Practical Guide to Systemic Implementation. Bloomington, IN: Solution-Tree. 5 Frederick M. Hess (December 2008/January 2009). The new stupid. Educational Leadership, 66(4), 12. 6 Mark Dynarski (December 2008/January 2009). Researchers and educators: allies in learning. Educational Leadership, 66(4), 48. 7 See, for example, Leader’s Edge Network, LLC, which provides online instruments to help schools and districts monitor their implementations of innovations such as PLC’s and RTI. Web site: www.leadersedgenet.com 8 Hess, 15. 9 Baldrige National Quality Award Program. National Institute for Science and Technology, Web site: http://www.quality.nist.gov/index.html. Five public school districts have received the education award since that category was established in 2000. 10 See, for example, Colorado Performance Excellence, Web site: http://www.coloradoexcellence.org. Mesa County Valley School District 51, Grand Junction, CO, and four of its schools, have received quality awards. 11 Martin Sipkoff (2006). Rocky Mountain’s success with chronic care model: Paying for medical group practice redesign can significantly enhance the quality of care for chronically ill patients, and perhaps lower long-term costs. Managed Care Magazine. Retrieved December 11, 2008. Web site: http://www.managedcaremag.com.

Is Immigration Still The Third Rail Of Politics?

By: Kathryn S. Wylde Issue: Education & Workforce Development Section: Jewel Of Collaboration

The Business Impact of H-1B Visas

Immigration The challenges facing the incoming Obama Administration – global economic turmoil, a war on two fronts, and a laundry list of campaign promises to fulfill, from universal healthcare to climate change – are formidable. Waiting in the wings behind some of the more obvious and immediate crises is the immigration debate, which in recent years may have even replaced Social Security reform as the “third rail” of politics.

For most business groups, the logic of addressing immigration is irrefutable. Rafts of academic studies show significant immigrant contributions to economic output. Just one example: a new report from the Small Business Administration shows that immigrants are nearly thirty percent more likely to start a business than are non-immigrants. Immigrants are helping to expand the ranks of the middle class, and in some localities even mitigating native-born population decline. One economist estimates that “roughly nine in ten working Americans gain from immigration.”

Yet both prejudices and objections remain. Social conservatives remain deeply opposed to any path to citizenship (often pilloried as “amnesty”) for the estimated 12 – 20 million undocumented foreigners living in the U.S. today, and favor stricter border enforcement before any plans are implemented to expand immigration. And there are concerns about the impact of immigrants on the wages of native-born workers at the low end of the wage scale, especially during a time of economic contraction.

The Business Impact High-Skilled Workers

In Washington DC, business lobbies concerned with immigration have focused largely on the need for agricultural guest workers at the low end of the market and on Silicon Valley software engineers at the high end. As the H-1B became the visa of choice for software engineers, it even became known as the “Microsoft problem” because Bill Gates has been so ardent a supporter of increasing the number of H-1B visas awarded each year. However, the immigration issue is important to many other American businesses. Access to professional-worker H-1B visas (or

L-1 visas for intra-company transfers) is cited as the most serious challenge for American companies across all sectors and is most troubling to small and mid-size businesses that are attempting to serve global markets from a U.S.-based operation. Currently, just 65,000 H-1B visas are allocated annually, and for the past few years all of these have been exhausted on the first day that applications are considered.

Winning the Global Race for Talent, a report released by the Partnership for New York City in March of 2008, documented that H-1B visas are used across the nation by diverse sectors, including financial services, professional services, healthcare and universities as well as IT. In terms of the number of H-1B visas granted, the New York Tri-State region had the highest concentration in the nation, with just over 21%. California used 18%, but Texas, Illinois, Florida and Virginia were all significant users of these visas as well.

Far from being strictly an issue of concern for big companies, the report found that only 11% of the H-1B visas granted in New York went to employees of Fortune 1000 companies. The remaining 89% were allocated among small and medium-sized businesses. Companies across the spectrum are looking to foreign-born workers to connect them to the global economy.

The Business Impact Agriculture, Construction & Hospitality

Issue 3 Is Immigration Still The Third Rail Of Politics pic002 Farm economies in many states from California and Texas to Oklahoma and Colorado are also highly dependent on immigrant workers. Estimates vary from 800,000 farm workers to over 1 million in any given year, but a recent study by the Department of Labor concluded that some 80% are migrant workers.

Statistics released by the Pew Hispanic Center in 2007 suggest that nearly 2.9 million of the 11.8 million workers in the construction industry are Hispanic and that 2.2 million were foreign-born.

A similar picture emerges in the hospitality and restaurant industry, with both the American Hotel & Lodging Association and the National Restaurant Association acting as strong proponents for reform.

Very few industries, and even fewer States, could manage without a significant immigrant presence within the economy. The political challenge that the U.S. needs to address, however, is the fear that immigrants will simply displace American workers, often at a lower wage. This obstacle can only be tackled by matching reform of immigration with simultaneous improvement to the domestic systems of education and workforce development.

The Political Position Following The 2008 Election

Recently, the political tide of the immigration debate has shown signs of shifting. The pro-immigration group America’s Voice tracked races in both the House and Senate, and found that in 20 House races where candidates drew sharp distinctions on immigration, hard-line “enforcement only” advocates lost in eighteen. They found five Senate races in which anti-immigrant candidates lost.

The founder of the Immigration Reform Caucus (which opposes more open immigration policies), Rep. Tom Tancredo (R) of Colorado, is retiring, and nine of the House Republicans who were members of that Caucus lost their seats on November 4.

But even with a pro-immigrant Democrat in the White House, the path for a comprehensive immigration bill is uncertain.

Getting it Done

Efforts to pass comprehensive immigration reform in Congress failed in both 2006 and 2007, and any future attempt will doubtless represent a compromise option for the multiple interest groups with a stake in the outcome. Conservatives (including so-called “Blue Dog” Democrats) are likely to continue to oppose any amnesty, arguing that it rewards illegal aliens for ignoring U.S. immigration laws. On the other side of the debate, organized labor and many Hispanic groups have objections to a guest worker program on the basis that it could create an underclass. And conversations with members of Congress suggest that piecemeal fixes for special interest groups will fall foul of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, which favors a comprehensive approach.

Finding a solution is becoming an imperative for businesses and business groups across the nation. The immigration debate has become directly linked with two other priorities, education and workforce development.

The immigration debate has become directly linked with two other priorities, education and workforce development. Comments one bank, “We are a company that invests significant amounts of money in education and training of current and future U.S. workers. However, these efforts are insufficient to meet our company’s immediate needs.” And a mid-sized design firm adds, “Current U.S. policy toward… foreign labor poses a significant obstacle to the expansion of our U.S. operations [given] the global mobility of the kind of talent we need, and the expected shortage of knowledge workers in the U.S. in the decades ahead.”

Connecting Businesses and Policymakers

Lawmakers have suggested that one of the reasons for the failure of the 2007 bill was that the business voice was missing from the debate. Despite powerful advocacy from Washington-based groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable, Senators did not hear from their local constituents. The Lou Dobbs perspective, on the other hand, was very much in evidence, with calls flooding in opposing the bill.

In an effort to begin to bridge that divide, the Partnership for New York City co-hosted a meeting in July 2008 with the New York Immigration Coalition and invited members of the New York Congressional Delegation to attend, together with a group of CEOs. The exchange between business leaders and elected officials was frank and occasionally heated. But the takeaway was that business groups should look to find common ground with immigrant advocacy groups, form unusual coalitions and engage their elected representatives proactively, before this issue next comes to a vote.

Grassroots advocacy will be critical in order to move this issue forward. Interest is already percolating among business groups in Chicago, Houston and Los Angeles.

This may be an opportunity for a network of state and local business organizations to make a significant impact on federal policy,

This may be an opportunity for a network of state and local business organizations to make a significant impact on federal policy, especially with the appointment of Governor Janet Napolitano to head Homeland Security. The goal would be enacting a comprehensive reform program that provides a path to citizenship for unauthorized foreign residents who meet certain criteria and a significant increase in the availability of visas and green cards for students and workers, consistent with the unmet needs of the domestic labor market. It would also dovetail with expanded investment by the U.S. in education and workforce development programs that focus on unemployed and under-skilled populations within this country.

Immigrants are making a powerful and positive mark on our economy, from Chief Executives – like Robert Kelly of Bank of New York/Mellon, Cristobal Conde of Sungard, and Alain Belda of Alcoa – through skilled middle management to blue collar workers in our hotels, fields, and hospitals. It’s now time for businesses around the nation to acknowledge that contribution and work actively with U.S. policy-makers to fix our broken immigration system.

Kathryn S. Wylde is President & CEO of the Partnership for New York City, a non-profit organization of the City’s business leaders dedicated to maintaining New York City as a center of world commerce, finance and innovation. More information is available on the Partnership’s website at www.pfnyc.org.

The New American Economy

By: Patrick J. Holwell Issue: Education & Workforce Development Section: Jewel Of Collaboration

Workforce Development in the 21st Century

New American Economy The United States is presently in a deep recession, which began in December 2007, and has intensified considerably in the last calendar quarter. The U.S. has lost 1.2 million jobs in the three month period ending October 30, 2008 and over 2 million jobs in the calendar year. On December 5, 2008 the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that employment had fallen by 533,000 jobs in November, causing the national unemployment rate to rise to 6.7 percent. Unemployment is expected to rise further, possibly reaching 8 percent or more in the first quarter of 2009. The deepening crisis within the U.S. financial system has caused a severe tightening of short-term credit, which has become virtually unavailable, forcing many small businesses and a limited number of large businesses to close their doors. Major bailout packages are being designed for the ailing financial and automotive industries, and workers throughout the country are worried about staying employed.

At the same time, the U.S. workforce has been falling further and further behind in developing the high skill levels necessary to keep American industries globally competitive.

Troubling results reported by the 2006 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) show that 15-year-olds in the U.S. placed 16th out of 30 industrialized nations in their science scores, and 23rd in mathematics. The National Science Foundation reports that freshman college enrollments in mathematics and sciences peaked in 1992 in U.S. colleges and universities, and have consistently gone down through the present date, while at the same time foreign student enrollments have steadily increased at the same schools. Thus, in spite of the spiking unemployment rate, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports monthly that between 2.3 to 2.5 percent of all open jobs go unfilled because employers cannot find people with the skills to fill them.

The Workforce System Adds Value and Competitiveness

Against this backdrop, our national Workforce Development System is a key partner in moving the United States into a new 21st Century economy.

The Workforce Development System as we know it today was born in 1933, during the Great Depression, when it was vital to match people with jobs as quickly and efficiently as possible. Later, as higher levels of skills were needed by U.S. employers, a training component was added.

Today, the Workforce Development system operates under the oversight of the U.S. Department of Labor through local Workforce Centers, (also called One-Stop Career Centers), serving Americans throughout the United States and its territories.

Workforce Centers offer two major services in their communities. First, they provide a labor exchange, where employers can list job openings free of charge, and any individual eligible to work in the United States can register free of charge and be referred to openings for which he/she is qualified. To supplement the basic labor exchange function, employers can also obtain a variety of services, including access to accurate wage and employment information and information on employment law. Job seekers can get the latest information about how to conduct an effective job search, upgrade their resumes, do well in a job interview, and access other services in the community which they might need.

If a job seeker cannot find work using the basic labor exchange system, they may access further services, including career assessment, customized career planning, supportive services and tuition assistance in occupational training to become marketable in the local community. Generally, such training is short-term, and includes occupational or vocational certificates, associate level degrees or post-baccalaureate certificates.

Many employers do not realize they can access thousands of highly qualified job candidates at all levels of skill and education from their local Workforce Center.

One of the most important things for employers to know about Workforce Centers is that they have a wide variety of workers at all levels of education and occupational skill on their rolls. For instance, at Arapahoe/Douglas Works! Workforce Center, serving Arapahoe and Douglas counties, which make up the southeastern part of the Denver Metro Area in Colorado, an employer can find a qualified candidate to match virtually any job qualification. At this writing, Arapahoe/Douglas Works! offers employers in Metro Denver almost 65,000 job candidates at all skill and education levels, including over 18,000 with a bachelors degree or higher. Skills of these workers include management, financial, computer sciences, physical and life sciences, healthcare practitioners and support workers, technicians, construction, transportation and production workers, educators and administrative support personnel.

Workforce Centers nationwide can offer a similar variety of candidates, and employers can register openings free of charge and get referrals of qualified and skilled candidates to keep them competitive. Many Workforce Centers also offer other services, such as hosting hiring events, space to interview candidates and custom training for incumbent or new workers.

Workforce Centers also offer a variety of services to community youth, acting in concert with industry leaders to educate youth in viable career pathways, build leadership, teamwork and professional skills, obtain high school diplomas, and encourage entry into higher education.

Nationally, the Workforce System is a key component in keeping American industries competitive in a global economy. While K-14 and the Higher Education system do their part over the long-term, Workforce Centers handle current and short-term needs through labor exchange and investment in human capital through occupational training directly relevant to local employer needs. Throughout this decade, the Workforce System has been called upon to enhance the economic vitality and global competitiveness of high-growth industries through sustainable partnerships with economic developers, K-14, higher education and business leaders. In 2005, the U.S. Department of Labor unveiled Workforce Innovations in Regional Economic Development (WIRED), which formalized these partnerships through national Workforce System policy.

In what is being called by some economists the deepest recession in over 70 years, the Workforce System is positioned to stand and deliver services and training that will keep American industry competitive in the 21st Century. The incoming Administration has announced two major initiatives in which Workforce Centers throughout the nation will be key movers. New American Economy With the announcement that 533,000 jobs had been lost in November 2008, well over 10 million Americans are presently out of work. At the same time, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports slightly over 3 million job openings. First, to pull the United States back to economic stability, and put millions of unemployed Americans back to work, a massive cash infusion of $60 billion over ten years for vitally needed infrastructure improvements will be given to the Governors of the fifty states. The Workforce System has virtually all of the 10.5 million unemployed Americans on its rolls, and can act as an employer of record, working with the various Governors to recruit, train and place over 2 million workers into ‘shovel-ready’ infrastructure projects that will stimulate an estimated $35 billion per year in economic activity throughout the nation.

Infrastructure projects will not be in short supply, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) 2008 report card. In Colorado alone, 43 percent of the roads are in mediocre or poor condition, the wastewater infrastructure needs an estimated $2.2 billion in improvements, 17 percent of the bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete, 186 dams have been determined deficient with a price tag of $369.4 million, and 58 percent of schools have at least one structural deficiency and 63 percent at least one environmental deficiency.

Over the longer term, the incoming Administration has set the goal of energy independence for the United States by 2019. In January 2009, up to $70 million in additional funds will be injected into the Workforce System to provide occupational training assistance in new energy ‘green collar’ jobs for unemployed workers. In addition, monies will be released through the Small Business Administration and a variety of other government agencies to encourage new energy start-ups and stimulate more rapid development of green technologies in established companies.

Since the late 1980s, many forward-looking Americans have realized that keeping U.S. industries competitive in a global economy is a national security issue.

In addition, funding will remain intact for existing Workforce System initiatives providing short-term occupational training in support of other high growth industries, such as Healthcare, Bioscience, Aerospace, National Security, Information Technology, Automotive, Construction, Education, Advanced Manufacturing, and Transportation.

The national Workforce System will continue to do its part in keeping American workers and American businesses competitive in a global economy, because those serving in it realize that a strong, vibrant economy contributes significantly to the long-term security and strength of the United States.

The Workforce System in Colorado

Colorado boasts nine Workforce Regions that serve Workforce Development needs throughout the state. In the year ending June 30, 2008, Colorado’s Workforce Centers put almost 118,000 people to work, and provided occupational training for over 7,700 people. In the current year, which began July 1, 2008, Colorado Workforce Centers have put almost 50,000 people to work and are training over 5,300 people for jobs in high-growth industries.

In 2005, the Denver Metro region received a $15 million WIRED grant from the U.S. Department of Labor that was designed to build the training infrastructure for high-demand occupations in targeted industries. This stimulated efforts throughout Colorado to reach out to employers in a variety of industries, find out what skill sets were most needed, and worked in partnership with the K-14 and Higher Education systems to grow the training pipeline for high-skilled workers.

Throughout the state, Workforce Centers have segmented both available workforce and targeted industries in their regions, and have built sustainable partnerships with employers in high-growth industries, economic developers, K-14 and Higher Education to ensure that Colorado businesses will have the continuous supply of skilled labor they need to remain competitive globally and to enhance overall economic vitality. Sustainable partnerships, like the Southeast Colorado E3 Partnership, STEM-EC (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics Educational Coalition), and multi-regional efforts in the Denver Metro Area, such as the Arapahoe/Douglas Works! Expert Technician Academy, which provides customized training in technical skills needed most by area employers, and its Youth Energy Conservation Corps, which prepares youth for the New Energy jobs of tomorrow, have been created and are successfully training tomorrow’s workforce.

Continuous Improvement and Business Results in Workforce Development

Continuous improvement efforts are ubiquitous throughout the Workforce Development System at national, state and local levels. The present Administration developed a President’s Management Agenda (PMA) for all federal agencies that has driven systemic improvement and business results in the Workforce system. The PMA calls for improved outcomes in five areas: human capital, competitive sourcing, financial performance, improved e-government, and budget performance/integration.

In 2008, the U.S. Department of Labor received its eighth consecutive Certificate of Excellence from the Association of Government Accountants. Since 2001, the Department has received four Presidential Quality Awards, and has been ranked #1 four times among all federal agencies for its annual Performance and Accountability Report by the George Mason University Mercatus Center.

In Colorado, all Workforce Regions have embraced the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence, and have embarked upon the performance excellence journey.

Several Colorado Workforce Centers, including Arapahoe/Douglas Works!, have used the Malcolm Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence since 1995 as a lens through which to gauge process improvement and boost results, and have been involved with Colorado’s Baldrige affiliate, Colorado Performance Excellence, since its inception. In 2004, the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment embraced the Baldrige Criteria, and at present, all Workforce Regions within Colorado have embarked upon the journey to performance excellence.

Professionals in Colorado’s Workforce Development System, and throughout the nation, recognize their work is vital to the economic well-being of local communities, their states, and that their efforts contribute to the security of our nation in an increasingly flat, fast-moving, and hyper-competitive global economy. America cannot prosper in the 21st Century without a highly-skilled, well-trained and upwardly mobile workforce, and its Workforce Development System is a key component in the creation of the New American Economy.

Tapping America's Potential

By: Printed With Permissions From The Business Roundtable Issue: Education & Workforce Development Section: Jewel Of Collaboration

The Education for Innovation Initiative

Operation GOAL:

INCREASE THE ANNUAL NUMBER OF U.S. SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING AND MATHEMATICS BACHELOR’S-LEVEL GRADUATES TO 400,000 BY 2015.

The Business Community Takes a Stand

In July 2005, 15 of America’s most prominent business organizations 1

joined together to express their deep concern about the ability of the United States to sustain its scientific and technological leadership in a world where newly energized foreign competitors are investing in the capacity for innovation — the key driver of productivity and economic growth in advanced economies.

The business organizations formed the Tapping America’s Potential (TAP) coalition to advocate for renewed attention to U.S. competitiveness and America’s capacity to innovate.

TAP established a goal to double the number of U.S. science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) graduates with bachelor’s degrees by 2015.

TAP and other business, scientific and education coalitions helped to galvanize broad bipartisan agreement among federal policymakers on the need for action on U.S. competitiveness. Despite this consensus, and the enactment of landmark authorizing legislation, Congress and the administration have thus far failed to adequately fund the innovation policy agenda advocated by TAP.

America’s business leaders are frustrated that while governments around the world are building their national innovation capacity through investments in research and STEM education, the United States is standing still. Failure to change the status quo places America’s future economic and technological leadership at risk.

Update on TAP Goal

The business organizations that came together in 2005 to found TAP established a bold 10-year goal: “Double the number of U.S. science, technology, engineering and mathematics graduates with bachelor’s degrees by 2015.”

America’s business leaders recognize that highly educated technical professionals constitute the key differentiator in global economic competition. They are the world’s innovators, and their presence attracts capital and infrastructure investments, feeding a virtuous cycle of investment and capacity building that drives more rapid innovation, accelerated productivity growth, and higher levels of sustained economic growth and high-wage employment.

At the time the goal was established, 2001 was the most recent year for which data were available on U.S. bachelor’s degrees. In that year, slightly more than 200,000 STEM bachelor’s degrees were awarded to U.S. citizens and permanent residents. In the prior decade, the number of STEM bachelor’s degrees awarded annually was relatively stable and hovered slightly below 200,000. Over the same period, projected demand for STEM graduates in the U.S. workforce grew markedly, and economic competitors, such as China and India, greatly increased their output of STEM graduates. The TAP goal of 400,000 U.S. STEM graduates with bachelor’s degrees by 2015, while ambitious, is necessary to meet future workforce demands and the global competitiveness challenge.

Since the TAP report was issued three years ago, 2002–2006 data have become available that show U.S. STEM bachelor’s degrees awarded in that period fall short of what will be required to reach 400,000 by 2015. While the number of STEM degrees awarded has remained relatively flat for three years, the policy changes the business community has called for to attract and retain more undergraduate STEM majors have not been enacted. Congress has authorized, but not yet funded, the expansion of science and engineering research and STEM education programs that will make STEM majors more attractive to undergraduates.

Private-sector demand for STEM graduates has increased and may help pull more students into these majors. The latest STEM workforce data show that, in 2006, the already low unemployment rate for STEM graduates dropped to 2.5 percent, and starting salaries were higher for students graduating with STEM degrees, particularly those with engineering degrees, than for most other majors.

In addition, there is a desperate need for STEM majors to teach math and science in U.S. schools. Research indicates that a highly qualified teacher is one of the most important factors in raising student achievement, yet according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, school districts across the country have difficulty hiring qualified math and science teachers.

Building a Consensus for Investments in U.S. Innovation

Since the TAP recommendations were issued three years ago, the policy landscape has changed in a positive direction, but progress toward implementation has been frustratingly halting and slow.

The policies TAP advocates are not new. For more than 10 years, economists and policy experts have pointed out that America’s failure to invest adequately in its innovation capacity will have negative long-term consequences for U.S. economic competitiveness. Those voices have only grown louder as global economic competition has grown more intense and America’s competitors have increased their investments in math and science education and in science and engineering research.

What is new, however, is the deep commitment of America’s business leaders to change the dynamic and reorient national policy toward greater investment in U.S. innovation leadership. The July 2005 TAP report was but one expression of this new commitment.

From Rhetoric to Legislation

In November 2005, then-Minority Leader of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi unveiled the House Democrats’ Innovation Agenda calling for increased federal investments in science, research, and math and science education, as well as incentives for small business to increase its innovation capacity.

President Bush, responding to the concerns of America’s business leaders, announced the American Competitiveness Initiative (ACI) in his February 2006 State of the Union address to Congress, which proposed to double federal support for basic physical sciences and engineering research over 10 years at three key civilian science agencies, to renew the federal commitment to improving U.S. student achievement in math and science, and to implement high-skilled immigration reform and a permanent R&D tax credit.

For the first time, an American president and congressional leaders articulated an explicit link between physical sciences and engineering research and student achievement in math and science and future U.S. economic competitiveness. The ACI and the House Democrats’ Innovation Agenda were more than just budget proposals — they were a new rationale for public investments in America’s science and technology enterprise.

As a result of these and related legislative efforts, on August 9, 2007, the America COMPETES Act was signed into law. The legislation authorizes an increased federal investment in STEM education and science and engineering research. The America COMPETES Act is designed to:

Strengthen K–12 math and science education by improving teacher training in math and science; increasing support for the Robert Noyce Scholarship Program, which provides scholarships for STEM undergraduate majors who agree to become K–12 math and science teachers; increasing the number of teachers prepared to teach Advanced Placement and pre-International Baccalaureate college preparatory courses; and providing Math Now grants to improve elementary and secondary math instruction. Expand undergraduate and graduate science and engineering programs through increased support for the National Science Foundation (NSF) STEM Talent Expansion Program, which provides grants to universities to devise creative programs to recruit and graduate more undergraduate STEM majors. Increase funding for basic research in the physical sciences by authorizing substantial new investments in basic research at NSF, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science — providing a blueprint for future appropriations to double research at these key agencies in seven to 10 years.

The America COMPETES Act is a significant policy advance for U.S. innovation and competitiveness. However, unless sufficient appropriations follow over the next several years, the TAP agenda with regard to STEM education and science and engineering research will not be realized.

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

In a disheartening repeat of previous years, deep consensus and nearly unique bipartisan agreement on the need to make innovation a priority did not, in the end, result in significant increased funding for basic research in the physical sciences or STEM education. Instead, appropriations provided either flat funding or real declines in fiscal year (FY) 2008, in constant dollar terms, for research and education programs.

There is an urgent need, however, to forge ahead to meet the TAP goal. Recent data illustrate why business leaders and policymakers must continue working together on STEM education priorities if the United States is to remain the world’s innovation leader.

Investments in Basic Research Drive Innovation

Investments in basic research, particularly in the physical sciences and engineering, have led to a wide range of transformative innovations that have spawned new industries, created new high-wage jobs and positively impacted our daily lives. From medical imaging and laser-based medical therapies to global positioning systems (GPS) and MP3 players, federally funded research has been the foundation of many groundbreaking scientific discoveries, including the following:

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

MRI technologies save lives every day by providing detailed images that help physicians detect critical illnesses, often during the early stages of development. From the 1970s to the 1990s, the National Institutes of Health, NSF and DOE funded research that led to the development of MRI.

GPS

GPS provides travelers with in-vehicle navigation, enables emergency and rescue workers to locate people in distress, and allows researchers to track and monitor natural disasters. The Department of Defense (DoD), DOE, the Air Force and Office of Naval Research funded research leading to the development of GPS.

Semiconductors

Personal computers, cellular phones, MP3 players, cameras, video recorders, medical equipment and other devices all rely on semiconductors to function. NSF, DOE, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Office of Naval Research and the Air Force funded research to develop and enhance semiconductors.

These and many other innovations arising from federal research investments also have spurred new industries, reinvigorating the nation’s manufacturing and creating high-wage jobs — a model that can serve the United States into the future with an increase in government resources targeted to basic research.

Can We Get There from Here?

Given the limited progress to date on raising U.S. undergraduate STEM major graduation rates, is TAP’s goal of producing 400,000 U.S. graduates annually with bachelor’s degrees in STEM fields achievable? The answer is yes, but only if policies are in place to create the right incentives.

The America COMPETES Act, if funded in spending bills yet to be enacted, will help to increase demand for STEM graduates by doubling federal support for basic research in math, engineering and physical sciences; increase the supply of incoming freshmen with the requisite skills to pursue STEM majors by improving K–12 STEM education; and increase recruitment of new STEM majors by highlighting the value of STEM careers and their importance to individual and national economic success.

In the appendix, we present examples of progress made toward each of the specific recommendations offered in the 2005 TAP report. The story is one of a glass half full. The business community has helped change the political and policy landscape; and nearly all of TAP’s recommendations are included in pending legislation, recently enacted legislation or in the president’s budget request. To date, however, very few have been implemented. The number of undergraduate STEM degrees won’t begin to grow at the requisite rate until more resources start flowing into university research programs, new — and newly energized — math and science teachers start flowing into K–12 schools, and STEM teaching and student performance improves — at all levels.

Conclusion

Since the TAP report was issued three years ago, Congress and the administration appeared to get serious about addressing America’s competitiveness challenge but have failed to provide matching federal money for STEM education and science and engineering research.

The America COMPETES Act, signed into law last year, represents a substantial step forward toward the realization of the TAP innovation agenda. Follow-through by Congress and the administration on spending bills over the next several years will be necessary, however, before the vision of significantly enhanced U.S. innovation capacity embodied in the Act becomes reality.

The collapse of comprehensive immigration reform in 2007 has stymied much-needed reform of the employment-based green card and H-1B visa systems. Highly educated foreign-born professionals, particularly those educated at U.S. universities, are one of America’s greatest competitive advantages. The United States should embrace these innovators rather than sending them home to compete against U.S. businesses.

It is incumbent upon the business community to maintain the pressure on policymakers to see that the TAP agenda is fully enacted and implemented. In particular, TAP’s priorities include:

Funding basic science and engineering research at U.S. universities at the levels authorized in the America COMPETES Act;

Funding STEM education programs at the levels authorized in the America COMPETES Act, including funds for expanding the Robert Noyce Scholarship Program at NSF, Math and Science Partnerships (MSP) programs at both NSF and the Department of Education, Math Now, Adjunct Teacher Corps, and programs to develop and expand Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate programs;

Enacting targeted reforms to welcome more highly educated foreign-born professionals into the United States; and

Complementing federal action with state, local and private-sector initiatives.

The business community continues to feel a sense of urgency about the future competitive position of the United States. If anything, the stakes are higher today than when the TAP report was released three years ago. While federal innovation investments have stalled in the United States, foreign competitors are continuing to build their own capacity to innovate by investing in research and education, opening their doors to talent from around the world, and creating a favorable climate — through tax credits and other incentives — to attract private-sector research investments.

If policymakers continue to take U.S. economic and technological leadership for granted, they will leave us with an America that is potentially weaker and less able to compete in the global economy. For the sake of our children and grandchildren, we cannot afford to let that happen.

Appendix: Examples of Progress on Specific TAP Recommendations

1. AeA, Business-Higher Education Forum, Business Roundtable, Council on Competitiveness, Information Technology Association of America, Information Technology Industry Council, Minority Business RoundTable, National Association of Manufacturers, National Defense Industrial Association, Semiconductor Industry Association, Software & Information Industry Association, TechNet, Technology CEO Council, Telecommunications Industry Association, and U.S. Chamber of Commerce are the original 15 organizations that released the report in July 2005. National Venture Capital Association joined later that year.

Printed with Permission from Business Roundtable, 1717 Rhode Island Avenue, NW, Suite 800, Washington, DC 20036-5610

Telephone 202.872.1260, Facsimile 202.466.3509, Website www.businessroundtable.org.

Operation Respect

By: Peter Yarrow Issue: Education & Workforce Development Section: Jewel Of Collaboration

Writing On the Wall: Both Hopeful and Daunting

Operation Operation Respect is a non-profit organization dedicated to transforming school climates to become compassionate, safe, respectful and bully-free places and therefore conducive to children’s social, emotional and academic growth. Founded in 1999, the organization provides free, effective, curricular tools that help to transform and sustain positive school environments. Operation Respect also works to coalesce the efforts of like-minded educational organizations, nationally and internationally, that are working towards achieving a mutually held educational vision for the universal adoption of educational paradigms that meet all the personal and academic developmental needs of children; i.e. such as whole child education.

Looking back towards our inception nine years ago, I realized that two basic premises underlay the goals, vision and efforts of Operation Respect, both of which, now, seem remarkably simple, intuitive and obvious.

First: Operation Respect believes that in order for children and youth to be happy, to be able focus and concentrate, and to achieve academically, they must first feel safe and valued in their school environment.

They must not be subjected to what has become, far too frequently, a school environment that targets them with disrespect, ridicule and bullying, emotional and sometimes physical violence – which also targets and affects teachers and staff in similar ways. Second: Operation Respect believes that the intellectual growth of children and youth cannot take place normally and healthily unless it is accompanied and enriched by similar growth in their emotional, social and creative capacities.

Operation Respect holds the belief that educators must take responsibility for addressing all of the needs of children and youth. If not, the growth of children’s character, humanity and sensitivity and empathy towards others fails to develop, and students can be left without the tools needed for successful entry into the work force and the means to lead productive lives as engaged citizens of a democracy. Additionally, without these many dimensions of a proper education, academic progress that reflects a student’s true abilities, is inevitably hampered, and sometimes critically so.

The Hopeful and the Daunting News: Operation Respect’s Achievements

The good news is that in our work at Operation Respect, we have actually been able to be the principal mobilizing spark that has inspired the larger educational community to embrace these two basic principles. We have found that, although such principles are interpreted in different ways by different organizations, the consensus is that in the first articulation of our vision and goals, we were right on target – in fact, ahead of our time. Consequently, Operation Respect’s initial point of view is now leveraged by the concurrence of some 50 organizations in a coalition called United Voices for Education (UVE) that jointly advocates for, and work towards, a shift in the American educational paradigm – one in which these two basic principles might soon become a meaningful part of important educational policy reform in America and beyond.

Through the leadership of the largest educational organization in the world, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), with whom Operation Respect has been working closely to articulate the common vision, goals and strategies of UVE, educators have begun to embrace the premise that education must become far more comprehensive than the age-old concept of teaching the three Rs, which now only scratch the surface of meeting the basic educational needs of children. The new, common, belief is that only when all of the developmental needs of children are met will children’s successful and healthy development and education take place. Consequently, educational leaders are searching for ways to make sure that all teachers and schools become better equipped to address education in this more comprehensive fashion and, additionally, ways for schools to hold themselves, and be held, accountable for the successful nurturing of all the developmental needs of the children and youth in their care.

The Hopeful and the Daunting News: The Challenges

The reality is that such a perspective has a long way to go before it is adopted nationally and becomes an effective, improved, functioning educational paradigm. In the meantime, beyond student achievement, schools face terribly daunting problems that will derail all their educational efforts if these problems are not addressed, and addressed quickly and successfully. School violence, bullying, pandemic childhood depression and widespread teenage suicide all darken the hopes and dreams of schools, students and parents, alike. The Association of School Psychologists estimates that, across America, 160,000 children stay home from school every day simply because they cannot face yet another day of what is, to them, torturous targeting, ostracism, ridicule and bullying.

The Hopeful and the Daunting News: There Is A Way

No doubt, with the adoption of educational models that embrace the concept and successful practice of whole child education, such painful and daunting problems will diminish. Whole child education’s approach to such problems is preventative, not reactive, because it creates a climate in which such acting out and destructive behavior is discouraged, frowned upon, and not considered “cool”. Whole child education, when successfully introduced, establishes a supportive, vitally alive, positive school community environment; one that is conducive to learning, where children feel safe, are empowered and feel secure – and where all forms of emotional and physical violence can be effectively banished over a period of years.

The Hopeful and the Daunting News: Leveraging Operation Respect’s Efforts by a Factor of 50

We are hardly alone in our efforts any more. Fortunately, Operation Respect has been able to play a major role in bringing educators and educational associations together under the common banner of UVE leveraging our mutual efforts in a commitment to assure all children an education that takes place in a respectful and caring environment; one in which all their needs, aptitudes and gifts, as well as their challenges, special abilities and disabilities, can be properly addressed. (For more information, please see UVE: Logic Model and Strategic Plan at www.operationrespect.org.)

The Hopeful and the Daunting News: New Vantage Points and New Considerations

The discussion among UVE’s 50 organizations has progressed from the evaluation of schools in terms of achieving success to one that is addressing the imperative that all students receive the same basic academic level of resources and support.

If we are to expect the poorest of our youth population to be held to a standard equal to that of those who are far more fortunate, such inequities must ultimately be addressed and eliminated; or the entire effort to not leave any children behind is a cruel, cynical, joke.

The discussion has also turned to recognition that the achievement gap will never be successfully closed, not even a bit, until we even the playing field in terms of the availability of skilled, appropriately paid, teachers. Further, the discussion has also turned to making sure that all the dimensions of intelligence – social, emotional, creative and “heart” intelligence – need to be better understood and respected as the building blocks of our society, and therefore need to be considered with the greatest seriousness in the future education of our children.

The Hopeful and the Daunting News: Federal Education Policy Will, Must, Change

Unfortunately, federal policy as it was altered under the “No Child Left Behind Act” (NCLB) has failed to keep up with such new and important considerations regarding best practices for education and teacher training. Adherence to some of the unfortunate and failed policies and practices of No Child Left Behind has actually diminished the quality of education in many schools. Adherence to some of the unfortunate and failed policies and practices of No Child Left Behind has actually diminished the quality of education in many schools.

As a result of these failures, under NCLB, the curricula offered by schools has narrowed as educators and administrators focus on “teaching to the test” to avoid being deprived of funding and/or being shut down. Consequently, it is common for the arts, sports, extra-curricular activities, higher level problem solving, to have been cut out of the school day -- depriving children of badly needed educational enrichment beyond the acquisition of basic academic skills.

The Hopeful and the Daunting News: The Bright Light of NCLB, and its Shadow

On the other hand, to give NCLB its due, there is no doubt that the excellent data collection that has occurred tracking students’ and schools’ achievements is a positive and important step forward and has allowed teachers and administrators to locate and isolate the genesis of problems that were not easily detectible early, or at all, in pre-NCLB days. Unfortunately, important as such data are, they have not always been used wisely, and frequently have been acquired under the shadow of fear of failure by a school. Such fear by teachers staff and administrators, of losing their jobs, possible loss of a school’s funding (making the task of improvement all the harder) and the negative effects of labeling a school, thereby sullying its name and reputation, can be crushing to everyone. Such labeling and the inculcation of the fear of failure is toxic, and frequently overwhelmingly so, to the efforts of schools to improve and rehabilitate themselves.

The Hopeful and the Daunting News: Money Is A, If Not The, Root

Last, the problems of schools under NCLB have been greatly increased by a shortfall of $70 billion dollars that was promised to schools by the federal government. This shortfall was crucial money that was part and parcel of assuring the original plan, a best shot at a successful rollout and implementation of NCLB. Had this promise to our children and their education been given top priority, as it dearly should have been, the data acquired might have been put to far better use by teachers and schools than was possible given the economic realities of schools, particularly those in need of help, not punitive actions.

The Hopeful and the Daunting News: Where We Need to Go Next

Education and the educational paradigm of America need to be reformulated in certain ways to bring us into the 21st century, both in terms of the place of the United States in the world and in terms of what we decide we want to be as a country making its way through one of the most challenging times in its history.

Recently, Daniel Pink, in a book entitled A Whole New Mind, has made the compelling case that the type of outcomes resulting from yesterday’s educational paradigm are totally out of line with the needs of America, now and in the future. The acquisition of only basic skills of literacy, numeracy and science simply won’t cut it. Such education does address the need for students to acquire high-level, creative, outside the box, problem-solving capacities. Without such tools and skills, America’s future workforce will be seriously unprepared to tackle the essential jobs of the 21st century. Further, high level critical thinking on the part of the voting population is absolutely necessary to the successful functioning of a contemporary democracy that depends upon its citizenry to be well informed and civically motivated.

The Hopeful and the Daunting News: To Sum Up

Real progress in American educational reform is hampered by the sheer magnitude of the task to “move the mountain”; a monolith that famously resists all efforts to change it by virtue of its complexity and its monumental inertia. What was once a remarkable educational system, the pride of our country, has now become a clearly failing, grossly inequitable, highly politicized and hugely under-funded emblem of our failures of systems, but also a critical part of the opportunities that exist in perhaps more exciting ways than are in current memory. I, for one, see great change on the horizon. I see great hope as well. America is coming to terms with the fact that we have to change, to reform, many of our ways of doing things. It is the time for renewal in our country as we decide what to do in the world of money, the world of the military, the world of our reputation and good name in other countries, the world of environmental reality, and more. As we address all these dimensions of our policies and practices, surely we must realize that we are, we can be, we must be, truly capable of self-reflection on our failures, yet celebration of our past successes and future capacities. We are not what we once were, but in some ways, is this not a good thing? I think it is clearly a mixed bag, but as we decide who we want to become when we grow up, if we keep our precious children in mind, we will no doubt be guided by our most loving and wisest instincts.

Peter Yarrow has charmed, inspired, delighted, and just plain entertained generations of audiences since Peter, Paul and Mary first sang their way into the national consciousness in the early 1960s. As a member of that renowned musical trio for 49 years, he has earned five Grammys and an Emmy nomination, recorded eight gold and five platinum albums, and six Top 10 hits The late Coretta Scott King once proclaimed, “Peter, Paul and Mary are not only three of the greatest folk artists ever, but also three of the performing arts’ most outstanding champions of social justice and peace.”

Peter’s gift for songwriting has produced some of the most moving songs Peter, Paul & Mary recorded including, in addition to “Puff,” “Day is Done,” “Light One Candle,” and “The Great Mandala.”

During the last decade, Peter has devoted himself primarily to the work of heading Operation Respect (OR), an educational non-profit he founded. OR is dedicated to assuring children and youth a caring, safe and respectful climate of learning where students’ academic, social and emotional development can take place in a welcoming, environment, conducive to learning. OR disseminates a classroom-based program called “Don’t Laugh At Me”, free, through the generosity of the Mc-Graw Hill Companies, that has been utilized in a variety of ways, frequently in conjunction with other similar programs, by an estimated 22,000 schools in the United States, Hong Kong, Croatia, Canada and elsewhere.

Don’t Laugh At Me (DLAM) is designed to help establish a school and class room climate that encourages acceptance of differences, is free of bullying, ridicule and violence of all sorts, emotional and physical. The program incorporates music that reaches adults and children, alike, opening their hearts and inviting discussions that lead to a greater sense of community and healthy deliberation. OR has distributed more than 150,000 copies of DLAM free of charge to educators and is available, free, through www.operationrespect.org.

The United States House of Representatives honored Operation Respect with a unanimous vote of commendation after only five years of its existence. Peter has received two honorary doctorates from San Francisco State University and National Lewis University for his work in educational advocacy, and Peter’s mother was a New York City English, Speech and Drama teacher for close to 30 years at Julia Richmond High School.

To learn more about Operation Respect please visit www.dontlaugh.org or call 212-904-5243.

It's More Than A Field Trip

By: George Sparks Issue: Education & Workforce Development Section: Jewel Of Collaboration

Engaging Teachers, Students & Families in Science Literacy

Field Trip Each weekday, long lines of yellow school buses line the roads in City Park leading to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science (DMNS). More than 320,000 school children each year benefit from a century old collaboration between the Museum and Colorado schools. Yet what started as a field trip to see cases of natural history curiosities is a whole different animal today. Museums offer lifelong, informal learning opportunities to all ages, complementing what schools and the formal education system provide. Modern museums take very seriously their role to provide public education, versus simply storing and displaying objects.

The specific educational focus at the DMNS is science, specifically health, space, and earth sciences, anthropology and zoology. The Museum sees its core purpose as inspiring curiosity and critical thinking about the scientific issues of our time, such as global climate change, obesity, species extinction, genetics, or, here in Colorado, pine beetle infestation.

Science education today is a poignant issue for Colorado schools. Recent science tests of Colorado 5th, 8th and 10th graders showed that half lack proficiency in science. Teachers, particularly at the pre- and elementary school levels, report a lack of training in science and discomfort in teaching it. Science literacy is not only a concern for Colorado schools but also for Colorado businesses who need scientists and engineers for their future workforce. Our large aerospace, oil and gas, and health industries are just some examples of businesses who want to promote the study of Museum core competencies in space science, geology, and health. And, it is no secret that our lack of scientists and engineers is an issue of global competitiveness for our country.

It is no secret that our lack of scientists and engineers is an issue of global competitiveness for our country.

Science museums like DMNS provide very unique learning tools for the formal education system. The collections of objects and specimens, the “real stuff,” intrigue students with dinosaur fossils; gems and minerals; the birds, insects and mammals of the Rocky Mountain region; and Native American treasures. The exhibitions have evolved from displayed collections of natural history artifacts to interactive and constantly changing scientific labs staffed by trained volunteers. And, as always, working on an archaeological site or fossil dig with a Museum curator offers a memorable educational experience not available in the classroom.

The Museum’s collaboration with Colorado schools dates to 1908 and has grown to programs serving 327,030 schoolchildren in 37 percent of Colorado schools (2007). A surprise to some is that the Museum employs some 40 educators, as well as 15 scientists who actively work with students.

Museum educational programs range from labs and classes, to after school, home school and preschool programs, to workshops, camps and internships. Science standards are at the forefront in designing these programs. Science standards are spelled out specifically for teachers in online promotional materials so they can link Museum offerings to their curriculum. Currently teacher professional development programs are a major focus of the Museum with workshops for credit, offered through a collaboration with the Colorado School of Mines, and extensive online resources. Bilingual and parent programs also are growing.

Expedition Health – Collaborative Education between DMNS, the Community, and Business the Museum employs some 40 educators, as well as 15 scientists who actively work with students.

Collaboration is fundamental to the development of DMNS exhibits, one of the primary teaching tools of museums. Right now the Museum is working on a new health science exhibition called Expedition Health. The goal of this exhibition is to improve our community’s health by promoting healthy personal choices by our visitors, which last year totaled more than 1.4 million. Part of a Health Sciences Initiative, the exhibition will be supported by gallery programs, classes, and online resources for teachers, parents, and the general public.

While the Museum has a Curator of Human Health (one of only two in the United States), it was important for us to talk to key partners in the community about the content, design, and outcomes of our new exhibit. Advisory Councils provided highly valued expertise and advice from schools, the scientific community, the health care industry, and related government agencies and non-profits.

The Education Advisory Council of teachers, educators, and physical fitness experts, report that student visits to the Museum:

  • Offer a unique experience, not like school
  • Promote curiosity - learning more after the Museum visit
  • Provoke questions and critical thinking
  • Build in interactivity, not just with technology but between students and others
  • Involve not just students, but teachers, parents, and families.

In addition to providing and reviewing content for accuracy, the scientific advisors:

  • Help the Museum share it’s research with the public
  • Design the exhibit for the constantly changing nature of science.

The community advisors suggest that Museum visits:

  • Promote healthy lifestyles to reduce health care costs
  • Reach out to the underserved
  • Be relevant, talk about living well in Colorado
  • Be creative - old programs have not produced behavior change as hoped.

Advice from the community informed the work of another collaborative model, the internal interdepartmental team of scientists, educators, designers, and technology experts responsible for producing the exhibit, working with Kennedy Associates of Cambridge, Massachusetts. The result is Expedition Health, which will take Museum visitors on a virtual climb up one of Colorado’s famed Fourteeners Mt. Evans (Colorado has 54 peaks over 14,000 ft), while learning about their bodies and personal health.

Activity stations in the exhibit, such as Mind Ball, Vein Viewer, Walk Visualizer, and Face Aging, are designed to engage the visitor’s body, mind and senses. A group of 12 virtual expedition guides, volunteer Coloradans (not actors) filmed on an actual mountain ascent, will coach visitors throughout the exhibit. Colorado’s first “object theater,” will be a multi-sensory, multi-media experience in an intimate 35-seat theater. Also new will be a working laboratory, where students will perform experiments and visitors may elect to participate in a national, university-based research study. The Summit Science Stage will be the backdrop for daily live demonstrations and programs on changing health topics. Children under five will enjoy a separate early learners space called Tykes Peak.

Collaboration with schools will go beyond the Expedition Health exhibition experience. The Colorado Health Foundation is supporting new education programs for underserved schools through a $1.3 million Passport to Health program. Passport to Health will extend the experience of Expedition Health into 30 low-income metro area schools over two years. The program will increase both student and parent understanding of health sciences, raise their health literacy, and encourage them to live healthier lives. Passport to Health is scheduled to launch in fall 2009.

The program begins the summer before the school year with a special one-day workshop for fifth-grade teachers at the Museum. The workshop, led by the Museum’s education staff, will increase teachers health science content knowledge and prepare them to facilitate Passport to Health with their students. The Museum will provide online teaching resources to complement and enhance the program, including lesson plans about health science, nutrition and exercise.

Once the school year begins, the Museum’s outreach teachers will visit each Passport to Health classroom to engage fifth-graders in hands-on activities to prepare them for a field trip to Expedition Health at the Museum. Students will receive their own Passport to Health journal and a demonstration about how to measure and log their own personal nutrition and activity data.

Next, each Passport to Health class will come to the Museum to visit Expedition Health and attend an on-site class taught by Museum educators where they will learn how the body benefits from physical activity. Students will use their journals to collect and record more health data about themselves at the interactive stations in Expedition Health.

After the Museum visit, Passport to Health will engage the families of the fifth-graders to encourage an ongoing commitment to healthy choices. Each school will host a Family Health Night where Museum educators will present fun physical activities families can do together. Each family will be invited to a free Family Health Day at the Museum where they can visit Expedition Health together and experience more health-focused programs. Family Health Day also will include healthy snacks and giveaways. Finally, families of each Passport to Health fifth-grader will receive a free, one-year family membership to the Museum so they all can continue to learn about health and science together.

Other Community Collaboratives

Field Trip In addition to collaborations with elementary schools, the Museum is partnering with the Community College of Aurora (CCA) to present demonstrations on genetics in the new health exhibition. Science students in CCA’s biology and biology technology programs will interact with visitors and demonstrate some of the interesting technical aspects of laboratory work, e.g. DNA isolation, gel electrophoresis, bacterial transformation, or protein chromatography. CCA students can earn extra credit for demonstrating lab techniques to Museum visitors and honing their public presentation skills. Importantly, young visitors will be able to see science careers modeled by the CCA students, 22% of whom are African-American and 12% of whom are Hispanic.

The Health Sciences Initiative involved many critical funding partners. Kaiser Permanente made a major investment with a $4 million grant, as well as providing access to their medical team, health programming, and marketing support. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is funding the lab-based research in the exhibit and many others are enabling the $10.2 million project to move forward.

When Expedition Health opens in April 2009, the Museum hopes that its partners and the public will say, “Wow, this isn’t the old museum field trip I remember!”

To learn more about the programs at the DMNS, please

contact Bonnie Downing at 303-370-6369 or at

[email protected]. George Sparks is the President

and CEO of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

Guided By A Compass

By: R. Bruce Hutton, Ph.D., Paul M. Bauer, Ph.D., Michaele E. Charles, Editor Issue: Education & Workforce Development Section: Jewel Of Collaboration

How the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver is Teaching the Next Generation of Business Leaders to Successfully Navigate Unchartered Territory

Guided By A Compass























As the Daniels College of Business celebrates its centennial, the business world today is a very different place than it was 100 years - or even 100 days - ago. Just one week’s worth of news in the New York Times today is estimated to contain more information than one might have learned over the course of a lifetime in the 18th century.

The rapid growth of technology has created millions of jobs and countless opportunities for people and businesses all across the world - yet, its constant evolution means that the top 10 jobs that will be in demand in 2015 do not exist today and that the amount of new technology information doubles almost every two years.

And since the turn of the century, numerous accounting scandals, the credit and mortgage crises and the financial meltdown on Wall Street - all situations resulting from a lack of values and ethics - have proved that the importance of teaching ethics in business has never been greater.

How is it possible to prepare future business leaders for jobs that don’t yet exist, or teach them the skills necessary to lead ethically in an exponentially changing and competitive business environment? How can colleges properly educate students to solve problems that are not problems yet, to use technologies that haven’t been invented, and to interact with people whose language we do not understand?

At the University of Denver’s Daniels College of Business, these very questions were raised by the team of more than 20 faculty members tasked in 2006 with redesigning the school’s educational model to prepare students for such a world, teaching them to be nimble when faced with uncertainty, but also grounded in their values and ethics. The Daniels Compass, introduced to students starting master’s programs in the fall of 2007, is a set of six courses (25 percent of the Daniels MBA curriculum) that integrates the fundamental business disciplines - finance, marketing, accounting, operations - with the areas of leadership, self-awareness, teamwork, sustainable development, corporate social responsibility, innovation and ethics. The idea: to offer a values-based business education that teaches current and future generations of business professionals how to make complex, multifaceted decisions while leading with integrity.

The Compass sequence includes the following six courses:

• The Essence of Enterprise:

Teaching students the historical context for doing business in the 21st century and how to take a world view of business.

• Leading at the Edge:

An introduction to leadership and teambuilding through experiential learning and community engagement.

• Ethics for the 21st Century Professional:

Teaching students how to apply ethical concepts and values-based leadership to actual business settings.

• Creating Sustainable Enterprises:

An in-depth study of the interdependency of economic, social and environmental systems.

• Global Enterprise Challenges:

Applying the Daniels Compass tools to global case analyses.

• Innovation Design and Execution:

Teaching students to distinguish between invention and innovation, and better understand how to add value through the execution of innovative ideas.

Innovation in education...Value in Business and Society

From their research, a key conclusion was reached by the Daniels’ curriculum task force: Conventional workforce training and education is quickly becoming obsolete, if it hasn’t already. First, people’s values and priorities in the workplace are increasingly crossing over into their personal lives (and vice versa), causing many professionals to reconsider how they define - and fuse - personal and professional success. Second, the specialization of skills, while still important, is no longer sufficient in an increasingly interdependent business world. Accountants must learn more than accounting, operations professionals more than just operations.

In Daniels’ view, progressive organizations understand the importance of creating shareholder value, but realize that value is built and grown in many ways. Employees, for example, are much more than a “cog in a wheel,” but rather the primary source of an organization’s productivity and success. Thus, it is important to educate the leaders of today and tomorrow about the significance of viewing value creation from a multi-stakeholder perspective, particularly when the students of today want to make a living and a difference in the world.

To that end, the Daniels Compass blends the teaching of the technical skills necessary to do a job with the softer, but no less important leadership skills. In doing so, Daniels will create visionary leaders who recognize that a profitable bottom line is easiest to achieve (and more sustainable) when placing value on people, community and the natural environment.

The compass itself is the perfect metaphor for such a business model, as it provides both direction to the destination ahead and a back bearing that detects where one has come from. The Compass courses are designed to do the same: provide vision and direction for the future, a perspective of the greater world and a sense of history to guide students along the way. The directional points on the Daniels educational compass represent the four categories of values that business leaders must deal with as they navigate an uncertain future: Nature, Enterprise, Self and World.

A Three-tiered Approach To A Solid Business Education

Daniels takes its new integrated coursework beyond the walls of the classroom, offering multiple opportunities for practical application in real-world settings. In a world where business education is a contact sport, Daniels students practice their skills by developing themselves in three distinct areas:

The Global Perspective.

Daniels graduate students are taught to view entrepreneurship on a global level, considering all sectors of a working society - private, public, nonprofit - while addressing issues such as sustainable development and corporate social responsibility. In the practicum component of the Enterprise Solutions course, students must partner with an organization or nonprofit to help them address an opportunity or challenge and provide specific deliverables to the organization. And while many students choose to work with local organizations, more and more are opting to take their initiatives across the globe.

In August 2008, graduate students and professors traveled to Tanzania to work with Peace House Africa, a humanitarian non-profit organization dedicated to educating orphans and other vulnerable children in the area. While not the first trip of its kind (Daniels also has a collaborative partnership with Newmont Mining to allow graduate student groups to do project work at mining sites in Ghana and Peru, and undergraduate classes have traveled to Albania for several years to do community development work), the unique aspect of the Daniels-Peace House relationship is that it echoes the themes of long-term sustainability - both in substance and form. Over the next several years, faculty and students will assist Peace House in designing a curriculum for secondary school students in the areas of business, ethics, leadership, teamwork and sustainable development. The idea is for each class of Daniels students to build upon the previous class’s efforts.

The partnership offers students the chance to apply business acumen to the area of innovation at Peace House, while adhering to the Compass values. Eventually, students will create a business plan for a Center for Innovation and Job Creation, whose aim will be to create jobs and sustainable solutions to development issues throughout Africa.

Another example of such hands-on global fieldwork is the Daniels partnership with Deutsche Bank, a two-course sequence in which students work with DB managers to perform due diligence on loan requests from microfinance institutions (MFIs) all over the world. As part of the class, students travel to MFIs in developing countries. In 2009, the class will be on the ground with DB in Cambodia.

The Experiential Learning Perspective.

To foster innovation, leadership and teamwork, as part of the Leading at the Edge course, all Daniels MBA students spend three days in the mountains, working in small teams to solve a variety of problems in a challenging and unpredictable outdoor setting. But this isn’t your typical ropes course - students are taught to apply the principles embraced by the 10th Mountain Division, the first mountain ski force that was trained at Camp Hale, Colorado during World War II. Just as this unique environment required the men of the 10th Mountain Division to embrace creativity, mold strong teams and above all else, communicate, the aim of the Leading at the Edge weekend is to challenge students to be innovative and confident, increase self-awareness, adhere to their personal values and practice teamwork when leading - regardless of the circumstances.

In the fall of 2008, Leading at the Edge students spent three days at The Nature Place, a conference facility and training center in Florissant, Colorado. Maria Mata, MBA student, calls the excursion a “wonderful experience for students.”

“Our trip to The Nature Place allowed us to gain a better understanding of ourselves, our personalities and how we each relate to others,” says Maria. “We received a practical, real-life demonstration of how people with various leadership styles interact with one another. The experience provided exciting opportunities to test our developing teamwork and leadership skills, and helped us understand the importance of developing positive interpersonal relationships.”

The Community Perspective.

The Compass curriculum was designed around a mission of inspiring students to be responsible citizens and make a positive difference both in the workplace and the greater community. More than just lip service, this goal is embodied by capstone projects required of all MBA students - projects that show students how to contribute to the public good using business skills.

Executive MBAs participate in a five-quarter, applied learning team experience called the Action Leadership Project (ALP). The goal of the ALP is to invest social capital in an organization to achieve measurable results. One example is a project undertaken by students in the fall of 2008 with Denver Children’s Home (DCH) to help the organization enhance its experiential music therapy program for traumatized children. The goals of the team included developing a brand around the value of the program, capturing the unwritten program goals and key performance indicators, defining a strategy for sustainability and scalability and ultimately, delivering a strategy for grant-writing.

All other graduate business students must complete a similar assignment: the Community Capital Project (CCP). The CCP begins with the careful exploration of community issues in the Denver metro area or other parts of Colorado, whereby student teams must identify and define a specific community capital gap that their team could address. The results of that analysis (and ideas for closing the gap) are shared with the entire Daniels community as well as other members of the Denver community at the Community Capital Fair just one quarter into the project. The following quarter, teams pick up where they left off and design a solution to the gap identified.

At the fall 2008 CCP Fair, gaps identified were as diverse as non-profits unable to go green due to a lack of resources, the difficulty for poverty-stricken families of finding affordable child care, parents of English-as-a-Second-Language children struggling to stay involved with their children’s educations, and the challenges small businesses face in engaging in sustainable business practices. More than 360 graduate business students participated.

Looking Forward

Daniels continually reassesses and adjusts the program to achieve maximum learning outcomes, top of mind is the startling conclusion reached through practice and extensive research: When it comes to properly training leaders to lead in today’s complex world, higher education risks becoming irrelevant. Colleges and universities that ignore the importance of integrating knowledge - unfortunately, the majority - inadequately arm their students with the skills necessary to be successful professionals and the values necessary to contribute to the greater good. For that reason, Daniels has embedded in the Compass a steadfast commitment to interdisciplinary teaching and practices.

The University is also responding, integrating curricula across schools that have historically remained separate - Daniels is in talks with the University’s School of Art and Art History to address a widening gap in the art museum world: CEOs with little to no business experience. Soon, administrators hope to offer a dual art/business major to bridge the two disciplines.

DU has also created a University-wide Sustainability Council - an effort driven by a number of student organizations passionate about the environment and sustainable development. The Council is in charge of developing and assisting in the execution of a strategy that incorporates the principles of sustainable development - environmental integrity, social equity, and economic health and stability - into the operation of the University. In fact, DU has conducted a campus-wide sustainability conference to help set the agenda for future action, and is even developing an interdisciplinary undergraduate minor in sustainability. The Council consists of 25 members, including faculty, staff, undergraduates and graduate students.

One thing is clear: without a compass and a vision, even the most astute of business leaders would struggle to navigate today’s constantly changing business environment.

Just five quarters in, the new Compass curriculum has redefined the value and purpose of an education at the Daniels College of Business; however, constituents and administrators agree that the future is crucial. To continue to be recognized as one of the best business schools in the world, Daniels must never forget their initial goal of preparing professionals to lead and add significant value to business and society.

R. Bruce Hutton, Dean Emeritus and Piccinati Professor in Teaching Innovation, is the leader in sustainable development education for graduate and corporate programs at the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver. Paul M. Bauer is a clinical professor in the Department of Information Technology and Electronic Commerce at Daniels. Michaele E. Charles, Voice Communications, is a freelance writer in Denver. To learn more about the Compass Program, visit www.daniels.du.edu.

Rebuilding The Model

By: William D. Budinger Issue: Education & Workforce Development Section: Opinion

Our Children Deserve It and Our Future Demands It

Rebuilding the Model When I was a student in the 1940s and ‘50s, America’s public education system was the model for the world. With my Chicago area high school diploma, I felt well-prepared to enter the University of Notre Dame and, later, to join the workforce and start my own business.

In today’s global marketplace, our young people might not feel so ready to take on the world. U.S. students consistently score below their peers from other countries on international tests. As a group they rank below even the average for developed countries on the most recent PISA exam, which measures science competencies for today’s world. In other words, most developed countries now do a better job educating their children than we do.

The more we worked on it, the more we came to appreciate that states actually are the ideal venues for real, sustainable reform.

That’s why a decade ago when we sold Rodel Inc., the manufacturing company I founded, my family and I committed to a new and equally enterprising challenge: to help America’s education system retool itself so that we prepare our children for the new challenges of the 21st century. We do this primarily through the work of the Rodel Foundations of Delaware and Arizona.

We established the Rodel Foundation of Delaware with a bold mission: to help our home state create one of the finest public school systems in the nation by 2012. Thanks largely to its well-educated workforce; Delaware traditionally has been regarded as a good place for business. We wanted to keep it that way.

To accomplish its mission and carry on the work of its first CEO, Stephanie Fitzgerald, the Foundation hired Dr. Paul Herdman in 2004. Paul had studied the more promising reform efforts around the nation and concluded that most had failed because they lacked broad, state-wide support.

This actually resulted in our first innovation: state-level education reform. Until then, most education reform efforts were driven by federal initiatives, such as today’s No Child Left Behind Act, or took place in local districts or local schools. There was no successful state-wide initiative. Delaware offered some built-in advantages: it is small, with just 120,000 students in nineteen districts; it has a favorable policy environment, including support for early childhood education standards and charter schools; it has better funding than many states; and, perhaps most important, when a tough job needs doing, Delaware has a long tradition of bipartisan collaboration.

States hold the policy reins on a number of vital issues, including distributing state funds, setting the bar for student performance, and determining who teaches in our classrooms and leads our schools.

To define Delaware’s challenge, the foundation commissioned a comprehensive analysis of the state’s existing public education system. Published in July 2005, Opportunity Knocks revealed that while Delaware ranked eighth among U.S. states in per-student spending, its overall performance was mediocre at best. Only 64 percent of our high school students graduated in four years, compared to much higher rates in our neighboring states. And the achievement gaps between our white and minority students were wide and growing.

By design, that report did not offer recommendations for improvement. That second step resulted appropriately from an historic year-long statewide collaborative process that included the voices of hundreds of citizens, led by a Steering Committee whose 28 members included top-level representatives from the business community, state government, higher education, teachers union, local school districts, community based organizations, and others.

They kicked off their work in November 2005 with the same audacious goals that have characterized everything we’ve done. In the words of Delaware Business Roundtable Education Committee chair, Marvin N. “Skip” Schoenhals,

“We decided then that we were going to tackle the really hard issues, and get to the bottom of how our system could be transformed. If we didn’t want to make that commitment, we would put down our coffee cups and go home.”

They elevated their sights from the best schools in the nation to the best in the world by 2015 and engaged The Boston Consulting Group to help craft a research-based plan aligned to international best practices.

Introduced at a pair of public events 11 months later, the Vision 2015 plan was immediately hailed as a breakthrough. With detailed recommendations in six key areas, it gave us a coherent roadmap for systemic statewide change. And though the process was sometimes bumpy, at the end all 28 stakeholders stood together behind the plan - an outcome that was vital to our ability to move forward.

Since then several exciting things have happened to bring us closer to realizing Vision 2015:

In June 2007, then-Governor Ruth Ann Minner established the Leadership for Educational Achievement in Delaware (LEAD) Committee, which produced major studies on achieving up to $158 million in cost efficiencies within the current state education budget, and how our 59-year-old state education funding system could be fundamentally redesigned.

By pointing out realistic opportunities to save millions by spending smarter, the LEAD Committee has laid the groundwork for change. Now we had to convince legislators to enact the efficiencies and redirect the savings to Vision 2015 priorities.

Also in 2007, we launched the Vision Network of districts and schools that serve as demonstration sites for Vision 2015 recommendations. Participating educators receive professional development in data-driven instruction and school leadership. This training serves as the foundation for a new culture driven by performance and innovation. Supported by a public-private partnership, the Network now includes 21 public schools serving 14,000 students statewide – more than 10% of all Delaware students.

Seeded by a $4 million investment from the Rodel Foundation, Vision 2015 has leveraged more than $6 million in additional private support to help implement Vision 2015 recommendations, including the cost efficiency study, early childhood education standards, the Vision Network, online learning, and other initiatives that drive student achievement. In this economy where public funding is scarce, the Delaware Business Roundtable has been a critical and invaluable partner and leader.

In addition to seeding good ideas and helping government find the money to implement change, Rodel and the Delaware Business Roundtable are helping to build a movement of citizens - parents, business and community leaders, and lay supporters - who are impatient and who believe that Delaware can do better for its children. The launch of Education Voters of Delaware this winter will play a vital role in building that public will.

We’ve come a long way and, as I said at the beginning, most of our journey was through uncharted territory. But, when you think about it that is exactly the thing that has made America great – innovation and the courage to try new ideas.

America’s – and Delaware’s – education also has a long journey to make. When it was designed more than a century ago, America was a nation of farmers (thus the summer “vacation” so kids could work in the fields). Then we industrialized and redesigned our system so our children would know how to work in and run factories. In the 21st century, our children will need to know how to think, to innovate, and to create new solutions for problems and opportunities we cannot even imagine.

Just as so much in our lives today might have passed for science fiction just a couple of decades ago, there’s no way we can predict what the world will be like for our children. All we can do is help them prepare, with the thinking skills, creativity and confidence to handle whatever comes next.

It will take hard work and some sacrifice. As we say in our Vision 2015 publications, “Our children deserve it. And our future demands it.”

William D. Budinger is an inventor who holds more than three dozen patents. He is the founder of Rodel Inc., and founding director of The Rodel Foundation.

The Women's College

By: Chase Squires Issue: Education & Workforce Development Section: Inspiration

College of Collaboration

Womens College















With roots stretching back to the 1800s, The Women’s College of the University of Denver could be set in its ways by now, with ivy-covered walls and traditions dug deep into the prairie against the winds that barrel down from the snow-capped Rocky Mountains to the west.

But a decade into its newest incarnation, the ever-evolving institution finds itself again at a crossroads, clinging fiercely to its all-women tradition yet poised to shake up any old-fashioned notions about single-sex education as leaders tackle new challenges facing women in society and business.

“When I got here, the Women’s College had been conceptualized in a particular way,” explained Dean Lynn Gangone, who took the helm in the spring of 2007. “We’ve been repositioning the college ever since.”

One key to its evolution lies in a commitment to collaboration. The women who most often choose the college aren’t typical college students, fresh out of high school and expecting lectures delivered from on high. They are career women, earners as well as learners, some supporting families. They know how the world works, they want to make it work better. Students are expected to take an active role in not only their own education, but also the education of their fellow students. They work together, to learn in an environment that values their experiences and ideas as much as lectures and textbooks. As Gangone noted, these women are teaching and supporting each other as they learn, and professors act in many ways as facilitators, outside the traditional role of lecturers. That spirit is championed not only by instructors, administrators and students, but also by the college’s many benefactors.

“The Chambers Center for the Advancement of Women, with its collaborative and inspirational spaces, imaginative art and hands-on work areas, fosters synergy and collaboration and provides the inspiration for women to build their knowledge and improve their communities,” said Merle Chambers, president of Chambers Family Fund, which provided the lead gift to create the college’s state-of-the-art home. Inside the center, The Women’s College and The Women’s Foundation of Colorado work together, uniquely modeling best practices in women’s education and philanthropy.”

The Women’s College traces its heritage back to 1888 when the Colorado Women’s College was established, but the modern era begins in 1982 when the institution merged with the University of Denver (DU). The college became a separate academic unit in 1997 and moved into its signature facility and current home, the Merle Catherine Chambers Center for the Advancement of Women, in 2004.

With an identity and presence now so firmly lodged in the fabric of DU, it would be easy to settle into a comfortable rut.

But Gangone is far from a settler, The Women’s College is far from a rut, and single-sex education is far from old-fashioned.

Instead, students, administrators and supporters of the College embarked in 2008 on a rebirth of sorts for the institution, challenging preconceived notions of women’s education and non-traditional college programs.

Focusing on night and weekend classes with academic offerings tailored for working students, programs are designed to encourage women to bring leadership into the classroom and share life-experiences in a collaborative manner more in tune with a graduate program of study than the old undergraduate model of lectures and tests.

Courses focus on face-to-face exchanges, and mutual support replaces competition. Efforts are made to work with women dealing with adult demands on their time and to help women use education to move ahead in their careers.

“Our job is to educate and empower these women,” Gangone said. “It’s not to feel sorry for them. It’s not to coddle them. It’s to say, ‘We understand the complexity of your life, and you can be that complex person here. We understand you have multiple demands. We understand there are times when you are predominantly a learner. We understand there are times when you are predominantly a mom. And there are times when you are predominantly taking care of a parent. And you shift in and out of those roles. You’re not like an 18-year-old who has the luxury of predominantly always being a learner. That’s the difference here, we get it.’”

By gathering as women, by seeing women around them in leadership roles, students develop the confidence to lead, while learning from those around them and those who have gone before them.

“So when you’re walking out of class and you finish the conversation about an assignment you have and you turn to your classmate and say, ‘You know, I’m really having a tough time getting things done because my granddaughter is coming to visit,’ or something, there is someone there to say, ‘I understand what you’re talking about. Here’s how I did it,” Gangone said.

Nestled into a graceful brick building, adorned inside with an ever-changing gallery of art, on the western edge of the urban DU campus, the college is the academic launching pad for about 300 students at any given time. Women ranging from their late teens to their mid 60s (average age is 37) come in from all walks of life, pursuing degrees as time, career, family and life allow. The building itself is a vibrant hub of activity as the college shares space with bustling organizations that have set up shop inside, including HERS (Higher Education Resource Services) – an educational non-profit supporting leadership and management development for women in higher education globally – and The Women’s Foundation of Colorado, pursuing equal opportunity and self-sufficiency for women.

In the classroom, the college sees mothers taking classes alongside daughters and sisters taking courses with their sisters. And administrators are proud of the diversity, with more than a third of students describing themselves as women of color.

“Students might be able to take one course one quarter, or sometimes bump it up to three courses, or take one during an interterm,” Gangone explained. “We’ve got to be able to accommodate their lives. It sometimes takes them a lot of years to get their bachelor’s degree, but they are proud when they walk across that stage, they’ve earned it.”

Second-year student Mikayla Houser has already found success in the business world. At 31, she owns her own business, party planning company 5280 Events, and works at brewing giant MillerCoors as an investigations analyst. But she says she’s preparing herself for her next step, pursuing a degree in law and society, with a minor in communications, at The Women’s College.

“The environment in the classroom is extremely collaborative, and working with the staff is as well,” she said. “I am employed at MillerCoors where there is lots of change and plenty of women feeling insecure in their positions. We have brought in The Women’s College to participate at the ‘Women At Coors’ events to let our employees know that there are options for them and opportunities that can help them further or finish their education, even if they are employed. Working together with The Women’s College is delightful, diverse and always done right.”

Students at the college pursue undergraduate degrees in business administration, communication, information technology or law and society. In addition, the college offers certificates in conflict management, gender and women’s studies, information technology, leadership and writing.

First-year student Theresa Solano’s resume reads more like that of an instructor than a college freshman, testament to the program’s vibrant diversity. At 40, Solano is the community relations manager for Centennial, Colorado-based Hope Online Learning Academy Co-Op, a public charter school that operates at learning centers across the state and online. The Learning Academy is aimed at reaching out to at-risk Colorado students in kindergarten through 12th grade. She’s also on the board of the Denver Latino Commission, president of the board of Mi Casa Resource Center, and holds a number of positions at area non-profits.

But she’s made time for school (and earned straight A’s in her first quarter) to finally earn a degree she’s long wanted while bringing her own networking skills to the college’s ongoing collaborative outreach projects.

“Enrolling at The Women’s College has had tremendous rewards,” Solano said. “Not only does The Women’s College maintain an academic community that fosters a positive and challenging educational experience, allowing me to enthusiastically pursue my long-desired degree, but it’s given me the chance to connect three fantastic organizations. Together, The Women’s College, Public Service Credit Union and Mi Casa Resource Center will establish financial and educational opportunities for women. I am honored and humbled to have made the introductions between these organizations whose collaboration, I know, will generate outstanding benefits for women in the Denver community.”

Like Solano, programs at the college are in constant motion.

Visioning sessions coupled with community outreach are continually sparking new ideas, uncovering new areas that need attention and delivering new opportunities for students and the community. “All our strategic planning is done in terms of collaboration, both with the other units of our campus and with the community around us,” Gangone said. “We know we can’t do this alone.”

As the college expands its vision, Gangone sees a renewed focus on helping women not only help themselves and achieve independence and success, but also by studying how women can impact society through their roles in entrepreneurship, philanthropy and social justice. The Rocky Mountain West, with its tradition of small-businesses and entrepreneurship makes the region a perfect laboratory.

“We’re looking on and off campus to engage women who have been successful, see what they’ve done,” Gangone said. “We can’t do this by ourselves. We have to look at the community. What makes Denver special? What makes our region special? Let’s talk about that.”

While women continue to make strides, Gangone said inequities persist, and the gap is closing too slowly. As the only all-women’s higher education program in the region, the college is uniquely positioned to gather research and to share findings with women who will return to their communities to make a difference.

“Our students, their lives extend everywhere,” Gangone said. “All of these women are deeply engaged in their community. They’re engaged in their churches, they’re engaged in civic organizations. We are creating centers of engagement, and these are the women who will bring what they’ve learned and their leadership back to the community.”

And she stresses, the work doesn’t end with graduation. That’s just the beginning. Whether it’s back to school for an advanced degree in social work or business or law, or back into the career world, Gangone says she expects her graduates to get busy making a difference. Because The Women’s College places such an emphasis on face-to-face classroom collaboration, and because it’s dedicated to creating programs for working women, the school attracts largely women already living in Colorado. Educating women who are already grounded in the Centennial State helps combat that “Colorado Paradox,” where the state reflects a statistically high level of educated residents, but an overwhelming number are transplants who came to the Rocky Mountains for the quality of life, leaving many native Coloradans behind educationally.

“We are educating the people who live here,” Gangone said. “We are educating the women who live in this area, we help them earn that degree, and they are homegrown, committed to life here in the Rocky Mountain West. This is a great college. We hear over and over that it’s the ‘best kept secret.’ We are determined that we are not going to be a secret anymore.”

Jenks Public Schools

By: Shan Glandon Issue: Education & Workforce Development Section: Inspiration

A Tradition of Excellence with a Vision for Tomorrow

Jenks Public Schools A pattern of excellence has been a tradition in the Jenks Public Schools, a district of almost 10,000 students located in and just outside of Tulsa, Oklahoma:

It is also this tradition of excellence that prompted the more focused quality journey of the past thirteen years. The journey began in the mid-nineties with an introduction to quality principles and the formation of the Continuous Improvement Leadership Team whose vision and leadership efforts focused on shaping and sustaining a systems perspective, fostering a data-based decision making climate, and nurturing strong quality leadership and an intense commitment to continuous improvement. With a tradition of excellence, it would be easy for the District to become complacent and rest on its laurels; however, it is this tradition that fuels the vision for tomorrow and creates a commitment to “exceeding all-time bests.” With a tradition of excellence, it would be easy for the District to become complacent and rest on its laurels; however, it is this tradition that fuels the vision for tomorrow and creates a commitment to “exceeding all-time bests.”

One of the early key steps for student learning was the implementation of a district wide curriculum development and alignment process. The urgency for developing a consistent and coherent curriculum was powerful and compelling. By specifying the knowledge all students should share, then and only then, could the district assure equal access to knowledge for all students. The standards became the District’s desired academic outcomes toward which all students would strive and for which multiple assessments would be developed. With this systems focus, the “community of classrooms” shared some common knowledge, which made communication, progress, and continuous improvement possible. By organizing the planning and decision making around the entire period of a student’s education, the District created a comprehensive, systemic approach that has raised achievement for all students. The curriculum at each grade built on what the students had learned in the previous grades, thus creating a sequenced body of knowledge and learning expectations and a way for teachers to ensure a logical, progressive sequence of learning experiences for all students.

Other benefits of the curriculum development and alignment process have been the spirit of teamwork, which is created when multiple stakeholders from across the district (parents, administrators, teachers, and specialists) work together in a year-long process; the sustaining vision of an aim statement and the in-depth knowledge of effective instructional strategies, which are developed early in the committee process and based on reading the research, the national standards, and literature on research-based teaching and learning strategies for the discipline under review; the consistency of practice and pacing, which is assured through the adoption of primary program materials that are used by all educators and students in the district; and, the power of sustained, intensive, and classroom-focused professional learning, so teachers have the confidence and skills for research-based teaching and learning in the discipline.

A second key step for student learning began to take shape in 1997 with a value paradigm shift from a focus on teaching to a focus on learning. With this shift, the criterion for success in the district became the increased learning of the students, not that concepts or skills were taught. The right questions for each staff member became: What is in the best interest of the students? How does this innovation support improvement in student learning?

Concomitantly, formal processes for collecting, tracking and analyzing student learning data began to emerge. At the district-level, tracking and analysis of state testing results had been in place for many years, not only growth in overall scores, but also analysis of student segments and the objectives for each content area tested. In 2000, the District began working with Dr. Lee Jenkins to implement the essential elements process, a system of formative assessments. With this process, essential skills and concepts are identified in each content area for each course and grade level, and quizzes are developed based on the essential skills and concepts. The quizzes build in a constant review and preview cycle, so students no longer have permission to forget. Students track their progress using individual run charts; teachers use the assessments to accumulate data about student progress and make instructional decisions based on students’ readiness levels, interests, and learning profile preferences. Then in 2004, the District began implementing pre- and post-assessments for each core subject to track growth within a school year and from year to year for each student in the district. The questions for these assessments derive from the essential skills and concepts.

At the school-site level, principals and teachers have formal processes for analyzing results from state and district assessments. Administrators address student achievement and improvement of national and state test scores in their annual goals and action plans. Key questions for October of each year include: Who are the students who are at risk for failure? How can their learning needs be addressed? What interventions can be provided to help students close the achievement gap? At the classroom level, analysis of ongoing assessments has begun to drive daily instruction.

Training in the Data Teams process provided an additional tool for teacher teams to use to chart and analyze student assessment data, set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timely) goals, and develop and use common instructional strategies to meet student learning targets. Multiple assessment strategies have enhanced student ownership for learning and created an environment of data-based decision making, where “I think, I feel” is no longer good enough.

Alignment and deployment of key processes have also been transformational for the District. The Continuous Improvement Model pillars (strong quality leadership, continuous improvement, systems/process focus, and stakeholder engagement and satisfaction) and foundations (teamwork, quality training, and data-based decisions) were developed in 1998. At the same time, the District initiated training for teachers, administrators, and other district leaders regarding “Deming’s Framework for Transforming America’s Schools” and “Tools and Techniques for Improving Quality of Teaching, Learning, and Administrative Processes.” With the identification of core values in 2002 and the subsequent formalization of a Strategic Planning Process, an alignment structure was complete: the District’s vision drove its mission, which drove the core values, which drove the Continuous Improvement Model, which drove district goals, strategic objectives and action plans; and, all supported: the action plans which supported the strategic objectives and goals, which supported the Continuous Improvement Model, which supported the core values, which supported the mission and vision.

The Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA) process became the common tool for continuous improvement across the district, used to plan, implement, analyze, review, and revise goals, practices, and procedures. Each staff member develops a PDSA action as part of his/her yearly performance appraisal; the action plan identifies a goal (tied to district goals and strategic objectives) and describes in detail steps and strategies to accomplish the goal. Staff members also identify the data that will be collected as the measurement for the goal. At the spring performance appraisal conferences with supervisors, staff members share their data analysis and make decisions regarding whether to continue the cycle of successful plans or refine plans and begin revised cycles of improvement.

Through the development of the in-depth Budgetary Planning Process and an ongoing Internal Reviews Process, the District has maintained a high level in per pupil expenditures and consistently designates 82-83% of its operating budget for instruction and instructional support. Energy conservation (water, electricity, natural gas, sewer discharges) has been a priority of the district since 1997, freeing money in the building fund for adding and maintaining “state of the art” resources to support high academic achievement.

Strong parent and community support have become hallmarks of a Jenks Public Schools education. More than 95% of parents of high school students participate in the annual spring Career Action Planning conferences, enabling students and parents to develop and implement action plans for meeting graduation and college entry requirements and pursuing goals for careers. The award winning Community Education Program has developed an array of program offerings that support community needs from birth to old age, making the District’s buildings available to the community for after school, evening, and weekend use. In their first twenty years, the Jenks Public Schools Foundation has partnered with businesses, alumni, and families to raise money in support of innovative and creative programming. They also sponsor the annual Employee Appreciation Celebration and the Vision of Excellence awards, which recognize outstanding staff members for their leadership, focus on continuous improvement and customers, and use of quality tools and processes.

The reflective Baldrige process has been invaluable in reviewing strengths and opportunities for improvement, and has provided a framework for continuously examining the District’s systems and processes, levels of deployment, and cycles of refinement. It was also a moment for celebration when Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez contacted the District to extend his congratulations on being named a 2005 Baldrige Award recipient.

However, the journey continues…with a vision for tomorrow:

The recent passage of a $150 million dollar bond election provides funds to build a new math and science center, offering students increased opportunities for integrated learning, rigorous academics, and real-world problem solving.

Student, teacher, and administrator partnerships with schools in China support the District’s commitment to growing “successful global citizens, workers, and leaders who are knowledgeable about the world, able to communicate in languages other than English” (Stewart 2007) and prepared to understand and respect different cultures and perspectives.

Collaboration with the American Productive and Quality Center in Houston fosters opportunities to benchmark with other world class organizations and to participate in the innovative Process Improvement and Innovation in Education initiative of the Center.

Deployment of the quality tools and processes to the student level encourages the District to focus on 21st century learning and thinking skills, so students “know how to learn, think critically, solve problems, use information, and communicate, innovate, and collaborate.” (Partnership for 21st Century Skills)

Integration of professional learning teams at all levels of the organization enables the District to engage in deep learning and to concentrate on “crucial questions: What do we want each student to learn? How will we know when each student has learned it? How will we respond when a student experiences difficulty in learning” (DuFour 2008) or demonstrates understanding of skills and concepts before teaching has begun?

Jenks Public Schools will continue their efforts to provide an environment of high achievement, an outstanding athletics program, and multitudinous opportunities for involvement in extracurricular activities. It is a world in which high test scores and national awards are the norm rather than the exception, and yet never will be taken for granted.

Shan has been a member of the District’s Curriculum and Instruction Team since 2000, and co-authored the 2005 Jenks Public Schools Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award application. She is a leader in curriculum development, instruction, and assessment. Shan earned a Bachelor’s degree in American Studies from the University of Kansas and a Master’s degree in Information Science from State University of New York at Buffalo. She is the author of four books.

Cristo Rey Schools

By: Sandra L. Mitchell and Sajit Kabadi Issue: Education & Workforce Development Section: Inspiration

Transforming Urban Education One Student at a Time

Cristo Rey Schools The Cristo Rey Network® is a national association of Jesuit high schools endorsed and sponsored by 28 religious congregations and five archdioceses, that provide quality, Catholic, college preparatory education to students living in communities with limited educational options and generally lacking the resources for private education. By attending a Cristo Rey school, students have access to a Jesuit education at no cost, while gaining valuable work experience. Through a unique model, Cristo Rey schools are living their mission of transforming urban education one student at a time. The innovative Cristo Rey model utilizes a longer school day and academic year, academic assistance, and counseling to prepare students with a broad range of academic abilities for college.

The innovative Cristo Rey model utilizes a longer school day and academic year, academic assistance, and counseling to prepare students with a broad range of academic abilities for college.

Throughout their high school years, all students participate in a work-study program working in entry-level positions in a number of industries including banking, law, medicine, and finance. It is through these corporate work-study positions that students finance the majority of the cost of their education, while gaining valuable real-world job experience and self-confidence.

Cristo Rey schools recruit students who qualify for the federal free or reduced lunch program. These young people are from families with incomes that are less than 185% of the federal poverty level. All applicants to Cristo Rey schools complete financial aid forms, which allow each school to know the family income of each student. The Network schools follow a formula in which admitted students must come from families whose per capita income is no greater than 75% of the median per capita income of the city where the school is located or the national average, whichever is higher. The median family income for a Cristo Rey student is about $35,000.

To date there are 22 Cristo Rey high schools operating in the U.S., over half of which have opened in the last three years, enrolling more than 5,000 students. Schools exist in Baltimore, Cleveland, Chicago, Minneapolis, Omaha, Brooklyn, Detroit, Los Angeles and several other cities. The schools continue to grow with the two schools slated to open in the fall of 2009 and two more in the fall of 2010. One of the schools scheduled to open is Immaculate Conception Academy in San Francisco’s mission district. The school, which already enjoys the success of being the oldest all-girls school in San Francisco and has a very high graduation rate, will adopt the Cristo Rey model beginning in the fall of 2009, making it the first all-girls school in the network. Adopting this model makes the school accessible to a population for which a private high school education would ordinarily be out of reach. “Now,” says Anne O’Dea, Marketing Director for Immaculate Conception Academy, “it allows schools and students to see themselves as never before.” For Cristo Rey schools, the preference is always towards families that cannot afford a private school education.

The Cristo Rey Network since the inception of its first school in Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood has raised more than $21 million through partnerships with 1,200 corporate sponsors. Corporate work-study covers 50-75 percent of students tuition cost. More than 1,000 work-study jobs have been provided by corporate sponsors and over $5 million in financial aid has been subsidized for students to attend Cristo Rey schools. Ninety-two percent of the students in Cristo Rey schools are students of color. The schools enjoy tremendous success with ninety-eight percent of Cristo Rey graduates enrolled in college at some of the most competitive colleges and universities in the U.S. Last year 550 students graduated from Network schools.

One success story is that of Andy Laureano, now a junior majoring in English at the University of San Francisco (USF). Laureano grew up on Chicago’s south side. He describes the Cristo Rey High School in the Pilsen neighborhood as “the only open door” he had in a community plagued by poverty and violence. He says that he was often approached by gang members in his neighborhood and while he was raised in a strong family, learning about college was something that he had to gain on his own initiative as is true of most students from first-generation [to attend college] families.

The corporate work-study program at Cristo Rey placed him at first at a law firm in the Chicago area and later with J.P. Morgan as they were merging with Chase Banks. He decided that although he enjoyed his work-study foray into the world of finance, he enjoyed working at the law firm’s mailroom more. He is now Pre-law with a particular interest in intellectual property. He continues to work for the same law firm - now for seven years - at the office that they opened in San Francisco. His determination to succeed continues to serve him well as a student leader at USF where he serves as a Resident Assistant and as a founder of a Latino fraternity which he hopes will begin working to create a scholarship for Latino students at USF. He plans to tutor next semester in San Francisco’s Mission district and serves as a resource to other Cristo Rey students including his younger sister who is a sophomore at the school in Chicago.

The relationship and range of support of Cristo Rey high schools and their students with various colleges and universities varies. Members of the Regis University community have been deeply involved in the planning and support of Arrupe from its very beginning through the Regis/Arrupe Partnership. Regis University housed and conducted the feasibility study necessary for the school’s opening in 2003 in a predominately Latino northwest Denver neighborhood near the university, which like Chicago’s Pilsen and San Francisco’s Mission neighborhood provided few opportunities for private high school education. Regis University’s president, Father Michael Sheeran wanted to provide these young men and women unique exposure to Regis University during their high school years and saw this partnership as a wonderful bridge for Arrupe students to attend Regis. This partnership also included providing financial resources, offering the Regis college campus infrastructure for Arrupe sponsored events and office space while renovations were completed at the high school location. These efforts have helped maintain close ties between the two communities, which is best exemplified by the Jesuits working at Arrupe and those residing within the Jesuit Community at Regis University.

Along with financial and logistical support, Regis also created many programs in collaboration with Arrupe specifically for the students to address their unique needs. It is a major priority of this partnership that Regis University invest in the Arrupe students early in their high school careers rather than wait until they are applying for college admission. An example of early interactions is the one-week workshop that allows students be exposed to college residence hall life, a sample of college course work, assistance in college application essays, extracurricular activities, and community service. Furthermore, the Regis/Arrupe Partnership Scholarships are determined by a staff of Arrupe and Regis officials that meets regularly to discuss analysis of family need, college readiness, and how much to allot to certain Arrupe students to meet their unmet financial need. During their first year experience at Regis, these students attend a one credit seminar course in which students learn about Regis University resources, receive additional advising, and are presented with strategies for academic and social success. Through these support programs, the Regis/Arrupe Partnership addresses the preparation and transition of these Cristo Rey Network students for their successful performance in college.

The Cristo Rey Network, through its relationships with corporate and educational partners, continues to provide quality education to students regardless of religious affiliation, race or socio-economic status where such opportunities may otherwise not exist, and in doing so will continue to use education to transform education and community’s one student at a time.

Sandra Mitchell is Assistant Provost for Diversity at Regis University. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and a Master of Education in Higher Education from Drake University. She is a doctoral candidate in Educational Leadership and Innovation at the University of Colorado at Denver. Her research emphasis is the institutionalization of diversity in higher education. Prior to her current appointment, she served as the founding Coordinator of Service Learning in the School for Professional Studies at Regis University. Before coming to Regis she served as coordinator of minority recruitment and retention in the College of Education at Iowa State University; Director of Academic Services at Morningside College in Sioux City, IA; Practium Coordinator for the School of Education at Drake University; Assistant Director of IOWANET/PSInetIn at Drake University and as a Job Coach at the Lifeskills Foundation in St. Louis.

Saj Kabati is a Doctoral Student at CU Denver with an emphasis on First Generation College Students and serves on the Board of Trustee at Regis Jesuit High School.

Colorado's Collaborative Approach To Education

By: Bill Fulton Issue: Education & Workforce Development Section: Inspiration

The Civic Canopy Uses Dialogue to Make a Difference

Approach to Education As the backdrop for the 2008 Democratic National Convention, Colorado stood out as a symbol of “the New West” that blends a deeply rooted individualism with a growing spirit of collaboration. The independent streak runs deep in Colorado’s traditions, and nowhere is it more apparent than in the constitutionally protected local control over its schools. But even though local control still prevails throughout the state, Colorado is steadily moving toward a more collaborative approach to making decisions and solving problems related to education. The Civic Canopy, with its network of partners dedicated to fostering dialogue and collaboration, is helping to shape that model for Colorado.

A Statewide Collaborative Approach to Education Reform

In 2007, amidst a flurry of national reports decrying the state of public education, Colorado Governor Bill Ritter, Jr. convened a P-20 Education Coordinating Council to help guide the state’s future educational policy. Gov. Ritter’s P-20 Council set out to tackle one of Colorado’s greatest challenges: ensuring that a seamless education system from pre-school to grad-school is preparing our young people for the demands of the 21st Century.

Comprising a group of 40 representatives from education, community, government, business and non-profit partners, the P-20 Council was clear in its goals to produce tangible results in short order. Still, it was mindful of the need to engage Colorado citizens in an open discussion about the goals of public education and to collaborate with non-traditional partners to form a more cohesive educational system. Following the lead of the Colorado General Assembly, community organizations, and local foundations, the P-20 Council helped launch a statewide dialogue entitled Conversation 2007. To help facilitate these discussions, they turned to the Civic Canopy.

The Civic Canopy is an innovative non-profit organization that strengthens civil society through dialogue and collaboration around pressing civic challenges. Led by Executive Director Bill Fulton, the Canopy became the natural partner to lead this bipartisan, statewide discussion about how to develop a cohesive educational system. The Canopy helped facilitate over 30 local dialogues with more than 40 legislators and other policy makers across Colorado, developing a shared set of goals for public education in Colorado and strategies to reach them. These goals, ranked by priority, included:

Help all students achieve their maximum potential Develop critical and creative thinkers Ensure a basic proficiency in skills and facts Ensure all students are prepared for post-secondary options (vocational or college) Develop responsible citizens Inspire lifelong learners Educate the whole child Produce globally competitive workers and economically viable adults Teach ethics/character Teach global awareness

Though reaching consensus on the goals came fairly quickly in the opening rounds of the discussions, as the conversation turned to strategies, longstanding stalemates emerged.

Teachers bemoaned the lack of support from parents. Parents blamed schools for low standards and poor communication. Community members wanted more accountability from districts, and districts decried the lack of funding for schools. Clearly, it was time for a new conversation.

The Civic Canopy helped surface and reframe many of the assumptions that people brought with them in order to create a shared sense of support and accountability. Instead of placing blame, what was needed was shared responsibility and mutual accountability. As stakeholders spoke honestly of their needs and their commitments, they came to understand that only when each group had the support they needed could they be held properly accountable. A compelling new model for education emerged from these collaborative efforts, based on a recognition of the reciprocal relationships among students, educators, families, and community. This approach moves away from the more traditional question, “How well are educators preparing students to succeed?” toward more creative questions: “What does each group (Students, Educators, Families, Community) need to fulfill its role in educating our young people? What is each group’s responsibility?” To illustrate the interdependence of these relationships, a few examples from the conversations help to make the point:

Educators are more willing to individualize learning when students take more responsibility for their own learning.

Communities are more willing to increase funding when schools show evidence of students meeting learning goals.

Families are better able to support their children when they feel welcomed into the schools, and are clear on how to help their students meet the standards.

The insights gleaned from Conversation 2007 informed the P-20 Council’s work, and the network of partners engaged in the process remain committed to seeing their visions become a reality in Colorado. As the P-20 Council continues to design a new educational blueprint for Colorado, the Conversation 2007 participants stand ready to help build the foundation for it across the state.

Collaboration and the Neighborhood School

Approach to Education

While the state policy discussions provide an important arena for educational change, nowhere is the need for collaboration greater than at the neighborhood school. For all the progress we’ve made in the 50 years since Brown v. Board of Education, in cities across the country lines of race, class, and language still segregate children into educational haves and have-nots.

Cory Elementary and Merrill Middle School in Denver typify this challenge. Though they have long shared a common 17-acre campus in a central Denver neighborhood, until recently the two schools remained worlds apart. Cory is a historically high achieving, predominantly white school with a more affluent population while Merrill’s student body consists primarily of students of color, many of whom speak English as a second language, and a high percentage of families on free-and-reduced lunch - a common proxy for families living in poverty. Few students from Cory enrolled at Merrill, leaving Merrill nearly half empty and on the list of schools potentially facing closure.

Parents and school leaders mobilized to change this pattern. They received a planning grant to help create a new approach to develop an educational campus with a neighborhood focus that was academically rigorous and met the needs of diverse learners. They also wanted seamless integration of the programs and expectations between the schools. As the parents and teachers of these schools would soon demonstrate, a shared vision and a commitment to collaboration can create bonds strong enough to bridge any divides. But that bridge had a long distance to span. The process of envisioning how the campus might be reconfigured raised both hopes and anxieties. Should it be a K-12 campus? K-8? Would there be room for all the students in the neighborhood if it proved successful? How could a single school meet such diverse needs? The Civic Canopy assisted in the process by facilitating conversations filled with often polarized viewpoints, applying proven models of consensus building and community engagement. The tensions, anxiety, and rumors spreading by email were at times fierce in the weeks leading up to the decisions, as all the surrounding schools feared potential negative impacts from the new plans. Articles in local papers fueled both interest and concern.

After a pivotal meeting that drew nearly 250 people to decide the broad framework for the school, the momentum began building for how to bring all the partners together to form a much broader community coalition in support of the schools. One by one, parents began to commit to “being the change they wished to see.” Rather than waiting for the district to “fix” Merrill, they committed to sending their children there and digging in to help bring about that change. In the end, the final proposal garnered support or strong support from 90% of the community that engaged in the process.

Colorado’s Civic Canopy: Creating a Culture of Collaboration

By using dialogue to turn diversity into the fuel for creative growth, and by fostering collaboration that helps align self-interest with the common good, groups can thrive in ways that none thought possible.

Colorado is fortunate to have strong collaborative leadership from the school house to the statehouse. But equally important are the growing networks of partners interested in making a difference - on their block, in their town, or across the region. The Civic Canopy has become an important vehicle for fostering this type of civic engagement.

As the examples above attest, the Civic Canopy’s unique role as both facilitator and “network steward,” has helped to bring the many players together to increase their collective impact. The literature on the power of such networks - in health care, education, business, and service provision - is mounting, and points to a central theme that distributed knowledge and leadership seems to abide by the same powerful principles that make ecosystems thrive. By using dialogue to turn diversity into the fuel for creative growth, and by fostering collaboration that helps align self-interest with the common good, groups can thrive in ways that none thought possible.

That is, our core principles of dialogue, collaboration, and results (civic health) have tangible, bottom-line impacts on virtually any field to which they are applied. The importance of collaborative engagement through dialogue is becoming evident - not just in the bolder aspirations of improving civil society, but in the more practical terms of achieving targeted and measurable results in our local schools and across our state educational systems.