The Strive Partnership is an effort launched by community leaders in the Cincinnati region in 2006 that relies on innovative strategies to improve student education outcomes. The Partnership has designed a strategic approach to education reform that can be applied to communities throughout the country. The approach relies on a collaborative effort from community stakeholders from all sectors of the economy to encourage learning and development beyond the walls of their schools.

So far, the Strive Partnership has identified four lessons that they have based their approach on:

• Strong leadership must be balanced with authentic partner engagement
• Shared accountability and shared responsibility must be established early in the process
• It is important to engage in strategic planning with education stakeholders from throughout the community
• Credibility is built through clear and open communications of the organizations successes and failure

The entire community benefits by having a more educated workforce. By organizing all of the community leaders who have an interest in seeing the workforce become more educated, students can stay in a learning atmosphere even when they’re not in school. So far more than 90 communities have signed up to be a part of their ‘Cradle to Career Network.’

While each strategic plan is different because each community faces unique challenges to improving education, most plans include at least some similar aspects that are considered universally beneficial. Studies have shown that a child’s brain development is the most rapid in the earliest years, so one of the main focuses of the program is early childhood education. Most plans also include measures to increase access to post-secondary education, tools to improve teacher and principal proficiency, and ways to measure tangible success. A special focus is also placed on the communities’ most vulnerable areas to increase equity in access to quality education.

When a community signs up to be a part of the ‘Cradle to Career Network’ they receive support in a number of ways from the Strive Partnership. The Partnership provides strategic assistance to families and communities by first creating a 180 day plan that involves all of the community interests who are going to play a part in the program. Once the plan is in place, it is the responsibility of the community to implement the actions it calls for. However, communities are provided access to the Strive Partnership’s vast collection of resources that include a catalog of case studies, regular newsletters and webinars, and participation in annual meetings of Network members.

Though the Partnership is still in its early years of development, statistics from the Cincinnati area schools show that it is already having a positive impact. Since the plan was launched in 2006, high school graduation rates have increased by 11%, kindergarten preparedness has increased by 9%, and college enrollment has jumped by 10%.  The success that the Strive Partnership has enjoyed should influence more communities to become even more involved in the educational development of youth in their community.

For more information: http://www.strivetogether.org/