All Archives - The GRAD Partnership

District-Led Technology Innovation to Support Student Success Systems

Holistic, actionable data are essential to realizing the promise of student success systems. While a district or school’s core student information system can often provide the data and visualizations that student success teams use for reflection and tracking, many districts are also developing their own tools for this purpose. A new publication from Digital Promise, Innovating for Student Success: District-Led Innovation Showcase, highlights some common motivations among districts who invest in developing their own tools, features five examples of custom-built tools, and summarizes some of the cross-cutting lessons from districts that have gone this route.

Fulfilling Institutional Aspirations at a Service-focused University

East Carolina University (ECU) aspires to be a national model for student success, public service, and regional transformation. In the ECU College of Education, the Rural Education Institute (REI) pursues that goal with a specific focus on rural schools and communities. As one of the flagship programs in the REI, the GRAD Partnership provides a model and mechanism for meeting our goals and fulfilling our aspirations to the benefit of students, families, and communities in rural eastern North Carolina. Notably, we’re talking here about more than simple alignment (i.e., the idea that the structure and content of the GRAD Partnership matches up with the purpose and mission of REI). Our experience suggests that the partnership has elevated our work’s relevance and impact.

Community Conversations: Elevating Local Perspectives on Student Success Systems

Transforming the nature of public education so that it maximally serves all students is in everyone’s best interest. Of course, our best opportunity to achieve that transformation occurs when we intentionally center the desires, aspirations, and concerns of parents and community in the instructional and organizational decisions we make as public school leaders. Ultimately, this work is about cultivating key national partners to grow the national movement for student success.

New Year, Fresh Start

For students, the first day of school is rarely just another day. It’s the culmination of a summer filled with emotions — anticipation, uncertainty, hope. Students walk through school doors wondering: “Will I succeed here — not just academically, but socially, emotionally, and in preparing for my future?”

Unlocking Student Potential: Understanding Behavioral, Cognitive, and Emotional Engagement

Student engagement is one of the most powerful predictors of academic success. When students are engaged, they show up, think critically, and feel connected to their learning environment. This blog post describes each type of engagement, behaviors educators can look for, ways for educators to support the type of engagement, and real-world examples.

Educators Leading the Change: How Teachers Build Student-Centered Culture

I’m discovering something even more powerful than I expected. Teachers aren't just implementing a program or an initiative – they're fundamentally changing what it means to put students at the center of learning.

State Leaders Can Be Powerful Advocates for Student Success

Creating the conditions for student support systems to flourish requires intentionality not just at individual schools or local school districts but at the state policy level as well.

Improving Graduation Rates with The GRAD Partnership

NCLD is a founding member of the GRAD Partnership, established in 2022 with the shared commitment to working in collaboration with leading education organizations to maximize our collective impact on students’ ability to succeed in school.

Where Personal Experience Meets Professional Purpose: Our Journey with GRAD Partnership

When we signed on as an Intermediary partner with the GRAD Partnership - an initiative housed in Johns Hopkins University’s Everyone Graduates Center - my professional excitement was matched only by my personal investment in this work. As President and CEO of the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque, I've spent years witnessing the power of collective impact to transform systems. As the grandmother and guardian of two teenage boys navigating high school in a post-pandemic world, I've experienced firsthand the urgent need for that transformation in schools.

Data that Moves: Designing Actionable Displays for Improvement Leaders

A golden rule of improvement work is “you can do anything, but you can’t do everything.” That is certainly true when it comes to displaying improvement data. Putting the right data, at the right time, in the hands of those who need it, is key to improving student outcomes.