Networks for Education Equity Cohort: Supporting education networks to better reach their goals
THE CHALLENGE
Help education networks adapt and evolve to ensure their knowledge and resources are reaching the educators who need it most
THE OUTCOME
A cohort of education networks with relationships, resources, and strategies for reaching educators to help advance equitable education outcomes for students
OUR APPROACH
Education networks (e.g., professional associations of education professionals) have long been a source of knowledge and support for education professionals, but for many networks, it has been difficult to keep up with the pace of change in the field and ensure their knowledge and resources are reaching those who need it most. To address this challenge, Community Wealth Partners facilitated a community of practice for eight education networks focused on supporting better outcomes for Black and Latino students and students experiencing poverty. The community of practice, which was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as part of its K-12 Education Strategy, provided a space for networks to learn from peers, pilot new approaches, and inspire further learning and collective action.
The community of practice was designed with an intentional theory of change that aimed to create impact in three areas:
- Relationship and network building — because trusting relationships are the bedrock for learning and collaboration among participants
- Using new approaches, tools, and resources — to support organizations in adopting new practices
- Collaboration and field building — which helps strengthen the field more broadly
Values that were central to the design and facilitation were co-creation and prioritizing racial equity. Community of practice members played a vocal role in designing the cadence and content of community of practice offerings. The community of practice prioritized racial equity in different ways — participants focused on supporting practitioners of color in their work through their individual projects, some content offerings helped build community members’ racial equity knowledge and competency, and the ultimate goal for the community of practice named a focus on the success of Black and Latino students and students experiencing poverty.
The community catalyzed
fieldwide change.
RESULTS
After two years of working together, the community of practice yielded outcomes in each of the areas outlined in the theory of change.
- Relationship and network building: The community of practice provided space for participants to learn from different perspectives and experiment alongside one another. Participants say they now better understand the work and expertise of one another’s organizations and have a deeper roster of colleagues to call on in the future for problem solving and innovative ideas. This supports connection and continued sharing and learning beyond the end of the formal community of practice.“I created relationships with people I would not have met had I not participated in the community of practice,” said Paul Gray, immediate past president of NCSM. “For me as an individual, that’s helped me grow—particularly as a white male engaging in equity work and wanting to do so in a meaningful and respectful way. I’ve been able to channel those learnings into my work leading NCSM, and it will likely impact future work that I’m not yet aware of.”
- Using new approaches, tools, and resources: Through peer learning and access to outside speakers, resources, and coaching support, participants gained access to new ideas, perspectives, tools, and frameworks. While these resources covered a range of topics, the overarching focus was tactics, tools, and frameworks to support networks in strengthening member connection and engagement. This supported the ultimate vision of helping education networks find new ways to share knowledge with practitioners, so they can support better outcomes for Black and Latino students and students experiencing poverty. Examples include working to diversify membership and leadership, creating opportunities for reciprocal engagement among members, and using new approaches and tools for member feedback to get more member input on the design of offerings.
“We’ve begun to use [Converge Impact Network’s] ideas around levels of engagement,” said Angia Kinney, program manger of Black Principals Network. “We’ve now put in more effort to tend to those who only prefer low level of engagement, by making our emails robust with resources, job/grant/program opportunities, and highlights instead of just pushing out an email that advocates only to get people to come to an event. Looking at levels of engagement also inspired us to also have a way to collect resources from the community that we can share with the network.”
- Collaboration and field building: Extending the ripples of impact beyond participating individuals and organizations, the community of practice has also inspired collaboration between participating organizations, strengthening the field of education networks more broadly. These collaborations have taken the form of participating in one another’s organizational offerings, writing for one another’s publications, and jointly presenting at prominent education conferences. Eighty-two percent of survey respondents say they have established partnerships or collaborations with other organizations in the community of practice. “I’ve developed a personal friendship and professional alliance with Katey Arrington from NCSM,” said Kaylen Tucker, associate executive director, communications, at the National Association of Elementary School Principals. “We teamed up to present at SXSW EDU and have plans to continue working together. I’m working with the ladies from Benjamin Banneker Association to build our content for NAESP about culturally competent math leadership. They’ve signed on to write a three-part series for NAESP’s Principal. Brent Jackson from California Math Project also contributed an article about math talk to Principal magazine.”
While the community of practice engaged only a subset of the field of education networks, the experience led to changes in approach for participating organizations, stronger relationships that are likely to endure beyond the community of practice, and knowledge and insights that can benefit the broader field seeking to advance equity in education. Together these outcomes help education networks evolve how they share knowledge with practitioners so that they are better equipped to support education outcomes for Black and Latino students and students experiencing poverty.
RESOURCES
Community of practice participants shared their learning through contributing to blog posts, case studies, and in-depth thought leadership. Select examples are linked below:
- Networks for Education Equity Overview
- A Network Approach to Educator Support: Cultivating Human Systems to Advance Educational Equity
- Three Barriers to Supporting High-Quality, Equitable Math Education and Ways to Address Them
- Helping Educators Move From Learning to Action to Try New Ways of Working
