The Strive Partnership is focused on the success of our children: every child, every step, from cradle to career. The Strive Partnership unites common providers around shared issues, goals, measurements and results, and then actively supports and strengthens strategies that work.
Journey To Success
A Letter to the Community
Dear Community Members,
Our fourth annual report offers an update on the encouraging progress being made to improve student achievement and growth, cradle to career, in the cities of Cincinnati, Covington, and Newport. In fact, of the 34 measures of student achievement on which the Partnership is focused, 81 percent are trending in the right direction versus 74 percent last year and 68 percent two years ago. Additionally:
• Kindergarten readiness has improved in all three of the urban school districts over the past several years. Thanks largely to the work of United Way of Greater Cincinnati and Success By 6 ®, Newport’s readiness rate has improved 12 percent to 72 percent of students since 2005, Cincinnati’s readiness rate has improved 9 percent to 53 percent of students prepared since 2005, and Covington has seen a 4 percent improvement (versus last year) to 67 percent of students prepared.
• Cincinnati Public Schools (CPS) became the first urban school district in the state to receive a rating of “Effective”, which they maintained for the second year in a row. Covington experienced meaningful growth in 4th grade reading, 8th grade math, high school graduation rates, and has partnered with Gateway Community and Technical College and the Social Innovation Fund to transform Holmes High School to further drive academic success and postsecondary enrollment. Newport experienced growth in ACT scores and postsecondary rates.
• Both the University of Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky University have seen retention rates improve since 2005, and all four local public colleges and universities have seen improvements to postsecondary completion rates and credentials awarded.
We are excited about the meaningful progress being made to drive collective impact, resource alignment, and datainformed decision-making. Highlights include:
• Ascend Performance Institute, a new two-year leadership program focused on improving school-level performance through intensive leadership development, performance improvement plans, and ongoing coaching. Ascend, offered through the Mayerson Academy, launched its first cohort of 31 schools including 21 Partnership schools — 17 CPS, 3 Covington, and 1 Archdiocese. A second cohort of schools will begin the program soon.
• Social Innovation Fund, a unique funders’ collaborative representing The Strive Partnership, United Way of Greater Cincinnati, and fourteen other local funders, is leveraging $6 million, including a $2 million federal grant, to support evidenced-based initiatives, cradle to career.
• Learning Partner Dashboard, combing student-level academic data with student-level service provider data (i.e. mentoring, afterschool, tutoring, etc.) at CPS. This effort is targeted to fundamentally improve our ability to support students with the specific resources they need, drive data informed decision-making, and improve the impact of services on student success. Efforts are underway to connect the Dashboard with early learning and development data, as well as to take this unique platform to Covington and Newport this fall.
This year marked a significant transition for us with the launch of a National Cradle to Career Network, led by Strive President, Jeff Edmondson. Dozens of communities across the country are working with Jeff and his team to initiate or expand collective impact-based partnerships, such as the one we support in our region. We are hopeful that the national attention that we are receiving will lead to new resources and support for the on-the-ground efforts in Cincinnati, Covington, and Newport.
Finally, as you read through this year’s report, you will notice that we are pursuing a new format. This year’s Partnership Report will describe the collective work underway to further improve education in the urban core of our region while highlighting where we stand relative to the eight key indicators of student success on which we are focused.
The complete set of data for 2011 can be found on the Education Results Resource page.
Progress is being made, but much more must be done — together — to ensure every child is succeeding, every step of the way, from cradle to career.
Sincerely,
Kathy Merchant Greg Landsman
Executive Committee Chair Executive Director