No single sector or organization can close persistent gaps in education or fix racial inequities. We bring people together to pinpoint challenges and find evidence-based solutions.
Cradle 2 Career will launch and convene a series of Collaborative Action Networks (CANs), each with measurable goals.
The first two are underway: kindergarten readiness and high school graduation.
Kindergarten Readiness
Alignment of network partners will ensure children are ready to succeed in Kindergarten.
The academic success of children in later years depends heavily upon their kindergarten readiness. The first few years of education and preparedness are the most crucial to establishing a solid foundation from which children can adapt to school systems and learn successfully.
The Kindergarten Readiness network has been meeting since 2019. Together, they are working through Results Based Accountability and have decided what their population result is, what their population level indicators are, and are in the process of aligning programs to those indicators.
Result:
All children are ready for success in Kindergarten
Indicator:
% of youth meeting the widely held expectations in social/emotional, literacy, math, cognitive, physical, and language domains.
Families First of Minnesota was started in 1972 as the Olmsted County Council for Coordinated Child Care, Inc. and later became Child Care Resource & Referral until a name change to Families First of Minnesota in 2015.
Their mission is to “ensure positive beginnings for all young children and their families.” They’ve been doing work in child care since their inception, added Head Start programming in the 1980s, Crisis Nursery in the ‘90s, and Early Learning Scholarships in the last decade.
Civic League Day Nursery
Families First of MN
Family Service Rochester
IMAA
Listos Preschool & Childcare
Olmsted County
Rochester Catholic Schools
Rochester Public Library
Rochester Public Schools
Rochester YMCA
Serve Minnesota
SPARK
The Reading Center
High School Graduation
Alignment of network partners will ensure our students graduate high school ready for their next step.
High School graduates typically earn more and are employed in more stable jobs than those who do not graduate. Despite the recent years’ improvement in overall graduation rates, gaps in graduation rates between white and non-white students persist. Although we have seen improvement, this disparity still represents work to be done.
The High School Graduation network has been meeting since 2019. Together, they are working through Results Based Accountability and have decided what their population result is, what their population level indicators are, and are in the process of aligning programs to those indicators.
Result:
All youth graduate from high school ready for their next step.
Indicator:
% of students who graduate in 4 & 7 years.
Boys & Girls Club of Rochester
Boy Scouts of America – Gamehaven Council
Family Service Rochester
Girl Scouts of the River Valley
HopeFuse
Journie
Mayo Clinic
Next Chapter Ministries
Olmsted County
Opportunity Services
RCTC
Rochester Area Chamber of Commerce
Rochester Public Library
Rochester Public Schools
Rochester YMCA
Rosa Parks Charter High School
Rotary Club of Rochester
Southeast Service Cooperative
Sports Mentorship Academy
Workforce Development, Inc.
Why Collaborative Action Networks?
This comprehensive, cooperative, evidence-based approach to address education gaps is new in Rochester. It is based on the work of StriveTogether, a national organization that developed this collaboration model focused on using local data to make smarter decisions.