Independent Evaluation of the Jim Joseph Foundation's Education Initiative Final Report

The Jim Joseph Foundation created the Education Initiative to increase the number of educators and educational leaders who are prepared to design and implement high-quality Jewish education programs. The Jim Joseph Foundation granted $45 million to three premier Jewish higher education institutions (each institution received$15 million) and challenged them to plan and implement programs that used new content and teaching approaches to increase the number of highly qualified Jewish educators serving the field. The three grantees were Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR), the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), and Yeshiva University (YU). The grant covered program operation costs as well as other costs associated with institutional capacity building. The majority of the funds (75 percent) targeted program planning and operation. The grantees designed and piloted six new master's degree and doctoral degree programs or concentrations;1 eight new certificate, leadership, and professional development programs;2 two new induction programs;3 and four new seminars within the degree programs. 4 The Education Initiative also supported financial assistance for students in eight other advanced degree programs. 5 The grantees piloted innovative teaching models and expanded their use of educational technology in the degree and professional development programs. According to the theory of change that drives the Jim Joseph Foundation's Education Initiative, five types of activities must take place if higher education institutions are to successfully enhance the Jewish education workforce. These activities include (1) improved marketing and recruitment of talented individuals into ongoing education programs, (2) a richer menu of programs requiring different commitments of time to complete and offering varying content, (3) induction programs to support program participants' transition to new employment settings, (4) well-planned and comprehensive strategies for financial sustainability, and (5) interinstitutional collaboration. As shown in Exhibit 1, the five types of activities are divided into two primary categories. The first category (boxes outlined in green) addresses the delivery of programs that provide educators and educational leaders with research-based and theory-based knowledge and vetted instructional tools. The second category (boxes outlined in orange) is not programmatic; rather, it involves sharing knowledge, building staff capabilities, enhancing management structures, and providing technological and financial support to enable the development of quality programming that is sustainable after the grant ends

Brokering Community–campus Partnerships: An Analytical Framework

Academic institutions and community-based organizations have increasingly recognized the value of working together to meet their different objectives and address common societal needs. In an effort to support the development and maintenance of these partnerships, a diversity of brokering initiatives has emerged. We describe these brokering initiatives broadly as coordinating mechanisms that act as an intermediary with an aim to develop collaborative and sustainable partnerships that provide mutual benefit. A broker can be an individual or an organization that helps connect and support relationships and share knowledge. To date, there has been little scholarly discussion or analysis of the various elements of these initiatives that contribute to successful community–campus partnerships. In an effort to better understand where these features may align and diverge, we reviewed a sample of community–campus brokering initiatives across North America and the United Kingdom to consider their different roles and activities. From this review, we developed a framework to delineate characteristics of different brokering initiatives to better understand their contributions to successful partnerships. The framework is divided into two parts. The first examines the different structural allegiances of the brokering initiatives by identifying their affiliation, principle purpose, and who received primary benefits. The second considers the dimensions of brokering activities in respect to their level of engagement, platforms used, scale of activity, and area of focus. The intention of the community campus engagement brokering framework is to provide an analytical tool for academics and community-based practitioners engaged in teaching and research partnerships. When developing a brokering initiative, these categories describing the different structures and dimensions encourage participants to think through the overall goals and objectives of the partnership and adapt the initiative accordingly

Crisis and Opportunity: Aligning the Community College Presidency with Student Success

In recent years, Americans have awakened to the profound connection between community college student success and the strength of our nation.That community colleges matter deeply is clearfrom a few simple facts:They educate over 7 million degree-seeking students, more than 40 percent of the U.S. college population.They have in recent years been growing at four times the rate of four-year colleges.They enroll a disproportionately large share of the rapidly expanding number of college students of color and first-generation students.Today, though, not enough community college students succeed. This reality was boldly acknowledged in a recent report by the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC): "What we find today are student success rates that are unacceptably low, employment preparation that is inadequately connected to job market needs, and disconnects in transitions between high schools, community colleges, and baccalaureate institutions."?Focusing exclusively on the challenges facing the entire sector, however, obscures an important fact: Many community colleges have been engaged in difficult work on their campus to achieve improved rates of completion, higher levels of student learning and job preparedness, and more equitable outcomes for students of color and others who have historically been left behind in public education.The organizations that prepared this report, Achieving the Dream and the Aspen Institute, work with many institutions that are in fact demonstrably improving student success.What we have learned through our work is that while strong leadership can be exercised by people throughout an institution, every high-performing community college has a first-rate president. The best leaders across the country have a special set of qualities and know-how that enable them to lead institutions to high and improving levels of student success. This report presents a unified vision of who these leaders are and what they do, so that everyone involved in hiring and preparing community college presidents -- trustees and leaders of state systems, universities, and associations -- can consider the extent to which their assumptions and practices ensure that strong presidents are chosen and effectively trained to lead colleges in ways that meet the aspirations of every student as well as the critical goal of significantly improving student outcomes

Research-based assessment affordances and constraints: Perceptions of physics faculty

To help faculty use research-based materials in a more significant way, we learn about their perceived needs and desires and use this information to suggest ways for the Physics Education Research community to address these needs. When research-based resources are well aligned with the perceived needs of faculty, faculty members will more readily take them up. We used phenomenographic interviews of ordinary physics faculty and department chairs to identify four families of issues that faculty have around research-based assessments (RBA). First, many faculty are interested in using RBAs but have practical needs around how to do so: how to find them, which ones there are, and how to administer them. They want help addressing these needs. Second, at the same time, many faculty think that RBAs are limited and don't measure many of the things they care about, or aren't applicable in their classes. They want assessments to measure skills, perceptions, and specific concepts. Third, many faculty want to turn to communities of other faculty and experts to help them interpret their assessment results and suggest other ways to do assessment. They want to norm their assessment results by comparing to others and interacting with faculty from other schools to learn about how they do assessment. Fourth, many faculty consider their courses in the broader contexts of accountability and their departments. They want help with assessment in these broader contexts. We also discuss how faculty members role in their department and type of institution influence their perceived wants and needs around assessment.Comment: submitted to Physical Review Special Topics - Physics Education Researc

Addressing Health Disparities Through Organizational Change - Evaluation Report

In the coming decades, racial and ethnic minorities will constitute more than 50% of many states' populations -- including that of Colorado. Individuals of racial and ethnic minority status are disproportionally affected by disease and disability and have poorer health outcomes than do their white counterparts.1,2 These differences are disparaties in health. Even when minorities have the same insurance status, access, age income and chronic conditions, they still tend to receive lower-quality health care than the white population. Differences in access and quality constitute disparities in health care.3 Shifts in population, coupled with current inequalities in health status and quality of care, clearly establish the need for addressing these disparities.Recognizing the persistence of racial and ethnic health disparities, The Colorado Trust developed the Equality in Health Initiative in 2005. The Initiative provided funding for 14 organizations across the state of Colorado in the first funding cycle, supporting their efforts to reduce health disparities by addressing the needs of racial and ethnic minorities. The initiative intended to strengthen organizations' cultural competency so as to promote and ensure the following for racial and ethnic minority populations: 1) equality in treatment and medical services, 2) attainment of equal access to health care, 3) improvements of environmental conditions and 4) increased healthy behaviors. Grantees received technical assistance in three areas: cultural competency; program planning and implementation related to health disparities; and data collection and evaluation.The Colorado Trust believed if grantee organizations' culturally competent practices improved through technical assistance, interventions and networking then short term health outcomes would improve as well, ultimately leading to reductions in health disparities. This evaluation examined this conceptual model to determine the role organizational cultural competency played in improving short-term health and health care outcomes for racial and ethnic minority groups.Results showed that as grantees' cultural competency in the form of community relationships improved, so did their adaptations to their interventions as well as short-term health and health care outcomes. Cultural competency in the form of organizational policies and procedures predicted improvements in the short-term health and health care outcomes of service recipients. Based on the results of this evaluation, a new conceptual model was developed and is described in this report. Facilitating and challenging conditions to developing cultural competency are also outlined as well as lessons for funders, policy makers and grantees

The University of New Hampshire Engaged Scholars Academy: Instilling in Faculty Principles of Effective Partnership

Over the last decade, the University of New Hampshire (UNH) has promoted mutually beneficial partnerships between faculty and community partners vis-à-vis the Engaged Scholars Academy (ESA), a faculty development program aimed at enhancing faculty understanding of the principles of partnership and engaged scholarship. This research seeks to determine whether and how the ESA has impacted faculty-community partnerships around engaged scholarship. Findings suggest that Engaged Scholar Academy participants – as compared to non-participants – have a deeper understanding of the principles of partnership, are more likely to feel their scholarship is enhanced, spend more time with partners, engage their partners throughout the process of inquiry, and focus more on sustaining partnership outcomes

Keeping Parents and Student Voices at the Forefront of Reform

Presents a case study of community organizing for school reform by Eastern Pennsylvania Organizing Project and Youth United for Change: how developing leadership, relationships, and research shaped district policy, school capacity, and student outcomes

Historically Black Colleges and Universities Facing the Future: A Fresh Look at Changes and Opportunities

This paper reviews the status of historicallyblack colleges and universities (HBCUs) and assesses their mission in light of the changing nature of higher education and the new challenges that HBCUs and other higher education institutions must address. It is based on extensivediscussions with HBCU presidents and chancellors, campus visits, and reviews of documents and data.HBCUs continue to play a critical role in "advancingm the race" and achieving President Obama's national goals for higher education and economic competitiveness, including a dramatic increase in college completion rates by 2020. To have the world's best-prepared workforce requires the United States to produce 10 million new college graduates and to makesure every young person completes at least one year of postsecondary education.Two generations ago, before desegregation, more than three-quarters of black college graduates attended HBCUs. Today, less than one-sixth of college-going black students attend these institutions, but this still representsa significant portion of a much bigger collegegoing population facing an increasingly large and complex array of educational opportunities

Building a Districtwide Small Schools Movement

Presents a case study of community organizing for school reform by Oakland Community Organizations: how parent and community engagement in a campaign for small schools shaped leadership development, district policy, school capacity, and student outcomes

Creating a Professional Development Plan for a Simulation Consortium

As the United States struggles with health care reform and a nursing education system that inadequately prepares students for practice, dramatic advances in educational technology signal opportunities for both academic and practicing nurses to affect our profession as never before. Simulation technologies provide large and small institutions with the means to educate health care students and novice professionals effectively and efficiently through hands-on experience, but the costs of such a venture can be prohibitive. A simulation consortium offers a venue for different health care and educational institutions with shared goals to pool knowledge, monies, and labor toward health care education throughout a geographic area. This article details one Midwestern U.S. region's work in creating a professional development plan for a new simulation consortium