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Opportunity Works was a three-year effort led by Jobs for the Future to help opportunity youth--young people ages 16 to 24 who are not in school or meaningfully employed--access postsecondary and career pathways. Based on the Back on Track framework, seven cities across the country undertook collective impact approaches with diverse partners to provide supportive, enhanced preparation and postsecondary/career bridging for eligible young people, with a particular focus on young men of color. A quasi-experimental evaluation conducted by the Urban Institute in three Opportunity Works sites found large, consistent, positive effects on participants' postsecondary enrollment and increased connection with either education or employment about one year after program entry. Specifically, Opportunity Works participants were twice as likely to enroll in college and 25 percent more likely to be in either education or employment. Postsecondary results were even greater for young men of color, who were nearly six times as likely to enroll in college. This report also includes insights and lessons from qualitative field research. [This report was written with Adaeze Okoli and Natalie Spievack.]

Transitional kindergarten--the first year of a two-year kindergarten program for California children born between September 2 and December 2--is intended to better prepare young five-year-olds for kindergarten and ensure a strong start to their educational career. The goal of this study was to measure the success of the program by determining the impact of transitional kindergarten on students' readiness for kindergarten in several areas. AIR researchers compared language, literacy, mathematics, executive functioning, and social-emotional skills at kindergarten entry for students who attended transitional kindergarten and for those who did not. Key findings include: (1) Transitional kindergarten improves preliteracy and literacy skills; (2) Transitional kindergarten improves students' mathematical knowledge and problem-solving skills; and (3) Transitional kindergarten supports children's behavioral self-regulation, but there is no detectable impact on social-emotional skills. This unique approach to early education in California--which serves children in a narrow age range on elementary school campuses, with credentialed teachers holding bachelor's degrees and a curriculum aligned with kindergarten--appears to better prepare students for kindergarten than what they might have received in the absence of the program. Future analyses will investigate the extent to which the transitional kindergarten advantage is sustained through the end of kindergarten, for which groups of students transitional kindergarten is most beneficial, and which transitional kindergarten program characteristics are most supportive of student learning. Detailed Methodology is appended. [For the Executive Summary of this report, see ED563820.]

High school graduation rates remain unacceptably low in the U.S., especially among disadvantaged youth (Chapman, Laird, Ifill, & KelalRamani, 2011; Stillwell, 2010), with troubling implications for future earnings and employment status (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012). Check & Connect (C&C) is an individualized program that pairs students with a trained mentor who closely monitors their progress in school and matches them with targeted academic and social supports, with the goal of increasing student engagement and performance in school and improving on-time graduation rates. This study, funded by a grant from the Institute of Education Sciences, is testing the impact of C&C on school engagement, attendance, and completion outcomes among general education students at high risk of dropping out. The authors used student risk indicators from Grade 8 and the first half of Grade 9 to select students at risk for dropping out of high school in the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD), an urban district in Southern California. Students within the selected high-risk sample were then randomly assigned within schools to participate in C&C or to a business-as-usual control group. The study was designed to generate rigorous evidence about the effects of C&C on engagement, school completion, and academic outcomes of at-risk general education students, and to document implementation.

The Big Lift is a collective impact initiative extending from preschool to third grade in San Mateo County, California. The collective impact effort consists of people and organizations from various sectors uniting to tackle a single, complicated societal problem -- in this case, third grade reading achievement. The initiative is a partnership of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, the San Mateo County Office of Education, and the County of San Mateo with the support of dozens of community organizations and school districts. Launched in 2012, the initiative aims to boost children's reading proficiency by the third grade through four different types of activities, called "pillars": (1) High-Quality Preschool, (2) Summer Learning, (3) School Attendance, and (4) Family Engagement. The first year of program implementation was school year 2015-2016, in which four school districts received funding and support from the Big Lift to implement the four pillars. In the subsequent year (2016-2017), three additional districts received funding and support. The RAND Corporation is conducting a multiphase evaluation of the initiative, including an implementation study of the effort and descriptive analyses focused on the outcomes of children who participated in Big Lift programs. This report serves as the final report for the implementation study that focused on the collective impact design of the initiative and the Big Lift activity pillars. Results from key informant interviews, a survey about collaboration, and focus groups are presented in this report. Key Findings: (1) The Big Lift community leaders and partners participated in research activities such as interviews, focus groups, and a survey to better understand how members are engaging in the collective impact strategy and the activity pillars are being implemented; (2) Members of the Big Lift indicated that the initiative shares a common vision and purpose, and the environment in San Mateo County, California, is supportive and well suited for the level of collaboration needed to successfully implement a collective impact effort; (3) Community leaders and partners were proud that the initiative was launched and pillar activities were occurring. Necessary organizations and key partners within and across school districts were mentioned as being in place to help achieve the common goal of raising third grade reading scores; (4) As with any complex initiative, challenges exist. Community leaders and partners mentioned issues with communication, attracting and retaining a quality teaching workforce, and turnover among key members of the collaborative; (5) Another challenge surfaced by research participants was the large workload necessary to keep up with increased data collection. However, local partners did note they appreciated the data support they received from community leaders; and (6) Financial sustainability of the initiative was the most frequently cited concern for the Big Lift community leaders and partners. Possible avenues to gain further financial support were noted to be engaging local businesses and involving legislators. Recommendations: (1) Several key informants noted that the initiative could benefit from a director, and other findings regarding initiative structure and communication support this recommendation; (2) Placing emphasis on filling key designated staff roles across the initiative would benefit the work of the initiative and build capacity -- especially at a local level; (3) A long-term funding strategy will be essential to the longevity and efficacy of the Big Lift initiative. The Big Lift should set up and share a central repository of key information that collaborative partners can access; (4) The backbone infrastructure should be clear and transparent about which elements of each pillar are nonnegotiable components of Big Lift participation and which elements are open to local flexibility and tailoring; and (5) The Big Lift could benefit from better articulating a policy on admitting and (as applicable) supporting special needs and English-language learning students into its programs and ensuring that there is adequate staff, training, and supports in place to accommodate that policy. [This research was commissioned by the Big Lift and Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SVCF) with generous funding from the County of San Mateo and the federal Social Innovation Fund.]

In their 2004 State of the State speeches, the nation's governors cited many issues competing for their attention and their states' resources, including health care, education, crime, and security (Nodine 2004). Among the most compelling challenges were those related to economic development and the ability of a state's workforce to meet the needs of growing, high-wage industries. In response to these needs, states have been exploring a variety of strategies to increase economic vitality by building the educational and technical skills of the workforce. To support and fund these strategies, they have created a variety of policies, which have met with varying degrees of success. State officials might well look to their peers for new ideas about how to seek advantage and opportunity in an era of increased need and tight budgets. In this report, "Building Skills, Increasing Economic Vitality," the authors highlight some of the most promising and exciting developments in state workforce and skill development policy, particularly in four areas of policy innovation: (1) Redesigning financing for workforce development; (2) Strengthening Workforce Development/Economic Development Linkages; (3) Building the Capacity of New Labor Market Institutions; and (4) Expanding Community College Capacity. The states highlighted in this report (California, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia, and Washington) have enacted workforce development policies that are not only innovative but also have the potential to be replicated elsewhere. In this handbook for policymakers and practitioners, Jobs for the Future showcases the range of policies and approaches that states have taken and their successes in meeting ambitious goals. These approaches are not necessarily easy to implement; in fact, most states have faced significant challenges to moving ideas to adoption and implementation. What has pushed the policies along have been powerful drivers for change as well as creative solutions to making change possible. Case studies are appended.

The California State Department of Education commissioned the Far West Laboratory to conduct a study to enhance the effectiveness of methods of disseminating educational information in the state. The study began with a pilot written survey of administrators and support staff in a few schools. In-depth telephone interviews with department staff and field interviews with representative schools and districts provided additional information. Documents were field tracked through the dissemination process, and a survey was completed by 249 employees of 42 units, followed by phone interviews with 35 division and unit managers. General field interviews of 64 district administrators, principals, and secretaries, and additional document tracking completed the data collection. The following areas were identified as needing improvement: (1) planning; (2) targeting; (3) timing; (4) content; (5) format; and (6) marketing. Identified as determinants for understanding information dissemination were information uses in the field, organizational readiness of schools, and information sufficiency. Compliance, leverage, support, and addressing hot issues were identified as change incentives. It is emphasized that department of education must include guidance information for change planning, implementation, and management in its major school improvement documents. Twelve attachments summarize the recommendations of the survey. Also attached is a memorandum related to research knowledge in the area of dissemination. (SLD)

The California Department of Education commissioned a study to help guide ongoing information dissemination practices to the educational community. A pilot study, department of education staff interviews, and field interviews preceded document tracking. Phone interviews were conducted with district administrators, principals, and teachers statewide to track the actual information uses and effects of 15 representative department publications. Dissemination problems and their proposed solutions are described under the main headings of planning, targeting, timing, content, format, and marketing. Study findings suggested that the chief determinants of information use are organizational readiness, information sufficiency, and change incentives. The relationship between incentives and information use revealed "compliance" as the most powerful incentive for document use followed by "leverage,""support," and "hot issue." The conclusions of the study are that organizations disseminating information must do more than provide generalized recommendations. School personnel must be provided with essential and specific guidance and assistance that will help them to prepare for, plan, implement, and manage change. (MLF)