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1. Name of individual consultant/organization.2. Mailing address of individual consultant/organization.3. If an organization, name of primary contact for the Rural Coaction program.4. If an organization, title of primary contact for the Rural Coaction program.5. Email of individual consultant/primary contact for the Rural Coaction program.6. Phone number of individual consultant/primary contact for the Rural Coaction program.7. Briefly describe your/your organization’s primary areas of focus.8. Describe your/your organization’s experience in supporting rural districts.9. Describe your/your organization’s experience in supporting strategy development and implementation in education/district settings.10. Describe your/your organization’s experience in supporting the building, expansion, and/or implementation of CTE, student pathways, and/or other career-/workplace-connected learning programs.11. Describe your/your organization’s experience in facilitating collaboration amongst partner organizations.12. Describe your/your organization’s experience in supporting districts with strengthening community engagement.13. Describe any other experience that you/your organization possesses that is related to Rural Coaction program.14. List contact information for your three most recent previous partners/clients that Rural Coaction applicants could contact for reference. Please include the dates of the partnership/contract. 15. How do you structure your fees for your work?
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Center for Rural School Health & Education1999 East Evans Avenue, Denver CO 80208Elaine BelanskyExecutive Directorelaine.belansky@du.edu720-530-3642 (mobile); 303-871-3237 (work)The Center for Rural School Health & Education (CRSHE, pronounced “crush”) partners with rural Colorado schools and BOCES to improve health and education outcomes for students. Our vision is that all children, youth, and adults in rural communities are living healthy, meaningful lives. Much of work is focused on ensuring students are challenged, supported, engaged, safe, and healthy.

CRSHE offers several services to rural schools:
1. Strategic planning and support for implementing initiatives
2. Sharing the latest best practices with schools and helping tailor those practices for the rural setting
3. Virtual professional development for rural educators via ECHO-DU
4. Training, technical assistance and professional learning communities
5. Convening rural schools, community-based organizations, institutes of higher education, and funders
6. Research and evaluation
7. Grant writing and grant management support

The CRSHE team has been partnering with rural schools since 1999. Our Center is built on a foundation of long-term, collaborative partnerships with rural and frontier schools and communities. We work with school partners to identify their priorities and needs and then provide support to help them address those needs using the latest best practices and community-identified solutions.

We value in-person collaboration and believe that to build trusting partnerships, it is important to sit together. In our work with rural schools, we honor the voices, priorities, knowledge, values, histories, and cultures of communities. We prioritize spending time in your school and community to learn first hand about your students, families, educators, and community partners.

In just the last 4 years, we have written grants in partnership with rural Colorado schools that have resulted in over $6,000,000 being sent directly to those school districts to support local efforts related to the ten Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child components. We help schools manage and report on their funds and assist them in evaluating the impact of their initiatives.

We’ve developed a range of resources designed specifically for the rural context including:
1. Templates for conducting listening sessions with students, families, educators and community partners
2. Surveys to identify stakeholder priorities and needs
3. Community engagement processes to garner support for school efforts
4. Plans to implement evidence-based practices for health and wellness
5. Plans to enhance family-school partnerships
6. Strategies to solicit and celebrate youth voice
7. Virtual professional learning communities via ECHO-DU to bring the latest best practices and resources to school professionals
CRSHE has extensive experience partnering with rural school districts to develop and implement plans based on community perspectives, available data, and the latest evidence-based and promising practices.

Examples:

Example 1: Health and wellness planning and implementation
Over the last five years, CRSHE has worked with 27 rural school districts across southern Colorado to write collaborative grant proposals and guide school districts through a planning process to develop Comprehensive Health and Wellness Plans. This process involved convening 27 district-level task forces of community stakeholders, students, parents, teachers, administrators, and local organizations and facilitating them in a strategic planning process that resulted in a 5 year district-level plan to implement health and wellness practices. After plans were completed, we supported each school district with implementation. Over 28 months, CRSHE provided technical assistance to rural school districts totaling 5,600 emails, 111 hours on the phone, 770 hours on video conference, and 400 hours in person. This resulted in 27 school districts implementing a total of 2,166 health and wellness practices.

Example 2: Regional approach to supporting rural student mental health
Currently, CRSHE has been convening and facilitating a collaborative comprised of representatives from all 14 San Luis Valley school districts, the SLV BOCES, three mental health agencies, and one youth-serving organization. The collaborative is meeting 7 times during the 2021-2022 academic year to develop a regional plan to meet students’ mental health needs. The regional plan will include streamlined communication strategies, referral systems, and tiered approaches to ensure that all students and educators’ mental health needs can be better met.

Community partnerships are key to helping students feel motivated and able to learn. When schools develop exciting partnerships with local businesses, community agencies, and institutes of higher education, their students can participate in a range of service-learning, internship, work, and educator pipeline opportunities.

CRSHE has strong partnerships with organizations across the state who can support schools in CTE, student pathways, and other programs. For example, the CRSHE director serves on the Board of Directors for Ogallala Commons (OC), a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing internship opportunities for rural students. OC has an extensive network of partnerships with business, agriculture, tech, and other sectors. OC has successfully created meaningful internship opportunities for rural students across several states. The CRSHE director can connect interested rural schools to OC staff.

CRSHE also has experience addressing the educator pipeline, and specifically the school mental health professional workforce shortage. In 2018, CRSHE partnered with two BOCES in southeast Colorado to identify solutions to address rural school counselor and school psychologist shortages. We developed and implemented a theory of change outlining three strategies to remedy the workforce shortage: professional development for the existing workforce, a week-long immersion to show future school counselors and psychologists the benefits of living and working in rural communities, and a workforce strategic plan. The workforce strategic plan was completed in two phases. ​​In Phase 1, we worked closely with the two BOCES and their Superintendent Advisory Councils to identify hiring needs and strategies to meet those needs. In Phase 2, we surveyed all rural Colorado BOCES to get a statewide picture of hiring needs and strategies to recruit and retain school mental health professionals. Using data collected in both phases, we developed a 5-year strategic plan to meet rural school mental health workforce needs.
CRSHE personnel have 20+ years of experience facilitating collaborative partnerships amongst rural partners. We are skilled in developing planning processes and serving as a neutral facilitator. Examples include:
1. A partnership with five local public health agencies and 18 rural school districts to implement a K-12 school planning process
2. Physical Education Academies to improve the quality of PE instruction (the SLV academy had 14 school districts; Southeast Colorado had 21 districts)
3. A collaborative of 27 rural wellness coordinators to promote health and wellness
4. A Community-University Partnership (CUP) to identify student mental health needs in the San Luis Valley
5. A collaborative of 31 rural school districts engaged in staff wellness promotion and family school partnerships
6. A team of school counselors, BOCES, community mental health agencies, and youth-serving organizations to develop a regional approach to meeting student and educators’ mental health needs

We also continue to convene a rural steering committee and a Community Advisory Board to inform projects and initiatives.

CRSHE also has experience with collective impact in Colorado school settings, and has organized and advanced collaborative efforts that include universities, nonprofit organizations, K-12 schools, CDE, CDPHE, and several different BOCES, to name a few.
Fostering community connections: We have experience supporting schools in building deeper partnerships and connections with their local communities. For instance, CRSHE has trained rural schools to solicit the perspectives of community partners through individual interviews, surveys, and focus groups. We have also supported school partners in distilling key findings from these community engagement efforts to inform practical strategies in rural schools.

Identifying community resources: We have supported school personnel across 27 rural districts in completing community resource inventories to inform ways community partners can support school efforts to improve health and education outcomes.

Strengthening family-school partnerships: CRSHE is currently partnering with 25 rural school districts to develop and implement plans to strengthen family school partnerships through methods such as home visits, positive phone calls, establishing parent committees or including parents on existing committees, and strengthening communication practices with families.

Engaging youth voice: CRSHE has also developed, implemented and evaluated different student engagement strategies such as youth listening sessions, youth surveys, and including youth on community-based task forces. We trained rural school partners to implement these methods and provided templates for them to share what they learned with others. We have also developed and implemented K-12 curriculum that positions youth as change-makers, and coached youth through processes of advocating for changes in their schools.

CRSHE is grounded in the current concerns, challenges, and strengths of rural schools. Our team has decades of combined experience developing meaningful and productive partnerships and implementing lasting changes in rural settings. Our work is informed by the following guidelines:
1. We embody principles of social justice and racial equity in all of our actions.
2. We work directly in and with high-need rural and frontier schools and communities.
3. We honor the voices, priorities, knowledge, values, histories, and cultures of partnering communities.
4. We develop and sustain long-term, collaborative partnerships.
5. We advocate for rural communities in state-wide and national conversations.
6. We conduct community-engaged research that generates knowledge and contributes to positive local change.

Finally, we enjoy making new friends and staying in touch with old partners. We try to make work enjoyable and fun, while not losing sight of what we are trying to achieve. We are continually inspired by what we learn from rural schools across the state. Feel free to reach out if you have questions.
1. Lauren Sheldrake, Creede School District; 2. Peggy Haslar, Monte Vista School District; 3. Nikki Johnson, Campo School District; Kermit Snyder, Rocky Ford; Sandy Malouff, Santa Fe Trail BOCESWe use a highly tailored approach with each partner to identify costs. We hold a planning meeting (or sometimes a series of planning meetings) to determine the scope of work, time required, travel, materials, consultants, and other costs. Our priority is to ensure that our fees are fair and reasonable so that schools, districts, and BOCES can direct the majority of their funds to benefit students, families, and educators. We are not for profit.
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Colorado Center for Rural EducationUniversity of Northern Colorado, McKee Hall 103, 501 20th Street, Campus Box 106, Greeley, Colorado 80639-0028Robert W. Fulton, PhDState Coordinatorrobert.fulton@unco.edu720-206-4418Rural school districts throughout Colorado continue to experience significant difficulty finding qualified individuals to serve as classroom educators, school leaders, and/or special service providers within their individual school districts.

The Colorado Center for Rural Education was created to address these issues. Our center is not limited to the University of Northern Colorado community. We work with 22 Colorado Institutions of Higher Education to recruit, prepare, place, and support educators for rural communities to ensure every rural student has a quality learning experience.
Stipends for Rural Educators
The Colorado Center for Rural Education provides a variety of stipends to student teachers and in-service educators working in rural Colorado.

RURAL ALTERNATIVE LICENSURE STIPEND
This stipend is available to individuals who are enrolled in an alternative licensure program and working in a rural school district.

COLORADO RURAL TEACHING STIPEND
This stipend is available to pre-service teachers who will be completing their final student teaching experience in a rural school district and commit to teaching in a rural district after completion.

COLORADO RURAL TEACHING FELLOWSHIP
The Fellowship is available to pre-service teacher candidates who complete a year-long clinical experience in a rural school during the final year of their teacher preparation program.

RURAL INSERVICE EDUCATOR STIPEND
This stipend is available to in-service educators in rural Colorado school districts.

NATIONAL BOARD CERTIFIED TEACHER STIPEND
This stipend is available to in-service educators in rural Colorado school districts who want to become National Board Certified Teachers.
The vision of the Colorado Center for Rural Education is to ensure an excellent education for children in rural Colorado. The primary vehicle in support of this overarching vision is focused on the location, preparation, and support of educators for all rural and small rural school districts across the state of Colorado through a commitment to convening, connecting, and capacity building.The mission of the Colorado Center for Rural Education is to support the needs of rural educators in Colorado. This mission will be accomplished through five sustainable priorities:

1. Expansion of Educator Pipeline Programs.
2. Identification of Rural Teaching Scholars from among pre-service junior and senior teacher candidates who commit to student teach in rural Colorado school districts.
3. Cultivation of a Rural Teacher Leaders program that prepares teachers in rural communities for expanded professional roles through participation in programs leading to become National Board Certified Teachers or receive Concurrent Enrollment Certification.
4. Development of a coordinated Professional Development Network for rural educators.
5. Cultivation of advocacy and scholarship focused on rural education, including collaboration for grant proposal writing.
The clientele served by the Center for Rural Education include the current and prospective educators (i.e., teachers, administrators, and specialized instructional service providers) who work in Colorado’s school districts that are characterized as rural or small rural. The organizations that support these educators across the state of Colorado, and who have provided commitments to support the establishment of the Center for Rural Education, include the following:

Colorado BOCES Association
Colorado Department of Higher Education
Colorado Rural Schools Alliance
Fort Lewis College
Colorado Association of School Personnel Administrators
The Colorado Education Initiative
Colorado Education Association
Colorado Department of Education
Colorado Mountain College
Colorado Community College System
Colorado Association of School Boards
Public Education & Business Coalition
The Colorado Center for Rural Education (CCRE) is focused on the location, preparation, and
support of educators for all rural and small rural school districts across the state of Colorado through a commitment to convening, connecting, and capacity building. The Colorado Center for Rural Education recognizes the importance of qualified educators to ensure quality educational experiences and outcomes for all learners being educated in rural Colorado school districts. Qualified educators refer to professional educators serving in positions as teachers, principals, administrators, and specialized instructional service providers.

The CCRE is involved in convening appropriate stakeholder groups and individuals on a regular basis to explore the underlying challenges associated with recruiting, preparing, and retaining highly effective educators for rural Colorado schools.

CCRE staff members are engaged in connecting representatives of rural education
organizations with overlapping interests to examine unmet needs, identify potential strategies for meeting identified needs, determine strategic action plans to accomplish the identified strategies, and formulate plans for sustainability of the strategic plans.

The CCRE staff members collaborate with organizations and individuals concerned with the
development of a comprehensive system of personnel development for Colorado’s rural and
small rural school districts through capacity building efforts to ensure that educator
preparation programs, rural school districts, and other organizations focused on rural education expand their impact and effectiveness in successfully accomplishing their stated missions.

All students in rural Colorado communities deserve access to professional educators who are effective and qualified in their areas of assignment. The commitment to convening, connecting, and capacity building provides an overarching strategy for achieving this vision of success for learners and educators in all rural Colorado schools.
Rural Educator Recruitment And Retention
The priority goals of the Colorado Center for Rural Education at UNC were developed in alignment with the provisions of Senate Bill 16-104 that established enabling legislation for a sustaining rural educator recruitment and retention program. The following four priority goals are outlined for the first five years of Center operations:

Rural Teacher Pipeline
Increase the number of early education experiences for pre-collegiate students to encourage more individuals from rural school districts to consider teaching as a career.
Increase the number of pathways available to become a qualified teacher in rural school districts.

Homegrown Teachers
Increasing the number of college students from rural districts who graduate from teacher preparation programs and who commit to student teaching in rural school districts.
Develop a Rural Teaching Scholars program that identifies junior and senior teacher candidates who commit to complete their student teaching experiences in rural school districts.

Teacher Leadership
Development of Concurrent Enrollment Certification or National Board Certification of Teachers in Rural School Districts
Increase the number of National Board Certified Teachers from high-need areas (e.g., science, mathematics, special education, or cultural/linguistic diversity) who are teaching in rural school districts.
Increase the number of teachers residing in rural districts and holding appropriate college degrees that return to complete requirements for Concurrent Enrollment Certification in high-need areas and who commit to teach in rural school districts.

Retention of Rural Teachers
Provide ongoing mentoring and professional development of teachers entering high-need, rural schools to increase retention during first year induction phase of their teaching careers through creation of a Rural Professional Development Network.
Assess, disseminate, and sustain the best recruitment and retention practices.
Amie Baca-Oehlert, abaca-oehlert@coloradoea.org, Colorado Education Association (February, 2022)
Annette Konoske-Graf, akonoskegraf@teachcolorado.org, TEACH Colorado (February, 2022)
Dale McCall, Dale.McCall46@gmail.com, Colorado BOCES Association (February, 2022)
$200 per hour or $1,500 per day
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Colorado Education Initiative3000 Lawrence Street #135, Denver, CO 80205Emily LoveChief of Research and Developmentelove@coloradoedinitiative.org303-868-7641For over 14 years, CEI has been at the forefront of improvement, innovation, and change in Colorado’s public education system. Our mission is to accelerate systems change to ensure that every student in Colorado is prepared and unafraid to succeed in school, work, and life and ready to take on the challenges of today, tomorrow, and beyond. We hold a unique place in Colorado's education landscape that allows us to make connections, move mindsets, spur possibilities, and drive system-level transformation to get the most promising practices off the ground and into classrooms. CEI has a reputation for high-quality implementation, thought leadership, and the ability to convene key stakeholders. We have worked in partnership with educators and community members on the ground in more than 150 urban, suburban, and rural school districts across Colorado. CEI has worked with rural districts in every region of the state to support strategy development, career connected learning initiatives, family community partnership, social emotional development, and more. Our team is energized by our rural partners and often seen them advancing high-quality work on a faster timeline because of their ability to facilitate systems change quicker than larger districts can. In the 2020-21 school year, CEI partnered with 61 districts across the state of which 81% serve students of a 50% or greater population of “furthest from opportunity” as defined by minority, FRL, or rural designation, reflecting our experience working with diverse districts in various regions of the state. The CEI team brings significant expertise in visioning and strategy development with a range of school, district, and community partners. CEI takes a customized approach to designing and launching inclusive, community-driven processes and relies on our deep bench of staff with energizing and intentional meeting design and facilitation skills to ensure that the process is inspirational, synergistic, and actionable. CEI supports partners with developing a strategy and action plan that focuses on the highest-impact and highest-leverage strategies. From there, our team supports implementation and continuous improvement through a combination of technical assistance, professional learning, coaching, and data supports. CEI brings deep content expertise in all components of career connected learning (CCL) and offers supports with program implementation, systems development, and strategic communications. Our work often begins with the facilitation of a CCL audit to identify opportunities, barriers, and priorities. From there, our team supports districts with implementation, professional development, technical assistance, and broader systems creation across the different CCL components including career awareness and exploration; career preparation; and career pathway development. Currently, CEI leads several networks of district partners engaged in designing, strengthening, and implementing CCL initiatives. This includes expanding implementation work on equitable pathways and career connected learning, including Homegrown Talent Initiative, Reimagining College Access, RISE, Concurrent Enrollment, and Innovative Learning Opportunities Pilot (ILOP). In addition, CEI was contracted by CDE, partnering with CWDC and CCCS to design communications to increase student awareness and engagement in industry recognized credentials linked to high-wage, high-demand careers (SB 21-119). CEI was selected for national Pathways Narrative Project to leverage narrative change as a tool to enable more equitable access to education and career pathways for young people of color and experiencing poverty.
One of CEI's primary organizational competencies is network facilitation as evidenced by the work we have done over the past 14 years. We fundamentally believe that the most promising solutions to challenging issues emerge from the communities we work with and that through well-designed collaborative networks, partners can accelerate their work and leverage expertise and resources from across the state and country. CEI focuses on building norms, mindsets, and culture among partner districts so that everyone can benefit from the experience. Our team designs and arc and sequence to collaborative networks such that partners have access to scaffolded supports while simultaneously making use of emerging ideas, experiences, and synergy across the group. CEI approaches community partnership initiatives with a deep commitment to leveraging the lived experiences and voices community members and the place-based context to ensure maximum relevancy and impact. CEI has demonstrated our ability to work with schools, districts, and communities to ensure that a range of stakeholders and perspectives are at the table and that norms and behaviors create a safe and supportive space for different engagement styles and contributions. Moreover, community members and district partners have shared with our team that CEI’s overall engagement process and aligned strategic communications have resulted in increased feelings of community connectedness and trust. The CEI team believes that an authentic stakeholder engagement process involving the creation and facilitation of a task force/stakeholder workgroup is essential to any change management process. We often describe our design intention as “go slow to go fast,” meaning that we believe in the power of thorough and thoughtful stakeholder engagement to ensure that a change initiative has the foundation and buy-in from the community that will accelerate impact rather than thwart its implementation. Our team has observed how strong initiatives get sidelined if a partner does not create adequate time and space for community engagement to ensure the success of their work. Data will help to inform Rural Coaction design, planning, continuous improvement, evaluation, and grant reporting. CEI data team staff brings deep technical expertise in survey design along with the data visualization and data inquiry facilitation skills to support a participatory approach to translating data to action. Our team has experience analyzing academic data, familiarity with a range of data sources, survey design, and focus group and interview facilitation with a focus on inclusive practices to ensure all members of the community feel welcomed and have the tools (e.g., language services, transcription, childcare) necessary to fully participate. Moreover, members of the data team hold master’s and doctoral degrees and have prior professional experience as former classroom teachers and in a variety of social science research institutions. What differentiates our survey and research work is that we ground our approach in human-centered design, prioritizing the importance of cultivating deep empathy with people we are learning about and designing for to ensure maximum relevance and impact of a project.Denille LePlatt, South Central BOCES, Strategic Planning - January -April 2022, leplatt-d@SC-BOCES.ORG; Mary Kay Dore, Summit School District, Strategic Planning and Implementation Supports - 2021-2022, marykay.dore@summitk12.org; Karla Setter, Steamboat Springs School District - Improvement Planning and CCL 2021-Present, ksetter@ssk12.orgWe collaboratively build a scope of work and budget with prospective partners and consider project deliverables, staff time, and travel and other expenses. We look for efficiencies wherever possible to ensure that the work is able to move forward to meet timelines and exceed expectations in terms of quality and impact.
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Colorado Succeeds8200 Shaffer Parkway #271432, Littleton, CO 80127 (*Mailing only)Madison KnappDirector of Strategic Partnershipsmknapp@coloradosucceeds.org612-708-9344Colorado Succeeds (CS) is a statewide business coalition that executes strategic work across policy, practice, and philanthropy – a theory of change to create agile learners, educators, and systems. Its mission is to ensure all learners have access to high-quality experiences that allow them to reach their full potential; and that all of Colorado’s businesses have the homegrown talent they need to thrive. CS establishes an agile learning cycle across its workstreams through deep advocacy and engagement with diverse stakeholders. By working at the center of education, business, and government, and by being in partnership directly with student- and family-serving organizations, CS achieves ground-up innovation (www.coloradosucceeds.org).

CS has the past experiences, core competencies, and influential coalition of partners to support Rural Coaction applicants develop and implement high-quality experiences and pathways for students. The following competencies and tactics are CS’ primary areas of focus, and delivered in multifaceted, strategic, adaptable, collaborative, and student-centered ways depending on audience, geography, and needs across all key priorities.

*Please see the additional information in Section 13 for complete descriptions.

• Project Development & Management – facilitating partner design processes, oversight of implementation, thought partnership and coaching, grant writing, and effective evaluation.
• Communications & Marketing – developing tools and training on strategic communications and effectively building champions.
• Cross-Sector Partnerships for Career-Connected Learning – training and supports for learning providers and employers.
• Leveraging Local & State Policy – training and resources to understand policy levers, assess district landscape and create a plan for leveraging and braiding opportunities, and support for engaging local and state leaders.
• Thought Leadership & Systems Change – statewide and national systems change efforts, creating shared learning opportunities, developing high-quality publications and presentations, and stewarding key relationships in support of district priorities.
CS began collaborating with rural schools and districts with the launch of the Homegrown Talent Initiative (HTI) in 2019. HTI is a place-based systems change model that invests financial resources and robust technical assistance in rural communities to create relevant, high-quality learning experiences and aligned economic outcomes by bringing together K12, higher education, and industry – the educonomy. HTI has been engaging 8 rural districts around the state and is currently in the third and final year of the pilot project. CS has stewarded more than $1.5M in implementation dollars to these communities.

HTI is a collaboration between Colorado Succeeds and the Colorado Education Initiative, with both education nonprofits bringing complementary core competencies to the communities to increase impact and change. Specifically, CS provides overall project management and strategic direction; management of external evaluation and systems-level learning agenda; communications and marketing supports; policy and advocacy training and resources; and business engagement in career-connected learning. CS has also expanded its portfolio of rural schools through the Governor’s RISE Education Fund, through which CS participated as a Design Support Partner to two rural districts and stayed on contract to support implementation throughout the grant period. In addition to HTI and RISE, CS has also recognized rural schools and districts through The Succeeds Prize, an annual showcase of the most innovative models of creating agile students, educators, and systems.

CS has gained a tremendous amount of insight and humility in working with rural districts around the state including a strong awareness of major barriers and contexts that play a role in systems change in rural communities. At its core, CS is an advocacy organization, and has over the last several years prioritized policy and program solutions that support rural districts and incorporate their direct feedback and testimony.

More info: www.homegrowntalentco.org & https://crpe.org/wp-content/uploads/final_hti_brief_2021.pdf
Through HTI, Colorado Succeeds has directly supported rural districts develop annual implementation plans pertaining to career-connected learning and overall systems change work. This includes both building out tools and resources to utilize, coaching districts and supporting their design processes, as well as ongoing supports for actual implementation and evaluation for continuous improvement. Specific components of plans CS has supported include overall vision setting, career-connected learning programming development, stakeholder engagement strategies, communications, sustainability, evaluation, and budgeting.

Through RISE, CS supported two rural districts develop a collaborative initiative to build out CTE pathways across both districts. The design process included empathy interviews with key stakeholders, SWOT analyses and asset mapping, student and community surveys, and program activities and outcomes development. The districts were awarded over $1M for this project through a successful RISE application written by CS (https://coloradosucceeds.org/yampa-valley-districts-awarded-1m-rise-fund-grant/). CS also supported a consortium of four rural districts in East Central Colorado develop a shared virtual internship program. CS has stayed on contract with both RISE grantees to support ongoing coaching and implementation.
A core tenant of Colorado Succeeds’ efforts is creating and expanding high-quality, career-connected learning in Colorado. CS seeks to blur the lines between K12, postsecondary, and career pathways. As previously mentioned, this is also a primary goal of the Homegrown Talent Initiative and its RISE partners, and CS has supported rural districts in building out programs such as CTE pathways, internships, and concurrent enrollment for the last several years.

Foundational to this work is CS’ efforts to champion policies and support implementation of education experiences that align to in-demand jobs. This includes P-TECH, CTE, the Career Development Incentive Program (CDIP), and the Innovative Learning Opportunities Pilot program (ILOP), amongst others. This work includes protecting legislation annually, developing new policies based on student need, and increasing awareness and access to programs. CS also represents the business voice in education and has a diverse coalition of industry partners it educates, trains, and mobilizes in support of these shared priorities. This includes incentivizing work-based learning to increase business engagement, as well as providing training to both districts and employers on building sustainable cross-sector partnerships.

Additionally, CS developed the Colorado Roadmap to Work-Based Learning in partnership with numerous state agencies, industry partners, and schools/districts. It serves as a robust primer to all things related to career-connected learning in Colorado. www.coloradosucceeds.org/WBL
Colorado Succeeds has experience facilitating collaboration between nonprofit organizations, philanthropic partners, businesses, government leaders and policymakers, and schools and districts. Sitting at the center of diverse stakeholders in the ecosystem is a privilege and CS serves in a convener role when requested by its various coalitions of partners. CS conducts most of its strategic priorities in partnership with others, as a diverse coalition advocating for systems change on behalf of learners is stronger than any one individual or organization.

For example, each year CS collaborates with an advocacy coalition of half a dozen nonprofits and facilitates collaboration amongst policymakers to garner bipartisan support for its innovative policy solutions. CS also convenes and galvanizes a coalition of hundreds of business leaders and the companies they represent in support of transforming the education system to better serve students, families, and the workforce.

Notably, through the Homegrown Talent Initiative, CS has both collaborated and facilitated collaboration with partners. HTI is a co-led by CS and Colorado Education Initiative, which is unique in the education ecosystem: two like-minded education nonprofits with complementary and complex offerings coming together on one, 3-year project to support rural communities. This experience has allowed both organizations and their staff to grow and evolve in important ways, which has improved the overall impact and outcomes of the project. Secondly, CS and CEI supports the collaboration of HTI districts. HTI was designed as a cohort model; a peer network of shared learning experiences. After nearly three years of implementation work, both quantitative and qualitative data continue to support that this collaboration across rural districts is one of the most impactful components of HTI. Specific experiences include multiple times per year retreats and convenings; monthly role-alike coaching calls; and site visits to each other’s communities to learn and reflect on the work.
Colorado Succeeds’ policy-practice feedback loop process begins with community engagement. To understand both the impact of existing programs as well as the needs and barriers that remain for new innovations, CS starts with those users who matter most: students and families. CS has deep and reciprocal partnerships with several community-serving organizations who play a critical role in developing its strategic plan each year. Examples include the African Leadership Group, Transform Education Now, Colorado Youth Congress, Young Invincibles, and YAASPA. This reflects a CS core value as well as commitment to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. By living this out and continuously improving on it each year, CS is a better partner and advocate, and better positioned to support districts in their community engagement efforts.

Another core tenant of HTI is community engagement. From the start, districts were supported in developing diverse design teams of various stakeholders and conducting empathy interviews to develop a shared understanding of strengths, opportunities, and hopes for the future. This intention has continued throughout the project, with evaluated structures and dispositions pertaining to community and stakeholder engagement – meaning, discussed and reflected on often, with key action plans put in place for continuous improvement. CS specifically supports the engagement of industry partners as well as communications efforts – both of which are critical to a successful stakeholder engagement plan.
CS package of offerings:

Project Development & Management:
o Facilitation of program and partnership design processes, empathy-building workshops, and collaborative visioning and strategic planning sessions for partners across K-12, higher ed, and business.
o Management of program development and implementation, including expert grant writing capacity.
o Thought partnership and coaching.
o Creating, deploying, and managing protocols to effectively manage timeliness, processes, and progress.
o Evaluating outcomes and synthesizing impact and learnings.

Communications, Marketing, & Storytelling:
o Strategic communications to increase awareness, access, and build champions.
o Telling stories of impact through diverse methods.
o Developing tools and training on strategic communications.
o Training on how to build champions and engage key stakeholders through strategic communications.

Cross-Sector Partnerships & Career-Connected Learning:
o Training and technical assistance for learning providers and employers on engaging and leveraging diverse stakeholders across K-12, higher education, and business/industry to build cross-sector partnerships and relevant career-connected learning experiences aligned to postsecondary opportunities and in-demand workforce pathways.

Leveraging Local & State Policy:
o Increase awareness and understanding of local and state policy context, conditions, and levers.
o Support learning providers in implementing new and existing career-connected policies, and partner with state and local agencies to facilitate policy feedback sessions.
o Tools and training to assess where districts are at in the policy landscape and supports on how to navigate conditions to maximize resources and opportunities.
o Robust tracking and analysis to inform policy prototypes, technical assistance, and research opportunities.
o Braiding policy and funding opportunities to increase and accelerate impact and sustain efforts.

Thought Leadership & Systems Change:
o Support statewide and national systems change based on implementation key learnings and core competencies through thought leadership, key relationships in business and philanthropy, national partners doing the work; creating more opportunities for shared learning, policy influence, and funding.
o Develop and deliver high-quality trainings, presentations, or other technical assistance to support key stakeholders such as practitioners, students, families, members, and partners.
• HTI District Partners (2/8) - Clear Creek School District, Karen Quanbeck, karen.quanbeck@ccsdre1.org; East Grand School District, Frank Reeves, frank.reeves@egsd.org (2019-present, ongoing)
• Gates Family Foundation / RISE Design Support Partner, Mary Seawall, mseawall@gatesfamilyfoundation.org (long-standing partnership; RISE specifically in Oct 2020-2021)
• Yampa Valley RISE (Hayden & South Routt School Districts), Christy Sinner, Rim Watson, & Emily Beyer, csinner@haydenschools.org & rwatson@southrouttk12.org & ebeyer@ssk12.org (Oct 2020-present, ongoing)
Colorado Succeeds’ primary goal is to support schools/districts in accessing opportunities to improve educational experiences and outcomes for students aligned to the agile global economy. As such, CS seeks to serve as an accessible and inclusive thought partner. Fees are comparable to other industry experts and support CS staff time to develop and deliver content and technical assistance services, both ongoing and specific deliverables such as events or workshops. Additional fees may include related travel costs or supplies/materials needed and can be determined collaboratively with partners. All fees will be commensurate with overall scope of work desired, and time/capacity required of CS staff to deliver high-quality supports. CS will maintain the highest level of fiduciary responsibility and ensure all deliverables are on-time and on-budget.
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Empower Schools9 Menlo Street, Boston, MA 02135Brett AlessiCo-Founder and Partnerbrett@empowerschools.org617-455-2627Empower Schools is a nonprofit organization that partners with communities to develop sustainable solutions that improve student success at school and in life. Key to our work is our support for the design and implementation of formal collaborations/partnerships between districts, IHE’s, and industry that expand high-quality learning opportunities for students, including their ability to access high-quality career/college pathways. Empower Schools has two key focus areas aligned to the rural coaction:

Rural Collaboratives
Empower Schools catalyzes rural public school systems to forge lasting multi-district, cross-sector, regional partnerships that expand opportunities for underserved students to access robust college and career pathways. We have helped to design and launch several rural collaboratives, namely the Rural Schools Innovation Zone (TX) and the Southwest Colorado Education Collaborative (CO). Rural collaborations allow students additional choice and access to educational opportunities and postsecondary options that support their personal and /professional success as well as help to solve the challenges that small and rural districts face by efficiently sharing programing and resources.

Early College and Career Pathways
Empower Schools supports the bridging of the traditional silos of high school and postsecondary education to transform students’ access and ability to explore college and career options through high quality CTE pathways, concurrent enrollment, and dual credit completion. Our work helps to identify the ways that current pathways can be redesigned and/or expanded so that schools can offer students greater access to college credits as well as industry recognized certificates, and bolster students’ postsecondary confidence, leading to better opportunities for students.
Empower Schools has supported rural districts in both Texas and Colorado. In Texas, we supported the launch of partnerships in South Texas, including the Rural Schools Innovation Zone (RSIZ). Additionally in Texas, Empower has supported Benavides ISD, a district of around 250 students, with the launch of 2 in-district partnerships, one focused on student-centered learning at the elementary campus and one focused on P-TECH and CTE pathways at the secondary campus.

In Colorado, Empower catalyzed the launch of 2 regional rural partnerships in the Southwest and San Luis Valley to secure RISE grants by initially convening various stakeholders to build the concept, align on the goals, and then develop the strategic plan and timeline. Empower has continued to provide technical assistance and implementation support and both projects are two-year, multi-million dollar (one being the largest RISE recipient in the state) investments in the local communities to build and expand college and career pathways. In the Southwest, we facilitated the development of an MOU across 5 school districts and 2 higher education institutions. We also supported the creation of the centralizing nonprofit organization, set up a Board of Directors, and helped to hire and onboard three full time staff. In the San Luis Valley, we support the collaboration of 7 school districts and Adams State University to expand entrepreneurship and innovation in the region.

Empower Schools also catalyzed the 3 districts in Fremont and Pueblo Community College to come together to design and launch a regional approach to college and career. Empower continues to provide technical assistance and project management support to the Fremont Multidistrict Initiative (FMI), and we recently supported the FMI to successfully submit a regional PTECH application that was approved - the first multi-district application in the state of Colorado. We are currently working with the group on expanding access to a Medical pathway (housed in Cañon City High School), an Agriculture pathway (housed in Florence Jr/Sr School), and an Environmental pathway that allows for the attainment of high-quality certifications and potential college credit for all students in the region regardless of home district. Finally, Empower is currently supporting early design work in the Yampa Valley region alongside Lyra Colorado with 4 districts to design a rural collaborative focused on stewardship-related pathways called the Climatarium.
Empower supports rural leaders in the design of strategy and implementation phases of collaboration by:

- Developing and setting ambitious goals that fit the local context and result in expanded opportunities for students
- Convening stakeholders and local leaders who embrace this work and are ready for change and develop an ecosystem for collaboration by identifying key allies
- Designing and launching sustainable structures that incorporate local voice and continuous improvement cycles, ensure continuity, and are financially sustainable
- Building local capacity to empower local community members to lead this work for years to come
- Providing project management support to ensure implementation fidelity and that the work moves forward

We believe in local communities driving the work, so we provide the support needed for them to develop a strategy that will work best for their context.
One of our primary areas of focus at Empower Schools is catalyzing rural collaboratives to expand college and career opportunities for students. Partnerships in Texas and Colorado have shown what is possible when districts, higher education, industry partners, and nonprofits come together to expand options available to students while intentionally building opportunities that lead to student success through increased job creation and higher education access.

The first of these collaboratives that Empower helped to design and launch is the Rural Schools Innovation Zone. The RSIZ is a first-of-its-kind initiative aimed towards improving educational opportunities for rural students in South Texas. Formed in 2019, the RSIZ was launched as a collaborative partnership between 3 independent school districts, higher education, and local industry to expand opportunities for students in the region to attain meaningful and valuable career opportunities for 21st century jobs. Over its first 3 years, the RSIZ has shown promising gains for students. The RSIZ has tripled the percentage of students completing a dual-credit course (15% in 2019 to 63% in 2021), and has far surpassed the state average of 25%. They have more than doubled the percentage of students earning an industry certification in high school each year (4% in 2019 to 26% in 2021), outperforming the state average of 13%. And they have nearly closed the gap in percentage of college ready students from 16% to 41% (just 2% below the state), all in the midst of the pandemic.

We currently work on 3 projects in Colorado dedicated to expanding or adding CTE pathways regionally across multiple school districts. Work-based learning is also a focus through designing career exploration events, consulting projects, and internships. In Fremont County, we supported the three school districts to successfully get approval to expand a PTECH model in one district’s high school to the other two districts under the same umbrella. Developing pathways made up of varied opportunities including but not limited to CTE coursework, concurrent enrollment, and work-based learning that are clear to students, families, and counselors, and lead to impactful outcomes for graduates is the ultimate goal.
Empower Schools believes in the impact of partnerships that enable educators and local leaders to set shared, ambitious goals for their students and community. We ensure that they have or create the systems and structures needed for the partnerships to last and operate in a way where all stakeholders have a voice. It is important that in our collaborative support, we are able to break down silos between sectors and ensure all stakeholders are at the table from the beginning. For example, the SWCEC Board of Directors has Superintendent, IHE, community, and industry representatives.

In the planning process or early stages of supporting rural collaboratives, Empower Schools has facilitated design workshops and goal setting meetings that bring together district leaders, IHE partners, and school leaders to allow for all perspectives to be shared and considered. Additionally we have planned and implemented half day or day-long retreats aimed around more intensive strategic planning or decision-making. For all our projects, we build in multiple opportunities through regular communication check-ins for partner organizations to build strong relationships, engage in thought partnership, and identify problems and solutions together.

For example in the Southwest Colorado Education Collaborative, Empower helped to organize multiple strategic planning session for the Steering Committee made up of superintendents, principals, CTE directors, and IHE partners, to make key decisions on the future of the regional collaboration including the approval of a sustainable financial model, the selection of additional CTE pathways, and the potential expansion of the Collaborative to include other surrounding districts.
Empower Schools is guided by the belief that the path to success is not one-size-fits-all, and that educator voice and community collaboration is a critical driver of school improvement and innovation. School districts, especially rural ones, are the heart of their communities and play a central role in collective identity. Collaborative work, while an exciting way to potentially expand resources and opportunities, can require a mindset shift in openness to change and partner with others. Thus, any successful district change requires thoughtful community engagement and communication.

We support our partners and districts in all phases of community engagement. During the planning phases of our projects, we prioritize and support the development of communication and engagement strategies that include opportunities to share with communities as well as learn from them and gauge their needs. We help districts and partners develop communications materials and plan events, including talking points, decks, board presentations, family information sessions and informational materials like FAQs. This has also included the creation of surveys and focus groups that give community members, teachers, board members, families, etc. the opportunity to provide feedback and a space to be heard. Additionally, we support partners in the development of relationships critical to successful engagement including key champions, community leaders, community organizations and other local education partners.

For example in the Rural Schools Innovation Zone in Texas, we supported the facilitation of Family Information nights hosted at each school district (pre-pandemic) and virtually (during the pandemic). Families were able to receive information about the available options and career pathways for their students, hear from the pathway teachers and directors, and engage in discussion with school leaders and their district school board members.
As a part of our work with the Rural Schools Innovation Zone, Empower Schools was commissioned by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) to create a toolkit (https://www.empowerschools.org/rural-collab-toolkit/) that focuses on the benefits of rural collaboration and highlights our work with the Rural Schools Innovation Zone. The RSIZ is made up of three small rural districts, Brooks County ISD, Freer ISD, and Premont ISD, serving around 650 students total, 78% of whom are economically disadvantaged. The toolkit shares how the three districts came together, the conditions that allowed or were created to support the collaboration, and lessons learned/best practices from the work. This toolkit has been shared across the state and beyond, and shows our ability to support the design and launch of a rural collaborative.Reference #1: Tom Stritikus, President, Fort Lewis College
Board Member, Southwest Colorado Education Collaborative
tstritikus@fortlewis.edu
We have been supporting the Southwest Colorado Education Collaborative since November 2020 and continue to provide technical assistance to them through the RISE Grant.

Reference #2: Brenda Krage, Superintendent, Florence School District RE-2
bkrage@re-2.org
We have been supporting Florence School District, one of the three districts in the Fremont Multidistrict Initiative, since Summer 2020 and have continued to provide technical assistance.

Reference #3: Mary Seawell, Senior Vice President-Education, Gates Family Foundation and President of Lyra Colorado
Empower Schools has worked with Lyra on the launch of the Denver Innovation Zones since 2015. We also currently work with Lyra in Yampa Valley as of Winter 2021.
Empower Schools generally structures our fee as a flat rate within a specific time period or as a specific percentage of the grant funds.
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Generation Schools Network/Colorado Rural Education Collaborative455 Sherman Street, Suite 120, Denver, CO 80203Kirk BanghartChief Facilitator, CO Rural Education Collaborativekbanghart@generationschools.org719-207-3858Generation Schools Network (GSN) is a national, Colorado-based, non-profit founded in 2005 with the help of an Echoing Green Prize to support systemic innovation in public education. GSN’s unique educational Model was designed to bring equitable learning opportunities to all students by re-thinking the use of time, talent and resources to ensure all students achieved success in school, work and life.

Inaugural efforts included launching a turnaround replacement school on the GSN Model in Brooklyn, New York (2006). This effort demonstrated outstanding results (95% minority student population) including improving the abysmal graduation rate of 45% to 77%, (exceeding the citywide average) and seeing 90-100% of graduates accepted into post-secondary institutions.

Subsequently, GSN chose Colorado to launch a second Model school where per pupil revenue was closer to most states. West Generation Academy (now West Early College) opened in Denver (2012), as the first turnaround replacement school in the state with an Innovation Plan. GSN was deeply involved in approval, launch, and model implementation for 3 years with student outcomes demonstrating promising improvement including 68% of students passing their first college course by their junior year. The student population was 89% minority with 91% of students qualifying for Free and Reduced Lunch.

Due to the high cost of starting schools, maintaining fidelity and decreasing demand for new/replacement schools, the GSN Board made a strategic decision in 2014 to uncouple the innovative aspects of the GSN school Model and focus instead on coming alongside schools to apply the innovative principles of the Model to accelerate improvement and solve schools’ most pressing problems of practice. To accomplish this, GSN employs the expertise of highly skilled staff who have spent decades operating successful districts and schools. During the 2020-2021 school year, GSN partnered with 105 schools and districts to help 4,778 teachers and 69,709 students. GSN now focuses on improving school and district outcomes in four areas:

Leadership & Improvement
Health & Wellness
Redesign & Innovation
College & Career Readiness

Early (2014) school improvement efforts included rural districts such as Archuleta School District #50 JT Pagosa Springs and Huerfano RE-1 prior to founding the 78 district (and growing) Colorado Rural Education Collaborative.
Generation Schools Network in partnership with BOCES, rural districts, higher education, economic development entities and other partners worked together to launch the Colorado Rural Education Collaborative (CREC) in summer 2015 (https://coruraledcollab.org/). Over two days in Pueblo, more than 100 educators and community members worked collectively to determine the most common rural challenges that they were willing to work together to solve.

As the backbone organization, Generation Schools Network now supports the 78 member districts (see map: https://coruraledcollab.org/about) and the corresponding six state-wide network improvement community (NIC) focus areas selected by rural superintendents which include: College/Career Readiness, Student-Centered Accountability, Teacher Recruitment & Retention, Teacher/Leader Efficacy, Social/Emotional Learning & Students At-risk and STEM Integration. To date more than 26M has been raised and invested in collective rural efforts across the state, each with strong results. Examples of that work across the Santa Fe Trail BOCES and the I-76 corridor in the area of college/career readiness include: https://coschooltowork.org/ (In Your Community tab) and https://coruraledcollab.org/our-work.

GSN employs a Chief Facilitator for the collaborative, serves as fiscal agent, seeks funding to support rural districts in the six areas of focus and supports implementation as needed. There are no membership fees to be a part of the CREC, rather districts participate in the NICs also known as Genesis Groups that most benefit their district and GSN works to ensure that when resource needs are identified, they are met.

Additionally, GSN hires staff across the state (Salida, Trinidad, Yuma, Pagosa, etc.) who are able to support rural work from a vantage point of being from the local community. GSN’s senior staff have decades of experience leading successful schools and districts and understand school and district budgeting, state and federal grant implementation and accountability systems having served in principal and superintendent roles and on state committees.
Since 2005, GSN has been working to come alongside schools and districts identifying challenges and problems of practice and supporting them in solving them through applying evidence based strategies to root causes. In addition to previously mentioned organizational efforts, GSN serves as an approved Diagnostic Review and Unified Improvement Planning provider for the Colorado Department of Education and has completed nearly 50 reviews and strategic plans across 5 states in the last 5 years.

Additionally, numerous GSN staff have received training from the Billions Institute on Large Scale Social Change and CEO, Wendy Loloff Cooper recently completed a 3 year fellowship program with Billions. Other staff also have broad and deep experience driving educational change to benefit all students.

GSN CEO and CREC Chief Facilitator are members of the Rural National Collaborative facilitated by the National Rural Education Association (NREA) with which several large scale rural education movements are being undertaken.

The results from the work of each of the six network improvement communities of the CREC can be found here as a further demonstration of our grassroots efforts that have successfully supported strategy development and implementation in education and district settings: https://coruraledcollab.org/our-work

College/Career Readiness (CCR) has always been a focus for GSN as a way to bring equity to marginalized populations. In the GSN School Model, a teacher team dedicated to CCR rotated through the secondary school tasked with project-based learning through introduction to high growth career areas supported by community engagement teams from industry. This allowed for content teachers to take mid-year breaks of 3 weeks to refresh and participate in PD and planning.

GSN now continues this work through the CREC. The six Santa Fe Trail BOCES districts were the first to embark on this work through a Plan into Action grant GSN helped to secure along with recruiting CSU-Global as a higher education partner. The Higher Ed Commission’s changes on rule implementation for concurrent enrollment meant SFT BOCES districts would largely lose their ability to offer concurrent courses due to lack of teacher credentials.

Instead, a strategy was devised whereby teachers could still teach concurrent enrollment with the CSU-Global professor serving as the teacher of record while scholarship funding provided for teachers to get a master’s degree or 18 hours in coursework to update their credentials. Thankfully, concurrent enrollment not only continued, but increased by 50%. More here: Concurrent Enrollment

From there, the BOCES requested help in creating a Pathway to Prosperity for grades 4-12 to ensure all students had access to college/career readiness opportunities. The pathway that GSN/CREC helped them to build is illustrated here: https://coschooltowork.org/santa-fe-trail Even with COVID pivots, more than 2,700 students per year have been participating in pathway offerings.

Subsequently, six districts along the I-76 corridor came together to form a similar pathway. Districts include: Wiggins, Weld RE-3J, Ft. Morgan, Brush, Weldon Valley and Platte Valley. This effort mirrored the community-driven process in SFT BOCES with GSN/CREC guiding pathway development: https://coschooltowork.org/i76
Each effort that GSN undertakes prioritizes finding the right partners for the work. Our work in the college/career readiness space takes place with the help of numerous other higher education, industry and community partners. For example, in the pathways we have helped to build, entrepreneurship is approached with the help of two other partners currently, one state (Ogallala Commons) and one national (WeThrive). GSN supports the engagement of each organization employing their strengths to create the best entrepreneurship program for rural schools that is possible. E-fairs and camps are produced in partnership with Ogallala Commons and WeThrive provides the curriculum and student app that guide business plan development and give students financial rewards for successful planning and implementation.

GSN coordinates the overall effort, identifies the funders, engages schools and districts and will track outcomes for everyone involved. The Fuel & Iron Project is now joining the effort to provide entrepreneurial opportunities for students interested in being a restaurateur or producing packaged food products. Soon, the Colorado Restaurant Association will be engaging to provide internships and apprenticeships with CTE credentials.

Other partners GSN has enlisted in the efforts to date include higher education partners such as Morgan Community College, AIMS Community College, East Otero Community College and Colorado State University. Workforce centers are engaged along with industry partners which range across 12 communities including examples like International Water Technologies, Southeast Power and OtterBox.

Skill-based partners provide exposure experiences like LearningBlade’s tech quests and Spark MIndset which provides tech certifications. The list of partners continues to grow and adjust based on the needs of the local communities. Ultimately, when GSN/CREC are done helping to build the pathway, the on-going success and sustainability belongs to the local community, so having a broad spectrum of committed partners and grassroots voices driving the process is essential.
Due to the work of GSN/CREC being grassroots driven, community voice is paramount in all of the work that we undertake around college/career readiness. What we have found from our work is that local business, industry and education partners want to be connected more closely to local schools and districts. Conversely local schools and districts are committed to preparing their students to support the local economy and want to be better connected to industry. However, without an intermediary with dedicated time who can help to bridge the gap, offer extra hands on deck, guide the planning process and ensure a customized local effort with agreed upon common outcomes, it is difficult to bridge the gap.

GSN welcomes the opportunity to step into the role of strengthening community engagement and is still pioneering new approaches. For example, in Wiggins School District, GSN staff have been facilitating a twice monthly dialogue between Spanish speaking parents and the Superintendent and his team. Google translate is used by both sides who enjoy interacting, hearing from one another and are developing a bond over their shared commitment to student opportunity.
The CREC's work is currently unique in Colorado in the way that communities work together to choose essential North Star skills that local employers need, embed learning, practicing and demonstrating the skills and then will provide micro-credentials with progress tracked on a community-facing dashboard. The Santa Fe Trail BOCES districts and local business chose responsibility, adaptability and communication as their skills while the I-76 community chose leadership, integrity and communication.

Marzano Research was then engaged to support the districts in understanding the research behind what developing each North Star Skill requires. Rubrics were created for each grade level and embedded into an Ed-fi compliant data platform where teachers can record students progress in developing the North Star Skills over time. This allows for specific activities to be chosen to build student competency toward badging by graduation.

Communities are currently choosing other metrics to be reflected on the dashboard such as number of internships completed, concurrent enrollment courses completed and scholarship dollars saved by families, North Star badges earned, real-world problem scenarios completed, etc.

More about the Student-Centered Reporting Solution can be found here: https://coruraledcollab.org/student-centered-accountability-and-reporting

Dr. Trent Kerr, Superintendent, Wiggins School District 50 J, kerrt@wiggins50.k12.co.us, (970) 483-7762 ext 4202.
Contract dates: 2017 - present

Sandy Malouff, Director, Santa Fe Trail BOCES, sandy.malouff@sftboces.k12.co.us, (719) 383-2623 x 214 (office), 719-469-9942 (cell)
Contract dates: 2015 - Present

Rick Lovato, Superintendent, East Otero School District R-1, rlovato@lajunta.k12.co.us, (719) 384-6909
Contract dates: 2016 - Present
Generation Schools Network and the Colorado Rural Education Collaborative in partnership with schools/districts assess the program needs through a gap analysis that is grassroots driven. Then, GSN works to identify potential funding sources to underwrite the work determined to be priority by rural schools and districts. Next we work with our partners to secure a combination of federal, state, district, school and grant funding to underwrite agreed upon program costs to cover the work. Often the school or district contribution is their commitment to be a part of the process to accomplish the agreed upon goal. Through this process, a long term sustainable business model and funding strategy is also developed to ensure that the challenge can be solved on a long-term basis. When GSN/CREC staff support project work it is often at a rate that averages around $1,500/day.
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JWebb & MClough Educational Consulting, LLC30 Ptarmigan Trail, Canon City, CO 81212Jackie WebbConsultantjwebbeducationalconsulting@gmail.com719-349-1272Leadership Support & Development
Strategic Planning Development, Support, and Implementation
Resource Alignment
Direct Leadership Experience in Colorado Rural Districts as Superintendent and Instructional Leader
Instructional Leadership Support and Training
Field Support for Alternative Teacher Programming
Field Support for Accreditation
Grant Development, Planning, and Support
Project Management and Evaluation of Grant Programs
Engagement of Community, Board, and Staff Members in Building Projects
Review of Instructional Systems combined with Follow-up Planning and Implementation Supports
Customized Supports Based upon Demonstrated Need
Secondary Literacy Project – Pikes Peak & Northcentral Portions of the State of Colorado

Accreditation Support & Services – Pikes Peak & Northcentral Portions of the State of Colorado

Developed Successful Strategy Development and Implementation:
Demonstrated Success – Moved one of the lowest performing district in the State of Colorado from Turnaround to Improvement status as defined by the Colorado Department Education’s District Performance Framework
Lead the Redevelopment of CTE programming in the Sheridan, Douglas County, Littleton and Englewood DistrictsLeadership Development of the Opportunity Coalition – Coalition Provides High-Quality Lobbyists to Represent the Interests of Small Districts
Co-Developed a Successful SAFER Grant Program with the Pikes Peak BOCES Member Districts
Educational Planning to Determine Facility Needs Through an In-Depth Committee and Community Process
Designed and Facilitated Community Engagement Focus Groups in Support of District Strategic Planning
Leadership Experience at the Building, District, and State Level in Rural, Suburban, and Urban Settings
Experience in the Process of Capital Development Projects
Experience in Budget Development
Experience in Leadership Training & Development
Experience in Teacher Training & Development
Experience in Team Development
Experience in Grant Development and Implementation
Dr. Kermit Snyder, Superintendent
(719) 254-7423
601 South 8th Street
Rocky Ford, CO 81067
Partnership Date - Present

George Welsh, Superintendent
(719) 276-5700
101 North 14th Street
Canon City, Colorado 81212
Partnership Date - Present

Tim Kistler, Superintendent
(719) 749-2330
13990 Bradshaw Road
Peyton, CO 80831
Partnership Date - Present
Daily Rate/Travel Expenses
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Lyra Colorado1390 Lawrence St. Suite 400, Denver CO 80204Elizabeth HarbaughChief of Staffelizabeth@lyracolorado.org541-231-5068Lyra Colorado helps build collaboratives of multiple rural school districts, institutes of higher education, and industry/nonprofits by providing project management, grant funding, and access to a large network of experts and partners to support the creation of college and career pathways related to climate change and environmental sustainability. Lyra supports building sustainable collaborations to design and implement pathways that connect students to the realities of climate change in their region. These partnerships are made up of rural superintendents, representatives from institutes of higher education, and local industry. Lyra works with these stakeholders to identify their priorities. Programs and pathways are framed and communicated in a way that matches the norms and values of that community. Lyra has supported regional efforts with economies driven by agriculture, ranching, recreation, forestry, and energy to help them build opportunities that work for their students.Since 2019, Lyra has worked to identify rural regions that are interested in collaboration and expanding opportunities for students around climate change education and career pathways. Our first project, now named the Environment and Climate Institute is a pathway managed by Fort Lewis College and a part of the Southwest Colorado Education Collaborative (SWCEC), a collaboration between five school districts, Fort Lewis College (FLC), Pueblo Community College (PCC), and local nonprofits. We provided support to the districts by building capacity through grants, strengthening the relationship between the collaborative and Fort Lewis College, and bringing in outside partners to support the development of pathways. With Lyra’s support, the SWCEC was awarded the largest RISE grant in Colorado, totaling $3.6 million. Part of the Lyra model is partnering with Empower Schools to build sustainable governance structures so that collaboration can withstand leadership change and continuously seek funding without Lyra’s direct support.

In addition to the SWCEC, Lyra partners with Empower Schools to support collaboration with three school districts in Fremont County (Canon City, Fremont RE-2, and Cotopaxi) and Pueblo Community College. Lyra is supporting the development of a climate change pathway by supporting and funding River Science, a water conservation nonprofit that provides educational programming in Cañon City High School. With Lyra’s support, River Science programming will expand to all of the schools in the collaborative and provide CDIP credentialing opportunities for participating students.

Currently, Lyra is working with four districts in the Yampa Valley—Steamboat Springs, Moffat, South Routt County, and Hayden—to support collaboration. We have supported this initiative by serving as project managers and providing funding to the Yampa Valley Sustainability Council (YVSC) to serve as a local partner and conduct extensive asset mapping in the region. Lyra plans to continue supporting this collaboration over the next two years. In addition to these existing regions, Lyra frequently conducts outreach in rural communities to gauge the interest and need for support. Colorado Mountain College has expressed interest in bringing Lyra’s support to all of its service areas in the state. We are currently actively exploring partnerships in Montrose, Telluride, Pueblo, Leadville, and the regions surrounding these communities.
Lyra’s process looks different in each region we work with because the needs of each region are different and unique. We begin by establishing partnerships with superintendents from each district and other essential education stakeholders, including board members, instructional leads, and school leaders. We facilitate meetings between these stakeholders to establish a map of existing assets, a vision for the focus of any pathways, and onboard additional partners to participate. With our partners at Empower Schools, we facilitate goal development and ensure that all projects include measurable outcomes and indicators of success. Finally we make sure to formalize partnership through MOU’s and partnership agreements, as well as governance structures that benefit the long-term sustainability of the collaborative.

With the SWCEC, Lyra provided hands-on support both with strategy and implementation. We served as the central convener for the districts and provided direct funding and support to design and implement programming. Additionally, our team worked with teachers, students, and districts to run pilot programming and develop curricular resources. Similarly, in the Yampa Valley, our role has been to manage the partnership and vision setting phases. We plan and facilitate convenings to best utilize the time of the districts, design activities intended to support collaborative strategy development, and build connections/relationships in the region. We also funded a local nonprofit to support implementation. Conversely, in Fremont County our role has been much more removed, supporting program implementation through both direct and indirect funding. Our partner organizations, Empower and River Science, more directly manage the strategy and implementation, relying on Lyra for financial support and additional resources as needed.
As a part of our mission, each Climatarium hub that we create needs to incorporate career-connected learning and student pathways. Regions help design these pathways using the existing assets that exist in their region, the industry needs, and the impacts of climate change most directly impacting their communities. Examples of pathway components include concurrent enrollment opportunities, internships programs, and credentialing programs.

Our first experience in building pathways was supporting the design and implementation of the Environment & Climate Institute (ECI). The program is building out over time and started with an intensive summer program hosted on the FLC campus focusing on environmental education. The institute is the kick off for a year-long program for students and teachers in the districts. The program is intended to bridge the gap between K-12 students and higher education and strengthen partnerships between participating districts and Fort Lewis College to provide broader opportunities for students. Lyra’s role in facilitating this program was both in design and implementation. During the design process, Lyra held teacher and student focus groups to support design, facilitated collaboration among the districts, and provided funding for teachers/content experts to come together and build out the programmatic pieces. For implementation, Lyra was continually present and on the ground to support and project manage the initiative. Lyra directly oversaw the ECI pilot program, and now offers spots for participation to students in our regions across the state.

One of our strategic goals for the coming year is to build out a climate education pathway that can be implemented at all Climatarium hubs. Lyra plans to use CTE, CDIP certified programs, and other existing pathways to develop a comprehensive map of certification and credentialing options for districts and make it easier for new programs to utilize existing resources for career-connected learning. Lyra is working with Colorado Succeeds and Empower Schools to develop a clear understanding of existing pathways and the process for developing new pathways. Additionally, Lyra collaborates with local organizations, such as River Science, that are already implementing student pathways to expand and replicate their work across the state.
Lyra leverages relationships with grantees of the Gates Family Foundation in education, natural resources, and community development to build capacity for our rural partners and support the development of our college and career pathways. In addition to local partners, we build connections between regions and education organizations around the state to provide expertise to the region.

Lyra’s primary goal is to build capacity in the regions we serve. With this, we strive as much as possible to provide funding and resources to local nonprofit partners. With the SWCEC, we provided support to a local nonprofit Mountain Studies Institute to support professional development for teachers and expand its work in schools for environmental education programming and curriculum development. In Fremont County, Lyra is providing strategic support and funding to River Science, a local water conservation organization, to help them expand their programming around the region. In each area where we work, Lyra identifies aligned organizations and builds their capacity to support local collaboratives.

If needed and requested, Lyra brings statewide partners into regions to address gaps in strategy, design, and program implementation. We partner with Empower Schools on a number of projects. Empower’s process for developing sustainable governance for initiatives ensures collaboratives and pathways can withstand leadership changes in rural school districts.
One of our primary learnings from our experience with the SWCEC is the importance of bringing industry into the collaborative process in the early phases of development. For Lyra’s rural projects, industry includes local businesses, community organizations, nonprofits, government agencies, and/or economic development organizations. In each region we work in, we create extensive asset maps of local industries and community connections and build plans for how to engage industry in the process. Additionally, we work with partners to develop relationships across sectors and frame difficult topics and conversations in a way that serves the needs of each community.

In our most recent project in Yampa Valley, we recruited the Craig Chamber of Commerce, local businesses, and aligned nonprofits to be a part of the core collaborative. With these voices in the room, we are able to align and utilize existing opportunities to create more immediate options for students. Additionally, working with these partners has expanded this collaborative’s goals to include economic community perception and development measures, so that we can measure the ways that pathways and education opportunities impact the community as a whole.
Lyra works closely with the Gates Family Foundation's education and natural resources teams to identify communities that are already doing innovative work and seeking ways to collaborate. We believe strongly in building off of the strengths that already exist in rural Colorado communities. As much as possible, we strive to use our relationships with locally-based foundations to build capacity in rural communities and allow them to create something that exists beyond our presence in the region. Our work with GFF gives us added capacity and builds trust in rural regions, allowing us to build relationships and support collaboration.Kim White
Fall 2019 - Winter 2022
supt@silvertonschool.org

Christy Sinner
Partner from October 2021-Present, contract under development.
csinner@haydenschools.org

Dan Snowberger
Spring 2018 - Summer 2021
​​DSnowberger@d49.org

Kevin Aten
Fall 2019 - Winter 2022
970-567-6774
We do not charge any fees for our work. Given our close relationship with the Gates Family Foundation, we are able to leverage funds from both GFF and other foundations and put all monetary support back into the rural districts that we serve.
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Trendlines Colorado789 N SHERMAN ST, SUITE 200, DENVER, CO 80203Eliza HardingCEOeliza.harding@trendlinescolorado.org720-422-3189Trendlines believes all education is workforce education. The organization aims to improve the workforce ecosystem by providing better access to high-opportunity careers in underserved communities. To drive higher success rates in skills attainment, education program completion, job placement, job retention, and advancement, Trendlines works to
- Enhance and scale workforce programming through innovative design and investment.
- Reduce barriers in transitions for individuals.
- Strengthen connections between educators and employers.
A primary focus of his work is building programs for quality skill building and career exploration from secondary to postsecondary to workforce. In this area, Trendlines works largely with collaborative groups of school districts, two- and four-year colleges, and workforce partners to design career pathways that have school and work-based elements with advising baked in. The Team supports both the design and implementation of these career paths and supports quality improvements as well.

For just over two years, Trendlines has worked as a design and implementation partner for ~30 school districts and their associated partners. Prior to that work, the Team has over 20 years of combined experience in areas ranging from competency and project-based learning to school and educational operations.

Trendlines was selected as a primary design partner for promising potential RISE grantees, Cripple Creek Victor School District, Mountain BOCES, and Northeastern Junior College. The Team assisted these rural collaborations in developing their grant applications, two thirds were selected as awardees with the total award amount nearing $3.5M. The Team also assisted in two additional applications for the Southwest Colorado Education Collaborative (Ft Lewis College) and Adams State who were selected as grantees and awarded $6M total. Lastly, the Trendlines Team has worked with the Fremont Multidistrict Initiative, Cañon City, Fremont, and Cotopaxi, for nearly two years strategizing on shared CTE/CE pathways and financial sustainability for those pathways.

For the awardees of the RISE grant mentioned above, Trendlines has also served as an implementation partner: working with awardees to strengthen career and college programming with a specific focus on work-based learning and connectivity to the workplace upon completion/graduation. Trendlines has worked to ensure districts are able to overcome barriers in providing students access, transportation, scheduling, and teacher credentialing, as well as to ensure programming meets the highest standard possible - through a unique assessment and phased work approach.
Trendlines supports various rural communities in developing grant applications and providing technical support in implementing strategic plans centered around career readiness. The Team works side by side with district/college staff to guide visioning and strategy conversations, determine an ideal state of work, backwards map the build out of education/career connected pathways, and determine sustainable funding resources to support the pathways. Part of strategy work for pathway development is the recognition that pathways are not built over six to nine months: strategy development must include the consideration of realistic timelines for the work and stackable work product year over year that will allow for ultimate success. See prior responses. Trendlines maintains an entire strategy centered around building, supporting, and expanding career and college to and through workforce. Much of this work is accomplished via competency and project-based learning in the classroom paired with a suite of work-based learning options and experiences. Trendlines is able to assess both readiness and capability of districts and collaboratives to move work out of traditional education settings and into relevant spaces for students, allowing students to drive their own educational and career focused destinies.Trendlines current and past work is very much partner based. The organizations works with districts, postsecondary, employers, government, and other nonprofits and community-based organizations to reach collective goals in the communities where work is occurring. This means building relationships with other partners, aligning schedules and initiatives, and creating shared meeting space and time.

Trendlines has worked to organize and facilitate these kinds of collaborations and has also been a collaborator in a group of partners. The organizations aims to achieve alignment, sharing open source information, and attempting to create more high-functioning ecosystems in the communities work happens.
Most of the organization's experience with community engagement has been with arranging and facilitating community-based focus groups for feedback on initiatives, both grant and district-based. Community engagement is an essential piece the Team coaches clients through with career pathways - as community stakeholders can be crucial points of knowledge and information for learners within the community. The Rural Coaction program is in very strong alignment to Trendlines' every day work and the Team's experience. Adams State Collaborative: President - Boys and Girls Club of San Luis Valley, Aaron Mittenberger (aaron@bgcslv.org), Director of Special Projects for Extended Studies, Renae Haslet (rhaslett@adams.edu)
Northeastern Junior College: Project Manager, Heather Reid (Heather.Reid@njc.edu)
Southwest Colorado Education Collaborative: Teacher, Curtis Gillespie (cgillespie@bayfield.k12.co.us), Nonprofit partner, Sally Ridley (970.317.1225)
The Trendlines Team will work to assess any project/collaborative's readiness across several elements as well as the desired outcomes or ideal state. Fees are then structured on a timeline of work to be completed and how many hours that work is predicted to take.
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Trendlines Colorado789 N SHERMAN ST, SUITE 200 Denver, CO 80203Eliza HardingCEOeliza.harding@trendlinescolorado.org720-422-3189Trendlines believes all education is workforce education. The organization aims to improve the workforce ecosystem by providing better access to high-opportunity careers in underserved communities. To drive higher success rates in skills attainment, education program completion, job placement, job retention, and advancement, Trendlines works to
- Enhance and scale workforce programming through innovative design and investment.
- Reduce barriers in transitions for individuals.
- Strengthen connections between educators and employers.
A primary focus of his work is building programs for quality skill building and career exploration from secondary to postsecondary to workforce. In this area, Trendlines works largely with collaborative groups of school districts, two- and four-year colleges, and workforce partners to design career pathways that have school and work-based elements with advising baked in. The Team supports both the design and implementation of these career paths and supports quality improvements as well.
For just over two years, Trendlines has worked as a design and implementation partner for ~30 school districts and their associated partners. Prior to that work, the Team has over 20 years of combined experience in areas ranging from competency and project-based learning to school and educational operations.

Trendlines was selected as a primary design partner for promising potential RISE grantees, Cripple Creek Victor School District, Mountain BOCES, and Northeastern Junior College. The Team assisted these rural collaborations in developing their grant applications, two thirds were selected as awardees with the total award amount nearing $3.5M. The Team also assisted in two additional applications for the Southwest Colorado Education Collaborative (Ft Lewis College) and Adams State who were selected as grantees and awarded $6M total. Lastly, the Trendlines Team has worked with the Fremont Multidistrict Initiative, Cañon City, Fremont, and Cotopaxi, for nearly two years strategizing on shared CTE/CE pathways and financial sustainability for those pathways.

For the awardees of the RISE grant mentioned above, Trendlines has also served as an implementation partner: working with awardees to strengthen career and college programming with a specific focus on work-based learning and connectivity to the workplace upon completion/graduation. Trendlines has worked to ensure districts are able to overcome barriers in providing students access, transportation, scheduling, and teacher credentialing, as well as to ensure programming meets the highest standard possible - through a unique assessment and phased work approach.
Trendlines supports various rural communities in developing grant applications and providing technical support in implementing strategic plans centered around career readiness. The Team works side by side with district/college staff to guide visioning and strategy conversations, determine an ideal state of work, backwards map the build out of education/career connected pathways, and determine sustainable funding resources to support the pathways. Part of strategy work for pathway development is the recognition that pathways are not built over six to nine months: strategy development must include the consideration of realistic timelines for the work and stackable work product year over year that will allow for ultimate success.
See prior responses. Trendlines maintains an entire strategy centered around building, supporting, and expanding career and college to and through workforce. Much of this work is accomplished via competency and project-based learning in the classroom paired with a suite of work-based learning options and experiences. Trendlines is able to assess both readiness and capability of districts and collaboratives to move work out of traditional education settings and into relevant spaces for students, allowing students to drive their own educational and career focused destinies.Trendlines current and past work is very much partner based. The organization works with districts, postsecondary, employers, government, and other nonprofits and community-based organizations to reach collective goals in the communities where work is occurring. This means building relationships with other partners, aligning schedules and initiatives, and creating shared meeting space and time.

Trendlines has worked to organize and facilitate these kinds of collaborations and has also been a collaborator in a group of partners. The organization aims to achieve alignment, sharing open source information, and attempting to create more high-functioning ecosystems in the communities in which work happens.
Most of the organization's experience with community engagement has been with arranging and facilitating community-based focus groups for feedback on initiatives, both grant and district-based. Community engagement is an essential piece the Team coaches clients through with career pathways - as community stakeholders can be crucial points of knowledge and information for learners within the community.
The Rural Coaction program is in very strong alignment with Trendlines' every day work.Adams State Collaborative: President - Boys and Girls Club of San Luis Valley, Aaron Mittenberger (aaron@bgcslv.org), Director of Special Projects for Extended Studies, Renae Haslet (rhaslett@adams.edu)
Northeastern Junior College: Project Manager, Heather Reid (Heather.Reid@njc.edu)
Southwest Colorado Education Collaborative: Teacher, Curtis Gillespie (cgillespie@bayfield.k12.co.us), Nonprofit partner, Sally Ridley (970.317.1225)
The Trendlines Team will work to assess any project/collaborative's readiness across several elements as well as the desired outcomes or ideal state. Fees are then structured on a timeline of work to be completed and how many hours that work is predicted to take.
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