innovation

Partners in Learning called on Collaborative’s expertise in knowledge management to help build strategic partnerships. Collaborative developed a process and tools for analyzing partnership opportunities, which includes development of a comprehensive framework for partnership analysis, extensive research on potential opportunities and strategic recommendations for moving ideas to action.

Collaborative provides the Alliance for Excellent Education with advise and expertise on a wide range of issues, including research and analysis, project management, the development of written policy and advocacy documents, and the development and coordination of public engagement events.

The Nevada Public Education Foundation utilizes Collaborative’s knowledge and expertise on planning strategic initiatives, as well as facilitating sessions with high-level leaders, policymakers, and decision makers.

Collaborative facilitated a retreat with the Clark County Ready for Life Coalition hosted by the Nevada Public Education Foundation (NPEF) to support and promote excellence in Nevada public education programs. Collaborative continued its work with NPEF to facilitate a retreat for the organization's board in 2007 and 2008.

For the past 9 years, Collaborative has served as trusted advisor to the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation by providing critical management of their member networks, research and analysis on seminal publications, and coordination services for conferences that bring to together practitioners, policymakers, and key stakeholders.

Collaborative supports the Mott Foundation’s work on national and statewide initiatives, as well as managing all aspects of the Statewide Afterschool Network, including the Web site, ongoing conference calls, Webinars, and marketing pieces. In addition, Collaborative partnered with the Mott Foundation to develop a Time, Learning, and Afterschool Task Force, whose primary goal was to develop recommendations that will integrate afterschool programs and formal schooling. The result, A New Day for Learning, is an influential publication that rethinks how child and youth use their time for learning.

The Council of Chief State School Officers sought out Collaborative to advise on member network support, Web site content, and online tool and technology production, particularly in the development of a tool to help professionals network.

Collaborative developed an award-winning, fully comprehensive online network development tool that enabled professionals to connect, pose dilemmas, and learn in public and private forums. Specifically, we provided monthly content for the site, identified main themes and aided in the overall maintenance of the site. Our team also developed interactive tools for the Web site to further enhance the learning experience of site visitors. These tools simulated live assessments in system redesign and strategic planning.

The Web site was awarded the 2006 Best in Class Interactive Media Award which honors individuals and organizations for their outstanding achievement in Web site design and development. The Web site was also recognized as an Official Honoree of The 2005 Webby Awards. The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence in Web design, creativity, usability and functionality.

Collaborative serves the Aspen Institute’s Commission on No Child Left Behind on issues such as commission management, publication and content development, and strategic planning on the dissemination of the Commission’s materials.

Collaborative produced the Commission's final report and outreach materials, including research, writing, editing and design. The redesigned Web site aligned with the release of the report and supported every aspect of communications around the release including media outreach, production of press materials and event logistics.

After the report’s release, Collaborative designed a post-release strategy to keep the Commission’s recommendations fresh in the field and to continue to lead the dialogue around the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act. Collaborative provided consulting and support for advocacy strategies such as coalition-building, and on-going communications strategies such as research and regular e-mail alerts.

The National AfterSchool Association (NAA) turns to Collaborative to implement the premiere convention for the afterschool field, convening almost 2,500 afterschool professionals and stakeholders annually to connect, share new research, learn about products and resources, visit local afterschool programs, and hear from experts on the issues that matter most to them.

Collaborative directs NAA’s annual convention, the largest professional development opportunity for afterschool professionals. The work includes developing a Web site, handling registration and logistics, producing content, as well as targeted marketing outreach. Having assisted with workshop coordination at the 2008 Convention, Collaborative supported NAA's 2009 convention, including facilitating the request for proposal process for workshop presenters, identifying keynote speakers, preparing marketing and outreach materials, coordinating registration efforts, fielding questions, and designing and maintaining the convention Web site.

When the KnowledgeWorks Foundation needed an experienced firm to handle research, analysis, and bring together educational experts, they called upon Collaborative's knowledge and expertise.

To address the challenge presented by KnowledgeWorks, Collaborative conducted presentations and facilitated discussions, including leading sessions with educational leaders and community-oriented educational change leaders.

The Kettering Foundation called upon Collaborative to serve as trusted advisor on research, analysis, and publications matters, including the production of a series of publications that address engagement efforts to benefit the community.

Collaborative helped the Kettering Foundation produce three publications in 2006 and one publication in 2007 from research on organizations working in other areas but taking on education issues to further community goals. The publications detail the success of organizations that build community by connecting with schools.

Collaborative provides the National Academy Foundation a variety of ongoing research and network development services, including research, analysis, and documentation production on the potential of new academies and a redesign of their national conference.

Collaborative worked with NAF and its partners to create a standards document that would be useful to youth, schools and employers. The Collaborative team conducted interviews with and received feedback from NAF stuff and the field. The resulting document adeptly clarifies the expectations youth, school personnell and partners, and employers have when developing, implementing, and assessing internship experiences for high school students. An electronic copy is available at www.naf.org/internship-gold-standards.