College Board is convening in 2012 a cohort of over 100 leaders from school districts, 2-year and 4-year institutions across 6 different states. This is the inaugural Affinity Network - a collaboration of district and post-secondary institutions that College Board is bringing together annually to develop solutions to some of our nation's most pressing policy challenges in education.
This first cohort of the Affinity Network is confronting two timely and important questions on the Common Core:
- How could the Common Core State Standards result in changes/shifts in the alignment of high school exit expectations with postsecondary entrance expectations?
- How could the Common Core State Standards impact the design of remedial education courses on college campuses?
On April 14, 2012, these state teams came together and, for many of them, spoke across the K-12/post-secondary divide for the first time. As the convening set in, light bulbs went off in participants' heads as they began to understand the impact that the Common Core will have on their programs, and how critical and cutting edge this initiative is.
Collaborative has played a central role in getting the online community for the Affinity Network started on the right foot. We introduced members of the Affinity Network to the online community at the convening, led trainings on how to use the online community and provided coaching and strategic support in online community management to HCM Strategists, the firm running this initiative for College Board, as well as the state team facilitators from the Institute for Evidence-based Change (IEBC). The online community is off to a strong start and Collaborative continues to build its position as a thought leader in how to build and manage a successful online community.
You can learn more about the Affinity Network and its online community here: http://affinitynetwork.collegeboard.org/
