Supporting Educators through Collaborative Learning

RISE’s network-building activities are guided by the belief that we amplify our impact when we work together to address shared goals. Among our core network, RISE holds bi-annual convenings to spotlight accomplishments, evaluate the success of our efforts, and build upon this momentum to prepare commitments supporting students with their on-track and postsecondary goals.

Our fall 2022 convening pushed participants to “level up” their practice, including through insights from a student panel. At our spring 2023 convening, the word of the day was “inspiration,” which came in many forms, including an impactful presentation by keynote speaker Dr. Manny Scott, videos of students speaking about influential educators at their schools, and hopeful student outcome data.

Reaching beyond our core network schools, RISE creates a platform for educators to come together across districts and states to pursue shared goals and continuous improvement. This June, over 120 attendees from 36 schools across Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, and New York gathered for our second Grade 9 Summer Symposium.

The Symposium focused on how schools can invest in Grade 9 on-track achievement as a key lever to improve high school graduation rates and postsecondary success. Highlights of this year’s event included an introduction to RISE’s Grade 9 Conditions for Success, an in-depth exploration into on-track data team meetings, and an educator panel followed by breakout sessions focusing on the various elements of a comprehensive Grade 9 strategy.

RISE on the National Stage

As our cross-school collaborations continue to support meaningful learning and new innovations, we endeavor to share learnings and resources with educators locally and nationwide engaged in similar work in different contexts.

This past year, RISE joined The GRAD Partnership to present a webinar focused on student success systems to a community of practice across the country. “The session with RISE was a master course in designing a high-quality network that does all of the things we want networked improvement to do – create environments where educators feel a sense of agency and move the needle for students,” says Kelly McMahon, Senior Associate, Evidence & Analytics for the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. “I am grateful for RISE’s generosity in helping the field learn to get better together.”

Later, RISE connected with a national community at the Carnegie Foundation Summit on Improvement in Education to give a presentation on “Using Data to Pinpoint Inequities and Drive Improvements.” RISE has also shared learnings through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s national Network for School Improvement (NSI), leading an immersive session with NSI partners around strategies to facilitate equitable and data-driven networks.

Finally, RISE partnered with the National Center for Rural Education Research Networks (NCRERN) — a branch of the Harvard University Center for Education Policy Research — to launch postsecondary planning strategies in the rural school districts with which NCRERN collaborates. This experience culminated with RISE presenting two professional learning experiences for districts in rural New York and Ohio.

“Our RISE partners have been amazing to work with,” says Kellie Solowski, Senior Research Program Manager for NCRERN. “The training facilitated by RISE provided guidance to our program team and helped shape the support our districts received and will receive over the course of the school year.”