by Tammie Jones, Public  Policy Fellow, The Skillman Foundation, for CMF Newswire
Posted 7/12/10

Michigan foundations have long sought to increase the educational attainment of the state’s residents, making investments across the academic continuum from early childhood through college and continued education. While these funds have certainly helped to strengthen educational systems in Michigan, there is recognition across the field that the opportunity to make transformative change has never been as a strong as it is now. President Obama has set an ambitious goal, declaring that “...by 2020, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.” And, in turn, the U.S. Department of Education has changed its procedures, requiring states to compete for funds as they “Race to the Top.”

With support of the Office of the Foundation Liaison and the K-16 Funders Group, more than 40 of Michigan’s education funders gathered at Lansing Community College on July 21 for “Move the Dial on Education,.”

According to the K-16 Funders Group Co-chair Wendy Lewis Jackson, program officer at The Kresge Foundation, “Michigan is at a pivotal point in making important education reforms. The K-16 Funders Group briefings are an important opportunity for grantmakers to share best practices and foster collaborations that will ensure the improvement of student achievement in our state.”

Brandy Johnson, college access coordinator for the Office of Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, discussed the exciting changes taking place within the Michigan College Access Network (MCAN). MCAN’s mission is to “dramatically increase the college participation and completion rates in Michigan, particularly among low-income and/or first-generation college students of all ages.”

In addition to providing funding and technical assistance to establish and grow local college access networks, MCAN is in the process of launching the Michigan College Access Portal – a single web-based portal to help students and their families plan, apply and pay for college. MCAN is seeking to accelerate its work in the coming year, thanks in large part to recent changes to the federal College Access Challenge grants, which doubled the amount of resources it has to work with.

Recently, The Kresge Foundation awarded MCAN with a $1 million grant to make postsecondary education more accessible in Michigan. An exciting component of the grant is the Community Foundation Challenge Grants. Through the challenge, community foundations may seek grants of up to $50,000 to partner, strengthen and sustain their local college access effort.

Dr. Peg Lamb, director of the High School Diploma Completion Initiative at Lansing Community College, discussed the Initiative's work to help high school dropouts earn their high school diploma and garner college credit through a two-year program.

After hearing from three students participating in the Initiative, Henry McClendon, program officer at The Skillman Foundation, said, “The stories we heard from Sinclair, Fawn and Ryan were a gut-wrenching reminder of why it is worth the time, effort and dollars foundations are investing in making a difference in the lives of children.”

Each student shared how the program helped them reconsider how they approached their education and career goals. “When this came into my life, a lot of other dreams became more realistic,” said Ryan Jenkins. Having been suspended from school more than 65 times, Jenkins used to think that he wouldn't accomplish much; he now hopes to become a Pastor in Haiti. Thanks to the Initiative staff’s determination in seeing each student succeed, these youth now have hopes and dreams they believe they can achieve.

Dr. Sally Vaughn, chief academic officer, Michigan Department of Education (MDE) spoke to funders about system reform efforts taking place within the Department, many of which were spurred by Race to the Top. She thanked the philanthropic community for providing the MDE with resources to complete the complex Race to the Top application called “Accelerate Michigan.” The plan seeks to reform four key areas: (1) standards and assessments, (2) data systems, (3) effective teachers and leaders, and (4) lowest-achieving schools. Work on the reforms is already underway.

The State Board of Education has adopted the Common Core Standards, and MDE has joined the SMARTER Balanced Assessment Consortium in an effort to ensure good data is collected, which will help to ensure better decision-making. Additionally, the State has taken steps to ensure that students’ Unique Identification Codes (UIC) link with individual teachers and with those teachers’ preparation institutions.

Dr. Vaughn highlighted specific ways foundations could partner with the MDE to achieve its four priorities. These include:

• Providing the 20% match needed to receive federal Investing in Innovation Funds
• Providing grants to create the State Reform District that will manage persistent lowest performing schools and to hire turn-around experts to move those same districts into high performers.
• Advocating for reform, for data drives the discussion, and for putting the needs of Michigan's children first.

In closing the briefing, K-16 Funders Group Co-chair Yazeed Moore, program officer, The Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, said, “Favorable changes and advances at the federal and state level on issues from teaching and learning to seeding innovation in and outside of the classroom, are providing an incredible opportunity for philanthropy in Michigan, and nationally, to think about what role it wants to play in helping reshape an educational system that fully prepares our children for college, the workforce, and the 21st century.”

For more information on this briefing or the K-16 Funders Group visit www.mighiganfoundations.org.