As conversations with our states unfolded, we took care to recognize that the ongoing fiscal crisis and limited evidence on effective interventions pose serious challenges. We created a space in which our state policy leads could learn and share – and we worked with them to be well positioned to make smart choices over the next year and a half of work.
Highlights included:
- Engaging and spirited dialogue during our plenary sessions on data-driven improvement, investments in innovation, and policy supports – followed by concurrent breakout sessions led by guest presenters, state policy team leaders, and JFF staff.
- Presentations from higher education experts such as Kevin Dougherty and Shanna Smith Jaggars of the Community College Research Center, providing us with insight on the latest research evidence and its implications for policy.
- A rousing lunchtime keynote from Uri Treisman of The University of Texas at Austin in which he targeted faculty development, well-executed modularization, and student surveys as proactive methods for improving student completion.
- Participation in a hands-on data exercise hosted by JFF’s Keith Brown, and Florida Department of Education’s John Hughes, spurring such questions as: How and why are some institutions more successful than others? How can we train staff and faculty to better understand and analyze data? And finally, how do we create a common language around data?
- The emergence of topics that warrant increased attention at the state and institutional levels – including new approaches to performance funding, methods of better engaging faculty, and taking the data-use conversation to the next level.
Katrina Reichert is a project manager at Jobs for the Future.
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