Scaling Up at Grad Nation

We’re at the 2012 Building a Grad Nation Summit, hosted by America’s Promise Alliance. According to board chair Alma Powell, building a grad nation is all about “bringing people together from all sectors of our communities to work in new, more coordinated ways and to inspire action.” You can read about their goals here. While they’ve got immense energy focused on the high school dropout crisis, there have been multiple sessions discussing connections to postsecondary education and careers (though we’re hoping to see a larger community college presence next year!)

In addition to postsecondary connection, there's also been talk about “scaling what works.” Since we’ve just released a guidebook on scaling up effective practices (check it out!), I’m interested in how other organizations are thinking and talking about this topic. (Really, I’m always interested in it—let’s be honest.) A session yesterday included panelists from large national organizations (the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Big Brothers Big Sisters), organizations taking the first steps to start affiliated organizations in a new city (Self Enhancement, Inc.), and smaller organizations beginning the process at the community level (Boston Rising, Zone 126).

One thing that’s been on my mind is the idea of starting small, but thinking big—in other words, how scale fits into early program design. I wanted to hear what these organizations had learned about planning for scale and ensuring that the resources invested in pilots went into something scale-able. Lucky for me, there was a Q&A session. Here’s what I heard:
 

• Limit the number of moving parts. Reducing the complexity of your approach will make it easier to replicate.
•  Articulate a simple, clear theory of change. Identify the inputs necessary to reach the outcome you want. Then determine the supports you’ll need to do just that. 
• Consider cost from the beginning. Pilot design should not just be about the mechanisms for delivering the program—it’s about the entire operation. And that includes resources. 
• Think about who you can partner with to disseminate your strategy and expand your reach. Are there technology options? Are there organizations that already do something that you want to integrate?

I like this idea of keeping it simple—both the theory of change and the program. But I know that it’s difficult to do when you’re addressing complex issues and working in equally complex organizations. Just one more reason to tackle these big questions from the very beginning and do everything you can to set your program up for success.