We rely on the support and work of a partnership to to accomplish the work of the Developmental Education Initiative: our investors, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Lumina Foundation for Education and our service-delivery and evaluation partners: MDC (managing partner); the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC); the Community College Leadership Program at the University of Texas-Austin (CCLP); the Community College Research Center, Teachers College, Columbia University (CCRC); Jobs for the Future (JFF); MDRC; and Public Agenda. A brief description of these partner organizations and their role in DEI is outlined below:
Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people’s health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people—especially those with the fewest resources—have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. The Foundation's Postsecondary Success Strategy aims to dramatically increase the number of young adults who complete their postsecondary education, setting them up for success in the workplace and in life.
Lumina Foundation for Education, an Indianapolis-based, private independent foundation, strives to help people achieve their potential by expanding access and success in education beyond high school. Through grants for research, innovation, communication, and evaluation, as well as policy education and leadership development, Lumina Foundation addresses issues that affect access and educational attainment among all students, particularly underserved student groups.
MDC is a nonprofit organization based in Chapel Hill, N.C., that has been publishing research and developing programs focused on expanding opportunity, reducing poverty, and addressing structural inequity for more than 40 years. MDC focuses on: defining gaps and mobilizing leaders to create a will for change; demonstrating sustainable solutions and developing them into effective models; and then incubating them so they can be replicated at scale for maximum impact.
MDC manages the DEI partnership, integrating lesson emerging from the participating colleges and states, coordinating partners in the design and delivery of that learning, and developing tools and resources for scaling and sustaining innovations.
AACC is the primary advocacy organization for the nation's community colleges. The Association represents more than 1,100 associate degree-granting institutions and more than 11 million students, and works to build a nation of learners by advancing America's community colleges.
AACC assures DEI a voice in national conversations about issues and policies that affect developmental education students through their annual conferences and meetings and publications. AACC also provides DEI colleges access to data analysis tools through the Acheiving the Dream national database.
CCLP, established in 1944 in the Department of Educational Administration at The University of Texas at Austin, is the nation's oldest doctoral program, with a primary focus on the preparation of key community college leaders. More than 600 students have graduated from the program since its inception, with over 508 in the past 40 years.
CCLP trains and deploys a cadre of Technical Assistance Providers to support the work of DEI colleges. They also collaborate with other partners on the design and delivery of DEI learning events.
CCRC conducts research on the major issues affecting community colleges in the United States and contributes to the development of practice and policy that expands access to higher education and ensures success for all students. CCRC’s extensive body of research provides a strong foundation on which to build new policies and initiatives to improve the outcomes of these institutions so integral to the higher education system, employment landscape, and national economy.
CCRC assists MDRC with the initiative-wide evaluation, conducting the quantitiative analysis of the colleges' submission of student data.
JFF identifies, develops, and promotes new education and workforce strategies that help communities, states, and the nation compete in a global economy. In 200 communities in 41 states, JFF improves the pathways leading from high school to college to family-sustaining careers.
JFF provides technical assistance to DEI state policy teams, supporting a learning network among states, including twice-annual learning events.
MDRC is dedicated to learning what works to improve the well-being of low-income people. Through research and the active communication of the findings, MDRC seeks to enhance the effectiveness of social policies and programs.
MDRC leads the evaluation of the Developmental Education Initiative, focused on determining the practices, policies, and resources that support successful expansion of developmental education innovations.
Public Agenda, for over 30 years, has been providing unbiased and unparalleled research that bridges the gap between American leaders and what the public really thinks about issues ranging from education to foreign policy to immigration to religion and civility in American life. Nonpartisan and nonprofit, Public Agenda has a two-fold mission: to help American leaders better understand the public's point of view and to help citizens know more about critical policy issues so they can make thoughtful, informed decisions.
Public Agenda augments the communcations and engagement strategy of the initiative, including stakeholder research on developmental education messaging.