Scorecard Video Blog: Behind Every Number Is A Child…

“Behind Every Number Is A Child…” With these words, Executive Director Todd Williams reminded attendees at the 2014 Community Achievement Scorecard release event to use data not to punish but to illuminate, to ask questions and uncover stories essential to creating positive change.

Leading off the event, Todd spoke to the breadth of the Partnership, urgency of the challenges in front of us, and opportunities to better spread best practices. He highlighted achievement differences of 50 to 60 percentage points between schools with similarly high-poverty rates to reinforce the need to learn from bright spots so they become the norm, not the exception.

Inspired by the belief that poverty is not destiny, the Commit! Partnership is collaborating in many areas across the educational pipeline, including:

• A spring pre-K registration campaign where 100 organizations have supported five districts in significantly increasing early registration; Dallas ISD alone had increased by 500 students as of mid-May;
• Community-based partnerships centered on strengthening early grades reading and math achievement that are engaging nearly fifty elementary schools across three school districts along with twenty community organizations;
• Alignment between four school districts and eleven colleges to increase area college enrollment through targeted text message reminders and personalized supports;
• Co-creation of a new school of teacher education along with a regional marketing campaign to strengthen the teacher pipeline;
• Data learning workshop series with the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas and fourteen education-focused nonprofits to enhance use of data for continuous program improvement

As the work continues to grow, so will the opportunities to engage. Please do not hesitate to reach out to Kyle Gardner, Deputy Executive Director to learn more about the Commit! Partnership.