SUNY Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher, Strive President Jeff Edmondson Bring National Cradle to Career Network to the Twin Cities

Minneapolis, MN – State University of New York Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher and Strive President Jeff Edmondson met with education and community leaders from the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area today to present the Strive model and to help the group explore the possibility of launching a similar effort locally.

Today’s convening at the University of Minnesota continues the roll out of the country’s first National Cradle to Career Network, launched last week in Washington, DC, with U.S. Department of Education Assistant Deputy Secretary Jim Shelton. The national network is modeled after Strive, an evidence-based educational reform initiative that has improved student success in greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky school districts since it was created in 2006. Specifically, the initiative has produced positive trends in college and high school graduation rates, fourth-grade reading and math scores, and the number of preschool children prepared for kindergarten.

“Like many communities across the country, the Twin Cities is in need of the kind of collaborative, systematic reform the Strive model offers to ensure that today’s youth get the foundation they need to be successful in school and after college,” Zimpher said. “Having everyone at the table ready to work together – as Twin Cities educators, members of the community and elected officials are today – is the first step toward plugging the leaks the region’s education pipeline. I applaud all of today’s participants and thank the University of Minnesota and the Leadership Forum for hosting us.”

Edmondson added, “We have talked with over 50 cities across the country about this work. In every case, we have seen that it takes a core group of committed leaders from across sectors to step up and commit to working together over the long-term so we stop looking for the silver bullet and begin building on what works in their community to support every child from cradle to career. It is great to have this opportunity to speak with leaders in the Twin Cities to see if they are ready to take on this challenging but extremely important work.”

Today’s forum, Striving to Close the Gap, was jointly sponsored by the University of Minnesota’s System Academic Administration and the African American Leadership Forum.

Minnesota has one of the nation’s most successful public education systems, with test scores and graduation rates that consistently rank among the highest in the U.S. Paradoxically, the state has one the largest achievement gaps separating white and African American students. In 2009, about 82 percent of white students graduated from high school in four years, compared with 44 percent of their African American classmates, according to the most recent Minnesota Department of Education Report Card.

Robert J. Jones, Ph.D., Senior Vice President of UM’s System Academic Administration, said, “Closing the achievement gap is perhaps the most challenging and pressing contemporary issue we face as a society. That's particularly true in the Twin Cities and state of Minnesota, where we are grappling with some of the largest gaps in the country. All of us are keenly aware that the Twin Cities has many assets and many innovative efforts to close the achievement gap, but in the aggregate the gap still looms. This forum provides an opportunity for our community to learn more about what's happening in Cincinnati and see if it might be relevant here, and beyond that, to explore how we can work as a community to move from dialogue to action."

Strive creators stressed the need for collaboration. “Strive is a growing movement to support every child, cradle to career,” Edmondson said. “And the key to this movement, what makes it successful, is all of us working to build this together. We have to work cohesively to build this vision and make it a reality.”

“It is a myth that one person or group can fix education by themselves, no matter how visionary or passionate,” Chancellor Zimpher added. “Only by working together – public and private institutions of higher education, state education departments and school districts, civic and corporate leaders and elected officials – will we see results.”

A cradle-to-career partnership brings together leaders in Pre-K-12 schools, higher education, business, philanthropy and industry, community organizations, government leaders, and parents who are committed to helping children succeed from birth through careers by identifying what works for kids in their communities, driving resources toward those efforts, and weaving them together into a cohesive system of supports.

As demonstrated by the success of Strive, a comprehensive community effort can positively impact a region’s education pipeline and improve student success at every level.

Since Strive's inception, Cincinnati public schools have seen a 15 percent bump in 8th grade math scores and college enrollment has increased by 10 percent. At Northern Kentucky University and the University of Cincinnati, graduation rates for students from the local urban area high schools have increased by 10 and 7 percent, respectively. There have been additional improvements in the number of preschool children prepared for kindergarten, fourth-grade reading and math scores and high school graduation rates.

Strive’s results have compelled nine regions across the country to replicate or adapt the initiative to work in their own communities, most recently New York State, under Chancellor Zimpher’s leadership.

About Strive

Strive is focused on the working with communities across the country to help them achieve a common purpose: Supporting the Success of every child from cradle to career. Strive unites leaders to set common goals and measures and then sustain and scale what works for kids.  To learn more about Strive, visit www.strivetogether.org.

About the State University of New York

The State University of New York is the largest comprehensive university system in the United States, educating more than 467,000 students in more than 7,500 degree and certificate programs on 64 campuses with more than 2.5 million alumni around the globe. To learn more about how SUNY creates opportunity, visit www.suny.edu 

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