Lessons Learned
Throughout the course of this project, CEI has made adjustments to project components and tools, seeking to strike the right balance between sufficient structure and not burdening partners during an unprecedented time. For example, CEI transitioned from asking teams to designate coordinators for each ring—a task that felt complex and overwhelming to some cohort one partners—to one district coordinator, which has proven to be an effective shift, both for the district partners and CEI teams. New tools and resources are being piloted with partners including the redesigned implementation roadmap and corresponding data tracker—through which districts capture their current state, goals, action steps, and monitor progress—and the graduate profile, which serves as an alignment tool for districts, especially for their learning environments work. CEI continues to prioritize thoughtful and well-paced rollout of these tools and has received initial positive feedback from district partners on their utility.
As is the case in other projects working across districts and schools during the pandemic, district leads and teams have generally been more consistently engaged in the Youth Connections work compared to school-level leads and teams, highlighting the ongoing challenge of overburdened school staff. While this variable engagement is understandable given increased pandemic workloads and burnout, it also has played a role in limiting within-district alignment across schools.
One powerful strategy for enhancing within-district learning and creating meaningful sightlines to school-level work has been in-person site visits CEI has conducted with Youth Connections partners. Through these site visits and other check-ins with schools, it is clear that school teams are invested in this work and moving it forward, in some cases beyond what their corresponding district teams expect. To the extent possible, CEI will continue to prioritize these opportunities while ensuring safe conditions during the ongoing pandemic.
Finally, across all partners, there are ongoing and, in many cases, increased impacts from the pandemic on the implementation of Youth Connections work, including obstacles for meaningful family and community engagement, as detailed in the Open Partnerships section below. Staffing challenges and pandemic-related workloads—including managing quarantines and addressing students’ increased mental health needs—have both presented challenges to the implementation of Youth Connections and elevated the urgency and potential of this work to address student, staff, and community needs.
Many of these themes relate to alignment of Youth Connections work between districts and their schools—an ongoing area of focus for both CEI and districts in this next year.