Design Challenge
Middle schools, high schools, and institutions of higher learning across the country are working to prepare students for their futures, despite the ongoing challenges and uncertainty of the present times. Now more than ever, it is important to lean on and learn from each other to foster readiness and wellness among students who face the greatest barriers to obtaining postsecondary education and career training leading to adult success.
The Everyone Graduates Center and Pathways to Adult Success invite PAS learning community members to work on solving shared problems of practice by
identifying an unmet challenge
In critical areas illuminated by the PAS framework (early warning systems for post-secondary success, post-secondary navigation guidance for all, cross-sector collaboration, and shared data)
proposing and testing solutions
sharing their process and findings
with others at a national PAS learning conference during the fall of 2021
The EGC is pleased to offer several modest stipends to support select proposed design challenge projects. These competitive stipends will be offered annually to PAS learning community members for the 2020-21 and 2021-22 school years (3-4 total awards each year, $5000 per recipient organization).
Revipients may include, but are not limited to:
school districts
state departments of education
nonprofit and for-profit organizations
public and private institutions of higher education
such as colleges and universities
Awardees will record their activities at monthly intervals and will be periodically interviewed and visited (when possible) by PAS staff to better understand their problem-solving strategies and offer support and thought partnership.
Awardees will convene mid-year and again prior to the national conference in the fall to share ideas and lessons learned regarding hurdles and opportunities. They will also share their learning during yearly PAS conferences.
Applications due Oct. 15, 2020
Next Steps
- Identify a current unmet Pathway to Adult Success challenge or problem to solve
- Propose a possible solution your organization is working on in the 2020-21 school year, aligned to the PAS framework
- State how working with PAS learning community members, the Everyone Graduates Center, and a $5000 stipend would advance this solution
- Complete the application
- Establish a process to document, monitor, and reflect on your work