2021 Evaluation Report
Lessons for Advancing Postsecondary Outcomes with
Community & State Partners
The 2021 Evaluation Report: Lessons for Advancing Postsecondary Outcomes with Community & State Partners report aims to serve as a guide to states that may be beginning to build their postsecondary networks or are trying to expand postsecondary efforts and need to better understand how their state goals and contexts may be leveraged to create successful and sustainable systems. This report includes seven lessons for groups that are building or maintaining postsecondary statewide partnerships that are based on findings from a developmental evaluation conducted by Equivolve Consulting of Lumina sponsored statewide partnerships in Alabama and Indiana. These lessons highlight ways in which states can promote collaboration between diverse partners and stakeholders, avoid or navigate barriers to success, build sustainable partnerships, and center equity in state education systems.
“It’s far too common for stakeholders to narrowly focus on four-year college as the only postsecondary path forward. The cost of that tunnel vision is high.”
executive summary
This evaluation, conducted by Equivolve in partnership with Lumina, highlights seven lessons from Alabama and Indiana for other states who are building or maintaining a post-secondary statewide partnership. These seven strategies are accompanied by stories from stakeholders that share the numerous challenges and barriers they have faced while building sustainable systems, and how they were able to meet these challenges.
“In a time when millions of people need new skills to fill open jobs across the country, the learnings from this report can help guide educators, employers, and government agencies on ways to work together, and help solve the nation’s critical labor shortage.”
"With the right partnerships in place between nonprofit organizations, educational organizations and state governments, we can make sure that a graduating student doesn’t need to be bound to a four-year college to be bound for success.”
Glenn R. Love, Founder & Chief Equity Officer, Equivolve