Dive Brief:
- Education’s future lies in expanding and strengthening new and already existing collaborative partnerships among school districts, state agencies and private partners, North Dakota University System Chancellor Mark Hagerrot writes for Ed Tech: Focus on Higher Ed.
- Hagerrot lauds the university system’s partnership with the North Dakota Department of Public Instruction, which guides K-12 education, and says collaboration between the agencies has prepared universities to develop instruction techniques to fit future students.
- Hagerrot said collaboration could lead to cost savings, citing a deal between the state’s legislature and university system for $100,000 to implement open educational resource services, a cost-efficient way to offer students materials to succeed in the classroom.
Dive Insight:
Sometimes higher ed and K-12 partnerships develop due to innovative partnerships between private industry and colleges, while at other points connections are established as a result of necessity. But there is a burgeoning understanding among higher ed professionals that the best way to offer a cost-efficient and strong postsecondary education for future students is to work with K-12 educators to learn more about the interests and needs of those students while introducing them to skills that will better prepare them for college life.
On an SXSWedu panel concerning college collaboration, Nyeema Watson, Rutgers University-Camden’s Associate Chancellor for Civic Engagement, detailed how a stronger involvement with the K-12 community surrounding Rutgers mirrored a greater investment in the Camden community as a whole. She spoke about the North Camden Schools Partnerships, a university initiative working with neighborhood students in grades 4-8 that hopes to establish a pipeline between local students and a college education. As universities struggle to instill greater diversity on their campuses, colleges can look to be more proactive by reaching K-12 students not only in their classrooms, but in their communities.
