Insights, Resources & Tools from Education Organizations

PSCCN is pleased to announce that we were recently highlighted in a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation publication called Lessons in Continuous Improvement: Insights, Resources & Tools from Education Organizations.

Specifically, PSCCN's King County Promise Leadership structure was shared as a practice that builds in community feedback and co-creation within the fabric of its various workgroups. While some aspects of the workgroup structures have stayed the same, many have shifted and adapted now that King County Promise is in its first year of implementation. Continuous improvement is not about being right, but getting it right over time. Here are some of PSCCN's key learnings from piloting the model across K-12, CBO, and postsecondary spaces:

Working in a big group to change the status quo is challenging. Learn from and celebrate all agreements. When you work in multi-partner arrangements with complex contexts, even making a little decision can be a big win because it teaches you something about how to collectively come to an agreement.

Hold in-person meetings for community building. our years ago, this would have been obvious. All the planning, branding, and financial backing cannot take the place of getting to know each other and building relationships. Zoom and Teams are less than ideal for building off-the-agenda, authentic relationships.  

Be flexible to get the right cooks in the right kitchen. The King County Promise has 7 partners, PSCCN, and DCHS in the educational kitchen, each with its own leadership and staff structures. Oftentimes, the working group structure helps to get the right expertise for the right topics. We don't want to waste anyone's time. But sometimes, the pastry chef is needed at breakfast and not just dessert. And the executive chef can't make decisions about the menu unless they know details about what's in the pantry. We are learning how and when to bring in the most relevant voices. 

Be flexible to get the right cooks in the right kitchen. The King County Promise has 7 partners, PSCCN, and DCHS in the educational kitchen, each with its own leadership and staff structures. Oftentimes, the working group structure helps to get the right expertise for the right topics. We don't want to waste anyone's time. But sometimes, the pastry chef is needed at breakfast and not just dessert. And the executive chef can't make decisions about the menu unless they know details about what's in the pantry. We are learning how and when to bring in the most relevant voices. 

Get out of the way and let the experts do their thing. We as PSCCN want to ensure that our KCP partners are the ones driving the outcomes of our meetings. As a System Supporting Organization (SSO), we hope to provide the right scaffolding to support decision-making, co-planning, and logistics support, as needed.

Center students and practitioners early and often in every working group. Partners will have different goals and interests. It's the shared goal of supporting youth and students and their needs that glue everyone together.

King County Promise is full of phenomenal leaders, and leveraging their skill and deep experience with students is a work in progress. We appreciate their consistent commitment and flexibility as we learn together.