We are a research-practice institute with a decade of positive outcomes in supporting equity-focused education collaboratives. We provide research and technical assistance to strengthen and align institutional systems to generate greater equity outcomes and educational attainment for underrepresented populations.
Each of our projects is called a Learning Collaborative and consists of leaders, learners, researchers, and practitioners representing a place-based or priority-focused group of school districts, colleges, universities, education-focused organizations, and workforce partners. Learning Collaboratives all share a common, equity-focused purpose: to facilitate the advancement of all students, particularly underrepresented students, to and through college and into life sustaining and impactful careers.
Across these equity-focused Learning Collaboratives, LCI provides technical assistance for effective collaboration and research support for partners to articulate and align systems and practices to advance shared goals, as informed by student voice and student data. Our validated Framework© for collaboration enables Partners to co-create and execute evidence-based strategic plans in each Collaborative to equitably advance all students, particularly low-income, first-generation populations, and students of color, through PK-12 and postsecondary education and into viable career fields and meaningful work.
In 2015, researchers and practitioners at LCI helped to establish the pioneering Regional Learning Collaborative (now called LC @ Pomona) – our first Learning Collaborative – at the Claremont Graduate University Evaluation Center, to address the startling statistic that only 14% of graduates from a neighboring district who enrolled in their local community college succeeded in earning college credits. Working together with Pomona Partners, using the validated LCI Framework© for evidence-based, collaborative social action, that ratio improved to 85% in only two years.
Through our deep and impactful work with educational ecosystems across the country, we create a ripple effect of positive change that equips and inspires today’s educational leaders to promote educational equity and social justice for generations to come.