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Indiana Example of Collaboration and Innovation

What do we know about innovation in the social sector that can help policy makers support and take to scale great ideas that make a difference for students? Thanks to a collaboration between government and the private sector, Indiana high schools are being transformed into engaging, project-based learning environments. The launch and scale-up of Indiana's New Tech Network from 2001 to 2010 offer seven key lessons for other states. Lesson #1. Develop a broad vision for change. Key stakeholders in Indiana recognized the critical relationship between education improvement and economic growth. One of the earliest demonstrations of this emerging vision came in 2001 when the University of Indianapolis established the Center for Excellence in Leadership and Learning (CELL), the university's first foray into the K-12 arena, to bring together schools, communities, and businesses in a concerted effort to prepare all Indiana students for success in a global economy. Gov. Mitch Daniels was keenly interested in education reform as an economic growth tool. Rather than mandating change from the top down, the governor and his senior adviser for human capital supported CELL's efforts to identify high school transformation models that would support both education innovation and economic growth. Thus, by the end of 2002, Indiana had established a broad-based vision for a collaborative, public-private approach to education innovation and economic growth. Lesson #2. Anchor the vision to principles. In 2005, Indiana submitted a proposal to the National Governors Association (NGA) to help school corporations develop innovative high school models. As part of the NGA proposal, the state required any school corporation receiving a grant to demonstrate that its proposal was: 1) supported by the entire school community, 2) financially sustainable in the long term, 3) aligned with the community's own economic growth strategy, and 4) focused on meeting the requirements of a 21st-century education. These principles, known around the state as "nonnegotiables," made clear that participating school communities must "own" the initiative and that proposals must focus on the critical goals of the effort--to prepare students for the new global economy and to drive economic growth statewide. Lesson #3. Secure public and private financial support. Two important grants laid the groundwork for state and local communities to develop an even broader base of support from the public and private sector. The first was the initial Gates Foundation grant of $11.3 million to develop the Network of Effective Small Schools in Indianapolis (NESSI). The second was a $15 million grant from the Lilly Endowment to establish CELL at the University of Indianapolis. In 2007, NGA awarded Indiana $2 million to help implement new high school models. In that same year, Gates awarded an additional $2.3 million to the Indianapolis Public Schools to continue converting large high schools to small learning communities. Since 2006, the Indianapolis-based Tech-Point Foundation has provided more than $400,000 in financial and in-kind support and leveraged an additional $100,000 from community partners in support of New Tech High @ Arsenal Tech, a low-income, urban school in IPS. Techpoint is a social venture capital organization that supports Indiana organizations focused on helping at-risk youth develop skills for a global, information economy. Finally, in 2010, Lilly provided $20 million to Talent Opportunity Success (TOpS) 2015, an 11-county regional program focused on expanding the talent pipeline to support the growth of high-quality jobs in northeast Indiana. A portion of the funds was designated specifically to launch five STEM-focused New Tech High Schools in northeast Indiana. These schools now represent the largest concentration of New Techs in the country. Lesson #4. …