This report provides overall lessons for the field, as well as guidance specific to each partnership—with state education agencies, institutions of higher education, and community-based organizations.

The study identified a number of challenges for each type of partnership in the Equity Centered Pipeline Initiative (ECPI). For instance, district-state partnerships were especially vulnerable to turnover and reorganization at the state agency, and in some cases diminished dramatically in the fourth year. Few community organizations remained consistently engaged throughout the four years of data collection. Meanwhile, collaboration between university partners and district leaders generally increased over time, though not all district-university partners followed this pattern. 

In response to these and other insights drawn from the data collection, the study provides recommendations for effective implementation between school districts and each partner type, state education agencies, community members, and universities.

State-district partnerships

Most of the urban school systems and state education agencies in the study lacked a history of working together before joining the ECPI effort. To create and sustain an effective partnership, it’s important to:

• Recognize the mutually beneficial nature of partnerships between districts and state education agencies, as these may not be obvious to partners that have no history of working together.
• Establish clear expectations and role definitions to strengthen partnerships. As part of this, consider establishing a partnership framework that highlights complementary expertise, defines the roles of each partner, and, crucially, is regularly revisited and revised.
• Plan for sustainability from the start. Such discussions may help to promote collaboration that extends beyond individuals and becomes inter-organizational. This is especially helpful to cope with staff and leadership turnover in state agencies and school systems.

Community-district partnerships

The community-based organizations that engaged in the ECPI work varied widely in their missions. Some were local chapters of the National Urban League or Teach For America, while others supported the community schools in the district or were exclusively dedicated to raising and administering funds for the district. Key tips for strong community-district partnerships include:

• Integrate more practices valued by community members into district routines. This might include principal hiring, the design of leader “portraits,” and leader professional learning.
• Give community partners a meaningful seat at the table. To start, district leaders should consider asking about the goals community members have for participating, and the roles they wish to play in district decision-making.
• Position representatives of community-based organizations as leaders in schools. The study found that partnerships were closer and more meaningful when community-based organizations were kept informed about district priorities and provided with opportunities to further those priorities through direct engagement with students, families, and staff.

District-university partnerships

These partnerships were primarily focused on providing high-quality, equity-focused programming to aspiring and/or current school leaders. The study identified three types of engagement: responsive, tailored, and co-designed. Recommendations that surfaced through the research effort include:

• Going through a rigorous, equity-focused self-assessment process motivated program redesign even for universities that had recently revised their programming. It also provided opportunities for collaborations between district leaders and university faculty/staff.
• Long-term collaboration requires infrastructure. Key to this is regular team meetings (typically once a month). Those meetings provide opportunities to build relationships, co-construct work, and maintain open communication between the districts and universities.
• University partners can provide support not only to pre-service leaders but also to those already serving in leadership roles in school systems.