Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP) Foundation and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: Networks for School Improvement Program

• The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has teamed up with KIPP and 29 other organizations to carry out its Networks for School Improvement (NSI) program, which aims to help high school students from minority communities and low-income families succeed in life.
• The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation recently awarded the KIPP Foundation a USD 15 million grant.
• This partnership is included in this list because of the reputation of both the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the KIPP Foundation. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is a well-known foundation, and KIPP, with 242 public charter schools in its network, is the biggest national non-profit network of public charter schools in the United states.
• Most of the students in KIPP's network are African-American or Latinx. KIPP also has a proven track record of helping students achieve secondary and post-secondary education success.
• KIPP has partnered with several other organizations as well. KIPP and the Sheryl Sandberg and Dave Goldberg Foundation have teamed up to administer the Dave Goldberg Scholarship program, KIPP and Howard University have teamed up to create the Lomax KIPP Scholarships, and KIPP and iMentor have teamed up to administer the Amplify Scholarship Program.

Teach for America (TFA) and the Ballmer Group: Black Educators Promise Initiative

• TFA and the Ballmer Group, both non-profit organizations, have recently worked together to launch the Black Educators Promise Initiative, a five-year initiative designed to improve the recruitment and retention of Black educators and the performance of Black students in communities of color and at low-income schools.
• The new initiative, which launched with an inaugural group of more than 850 Black educators, is funded by the Ballmer Group. Both TFA and the Ballmer Group believe that the initiative will help reduce educational inequity in the country.
• This partnership is included in this list because of TFA's impact on Black teachers and Black students. TFA is the biggest supplier of Black educators to communities of color and low-income schools in the United States.

City Year and Bank of America

• City Year and Bank of America have a long-standing relationship that started way back in 1988 when the former was founded and the latter became the former's first corporate sponsor.
• City Year is a non-profit organization that works closely with public schools in high-need communities across the country and provides tutors, role models, and mentors to improve student outcomes.
• This partnership is included in this list because of the amount the bank has donated to City Year. In the decade leading to 2019, Bank of America had donated over USD 2 billion to City Year. Bank of America's support also goes beyond the United States operations of City Year.

IMS Global Learning Consortium and OESIS Network: Partnership for Interoperable Versatile Open Transcripts (PIVOT)

• IMS Global Learning Consortium, a non-profit organization that advocates for the use of technology to improve both educational participation and attainment, and OESIS Network, a leading K-12 innovation network, have partnered to launch PIVOT, the Partnership for Interoperable Versatile Open Transcripts.
• PIVOT offers support that will help K-12 schools and districts make an easier transition to holistic, competency-based education models, which, in turn, will help promote student equity and achievement.
• This partnership is included in this list because the impact of a modern and digital transcript on K-12 education is expected to be transformative.
• According to Rob Abel, the CEO of the IMS Global Learning Consortium, "a next-generation digital transcript is a powerful tool to empower learners to represent their verifiable skills and competencies and to define their pathways for future educational and employment opportunities."

Education SuperHighway (ESH) and the Internet & Television Association (NCTA): K-12 Bridge to Broadband

• ESH, a non-profit organization whose mission was to close the gap in classroom connectivity in the United States, has teamed up with NCTA, a broadband technology trade association, to launch K-12 Bridge to Broadband, an initiative to provide students, especially those belonging to low-income households, with home connectivity solutions for hybrid and remote learning.
• As part of the initiative, members of the NCTA will introduce programs that will help school districts pinpoint which students need assistance with procuring a broadband service.
• This partnership is included in this list because this initiative of ESH and the NCTA is timely and important, especially now that there is a COVID-19 pandemic. Several broadband providers, including Comcast, Charter, Vyve, Mediacom, Cox, GCI, Midco, and Sjoberg's, have promised to contribute to this initiative.
• Local school districts have informed ESH that they could not address the home connectivity problem properly because they have no idea which students have no broadband service at home.

Research Strategy

Code.org and Bank of America: The Hour of Code

• Bank of America and Code.org, a non-profit organization that is committed to making computer science more accessible in schools have partnered to launch The Hour of Code, a program where the bank's technology employees will teach introductory computer science to K-12 students in underserved school districts.
• The program, funded by a USD 250,000 donation from the bank, has a national scope but will start in Charlotte, North Carolina.
• This partnership is included in this list because of the involvement of Bank of America, a leading financial institution in the country, and Code.org, the provider of the leading K-12 computer science curriculum.

Project Lead The Way and Verizon: STEM Activity Center

• Project Lead The Way, a non-profit organization that promotes transformative STEM learning experiences for PreK-12 students in the United States, and Verizon, a telecommunications company, have partnered to create the STEM Activity Center, an online resource that provides hands-on STEM activities that students, teachers, and parents can use.
• The activities are designed to introduce students to 3D design, virtual reality, augmented reality, digitization, and other STEM-related topics.
• This partnership is included in this list because of the success metrics Verizon has reported on this initiative. According to Verizon, of teachers who have used the STEM Activity Center, 89% have tried a new way of teaching, 85% have personalized their instruction, and 78% have improved student engagement.

Global Online Academy (GOA) and Western Governors University (WGU): Next Generation Teaching Series

• The WGU and the GOA, a non-profit organization that seeks to give students and teachers the resources they need to succeed in a connected society, have teamed up to introduce the Next Generation Teaching Series, a four-course program that is designed to help public K-12 teachers adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic and create first-rate online learning experiences.
• According to GOA Executive Director Michael Nachbar, "this kind of program will empower teachers to reimagine what's possible in how they teach and reach their students."
• This partnership is included in this list because it received special mention in an article discussing how higher education can help K-12 cope with challenges both in the present and in the future.

Connected Nation and Funds for Learning: Connect K-12

• Connected Nation, a non-profit organization whose mission is to improve the access to and the adoption of high-speed internet and whose work impacts the K-12 education space, and Funds for Learning, a professional services firm, have partnered to launch Connect K-12,
•  Connect K-12, a free website that schools can use to learn about the internet speeds and prices of various broadband solutions, is designed to help schools make informed procurement decisions.
• This partnership is included in this list because of its potential impact on the country's connectivity goals. It was formed to help schools and the Federal Communications Commission achieve their goal of providing a bandwidth of 1 Mbps per student.
• Connect K-12 Vice President Emily Jordan recognizes how crucial it is to improve connectivity. She says "digital teaching and learning can only happen when adequate broadband is available."

Council for Aid to Education (CAE) and Education Research and Development Institute (ERDI)

• The CAE, a non-profit organization that specializes in creating performance-based educational assessments, and the ERDI, a research provider that caters to companies that develop products and services for PK-12 education, have partnered to provide thought leadership content in the PK-12 education space.
• The thought leadership content is expected to influence the development of products and services for PK-12 students and educators.
• This partnership is included in this list because the CAE and the ERDI are both considered thought leaders in the K-12 education space. The CAE is a leading performance-based assessment provider, while the ERDI is a well-respected research organization.

Research Strategy

Common Sense Media and Partners: Wide Open School

• Common Sense Media, a non-profit organization that aims to help children, parents, and teachers succeed in an age of media and technology, has teamed up with education companies, publishers, and other non-profits such as Amplify, Head Start, National Geographic, Khan Academy, Sesame Workshop, and YouTube to launch a free online resource called WideOpenSchool.org.
•  WideOpenSchool.org contains curated resources that are designed to help families and teachers transition to remote learning.
• This partnership is included in this list because of the reputation of Common Sense Media and its partners and the size of the partnership. Common Sense Media is an expert reviewer and curator of content for children. Its 29 launch partners include many well-known names such as Apple, Comcast, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Google, Khan Academy, National Geographic, Junior NBA, PBS, Salesforce, YouTube, and Zoom.

Digital Promise and Verizon: Verizon Innovative Learning Schools

• Digital Promise, a non-profit organization that works with educators, entrepreneurs, and researchers to improve people's access to quality learning experiences, and Verizon, a telecommunications company, have been running the Verizon Innovative Learning Schools since 2014.
• The Verizon Innovative Learning Schools program "equips every student and teacher at select schools across the country with a device and up to a four-year data plan."
• This partnership is included in this list because of the number of schools that have benefited from this program. So far, 263 middle schools across 23 states and Washington, D.C. have received free 4G LTE data plans and mobile devices from the Verizon Innovative Learning Schools program.
• Digital Promise and Verizon have also teamed up to develop the Teacher Training Pathways platform, a platform that is designed to help teachers deliver technology-integrated instruction.

Khan Academy and Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA): MAP Accelerator

• Khan Academy, a non-profit organization that aims to provide free, high-quality education to everyone regardless of their location, and NWEA, a non-profit organization that develops Pre-K-12 assessment solutions, have partnered to develop the MAP Accelerator.
• The MAP Accelerator, an innovative classroom tool that facilitates assessment and personalized learning, was piloted in the past academic year in grades 3 to 8 for the English, Math, and Spanish classes.
• This partnership is included in this list because both Khan Academy and NWEA are established players in the K-12 education space. Each month, 18 million learners and over 200,000 educators use Khan Academy. Moreover, NWEA has been developing innovative Pre-K-12 assessment solutions for over 40 years now.

VHS Learning and National Math + Science Initiative: CSforALL

•  VHS Learning, a non-profit organization that develops world-class online courses, has recently partnered with National Math + Science Initiative (NMSI), a non-profit organization that promotes STEM education, to strengthen its commitment to the CSforALL movement and offer select high school students in rural locations free enrollments in its online AP® Computer Science Principles course.
• The CSforALL movement aims to make computer science education more accessible to students.
• This partnership is included in this list because of the reputation of VHS Learning. VHS Learning is an established player in the space, as it has been offering first-rate online courses for 25 years now.

Research Strategy

Future of School and Digital Learning Collaborative: Resilient Schools Project

• Future of School, a non-profit organization working to ensure that changes in K-12 education are in pace with changes in technology, and Digital Learning Collaborative, a membership organization that specializes in digital learning, have worked together to launch the Resilient Schools Project (RSP).
• The RSP is a program designed to help and guide schools and districts as they plan for instruction disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• This partnership is included in this list because of the timeliness of the RSP. Cindy Ambrose, an executive director at the Low Country Education Consortium, says their organization is excited to participate in the RSP because "these are unprecedented times, and a facilitated, nationally networked community focusing on our common problems of practice can be tremendously beneficial to schools and school systems."

Stand Together and National Summer School Initiative

• Stand Together, a non-profit organization that leads efforts to solve complex problems in education, business, communities, and the government, and the National Summer School Initiative (Cadence Learning), a non-profit organization that seeks to offer children new and first-rate distance learning experiences, have teamed up to provide teachers the right tools and techniques and help them as they switch to distance learning.
• The Stand Together Trust has invested USD 1 million in this partnership.
• This partnership is included in this list because of the apparent effectiveness of the summer learning program of the NSSI. In an article published by Stand Together, the NSSI was cited as "an example for how schooling from home can be implemented." Over 10,000 students have participated in the summer learning program of the NSSI.

The Learning Accelerator and Ariadne Labs: Parabola Project

• The Learning Accelerator, a national non-profit organization that hopes to see each K-12 student reach his or her full potential, and the Ariadne Labs, an innovation center for health systems, have recently collaborated to launch the Parabola Project.
• The Parabola Project, which is funded by the One8 Foundation, offers evidence-based tools that school system leaders can use when identifying options and strategizing for safe school reopening amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
• This partnership is included in this list because of its timeliness and its uniqueness. This partnership is timely as current circumstances require schools to find ways to reopen safely. A cross-sector collaboration such as this partnership appears uncommon, however.

Maker Ed and MIT Teaching Systems Lab: Beyond Rubrics

• Maker Ed, a non-profit organization that helps individuals and entities integrate maker education in their learning environments, and the Playful Journey Lab at MIT, a team of researchers and designers who study playful learning and assessment, have been working together on the Beyond Rubrics project.
• The Beyond Rubrics project was created to address the challenge of assessing "collaborative, cross-disciplinary, and iterative making practices and outcomes."
• This partnership is included in this list because it was able to produce the Beyond Rubrics Toolkit, which provides tools for capturing evidence of making processes. The Beyond Rubrics project is also supported by a National Science Foundation grant.

Research Strategy