Ensuring strong starts and promising futures, in school and the community.
In 2022, Western Michigan University and the High Impact Leadership for School Renewal team joined a school/community/university partnership funded by a $29.5M US Department of Education Promise Neighborhoods grant. The GRSEPN project will deliver a pipeline of initiatives designed to address critical areas of opportunity and to achieve key success indicators in:
- Early Childhood Development: developmental screening, language & motor development, quality 3 & 4 year old preschool programs, parent education
- Family & Community Engagement/Support: navigation systems, healthy nutrition, substance abuse prevention, school engagement
- Learning Readiness: social-emotional learning & development, resilience & persistence, attendance & engagement, trauma response, safety & well-being
- Academic Success: K-12 literacy, K-12 Math (including 8th grade algebra), teacher/leader development & shared ownership, aligned systems, processes & resources, successful school transitions, extended day learning opportunities, summer learning opportunities and math, successful school transitions, high school completion
- College & Career Readiness: career explorations, college & workplace competencies, college & certificate program enrollments, degree & certificate completion, job placement
Along with our community partners and stakeholders, we implement a coordinated and aligned system of evidence-based strategies to provide students with a high quality, equity-producing, birth-to-career educational experience. From 2022-2026, we will work with our evaluation partners to measure the impact and efficacy of our work to achieve two key outcomes:
- Growth and equity in student learning opportunity and outcomes
- Increased parent and family supports
GRSEPN kicked off with an Appreciative Summit for all grant stakeholders in August 2022!
View photos from the day.
GRSEPN Leadership Team includes Dr. Jianpeng Shen, WMU; Bridget Cheney, GRPS; Dr. Leadriane Roby, GRPS; and Dr. Patricia Reeves, WMU
GRPS Design & Implementation Coordinators will lead the teams in their work.
GRPS Superintendent Dr. Leadrriane Roby welcomed the participants to the two-day summit..
Stakeholders from GRPS and Partners worked together to bring all stakeholder voices to the planning table.
Dr. LaSona Roberts of WMU served as the guide for the 2-day stakeholder workshop
One team posts to their "growth tree" the assets that enrich the GRSE Promise Neighborhoods.
Dr. Patricia Reeves of WMU discusses strategies with stakeholder teams
GROWTH trees captured our assets, hopes, and dreams for SE Grand Rapids children and youth
Reporting out the planning and next steps.
Learn more about our Promise Neighborhood work
Click the bars below to review additional details about our work with the GRSEPN Project.
COMMUNITY PARTNERS
- Baxter Community Center
- Early Learning Neighborhood Collaborative
- Family Futures
- Grand Rapids Community College
- Kent Intermediate School District
- LINC UP of Grand Rapids
- Michigan State University Office of K-12 Outreach
- Johnson Center for Philanthropy at Grand Valley State University
Internal and External Stakeholders
- School leaders
- School staff
- Students and their families
- Grand Rapids Community and others
US Department of Education (USED)
- Technical Support for Needs Assessment
- Leadership Development Series
- Scorecard training and Results Based Accountability (RBA)
Learn more about all our partner organizations!
We serve 14 GRPS schools in the Grand Rapids Southeast Promise Neighborhood:
- Ottawa Hills High School
- Grand Rapids University Prep Academy
- Alger Middle School
- Brookside Elementary School (B*)
- Campus Elementary School (A*)
- Congress Elementary School (B*)
- Dickinson School (B*)
- Gerald R. Ford Academic Center (A*)
- Grand Rapids Montessori Elementary School (B*)
- Ken-O-Sha Elementary School (A*)
- Martin Luther King Jr. Leadership Academy (B*)
- Mulick Park Elementary School (A*)
- Ridgemoor Park Montessori Academy (B*)
- Sherwood Park Global Studies Academy (B*)
We support High Impact Leadership in additional GRPS schools (and others) through services provided through the WMU Office for School Renewal.
We know that all the adults in children's lives have a huge impact on children's opportunities to learn and grow. The GRSEPN project will equip these caring adults (parents, teachers, community supporters) to improve outcomes for children from cradle to career. We've identified success indicators and measures that will populate a GRSEPN Dashboard for Implementation Progress and Outcomes.
Promise Neighborhood Federally Required Success Indicators:
- Students enter kindergarten ready to learn and with requisite skills for success
- Students are proficient in core academic subjects (emphasis on ELA and Math)
- Students successfully transition from elementary to middle school, middle school to high school, high school to post-secondary
- Youth graduate from high school
- High school graduates obtain a post-secondary degree, certification or credential
- Students are healthy
- Students feel safe on the way to and during time in school
- Students live in stable communities
- Families and community members support learning in Promise Neighborhood Schools
- Students have access to 21st century learning tools
GRSEPN Program Success Indicators
- Growth and equity in student learning opportunity and outcomes
- Increased parent and family supports
- Growth in school renewal leadership practices
- Degree of implementation integrity and fidelity of pipeline initiatives
- Growth in evidence-based classroom practices (classroom management, instruction, and assessment) in alignment with GRSEPN student characteristics
Other Success Indicators
- Based on specifics of pipeline initiatives
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GRSEPN Activities Calendar