Collaborative Action for Children: Redesigning Education for Community Transformation (Field Exp.)

EDU A314 Subject & Catalog Number

This university-wide course asks a central question: how can civic leaders and institutions from key sectors—local government, K–12 education, nonprofits, grassroots organizations, business, philanthropy, higher education, the faith community, and more—come together to accelerate student achievement and place generations of young people and families on pathways to economic mobility?

Eighty percent of children’s waking hours—and all the rest of their lives—are spent outside of school, yet society expects schools alone to level the playing field and create equal opportunity for all. It hasn’t worked. In response, hundreds of communities across the United States are building integrated cradle-to-career systems of support that extend beyond the classroom to improve outcomes for children, youth, and families at scale. 

Our course will focus on designing cradle-to-career, place-based partnerships that align child- and family-serving systems spanning early childhood, PreK–12 education, out-of-school time, postsecondary pathways, social services, and related community development sectors such as health and the built environment. 

Through case studies, lectures, simulations, discussions with leading national practitioners, and exposure to collective impact efforts across urban, suburban, and rural contexts, students will examine equity-centered strategies to mitigate the effects of intergenerational poverty. Additionally, students will analyze policy and advocacy strategies needed to address structural inequities and align sustainable resources through public-private partnerships. By the end of the course, students will gain a deeper understanding of cutting-edge models and approaches that leverage the power of cross-sector collaboration to create pathways to social and economic mobility for millions of young people and families in the U.S. 

The course includes an immersive field experience in which students apply design thinking to real-world challenges in partnership with local communities while strengthening their cross-sector leadership skills. Students will work in consulting teams of 4–6 to support community-based backbone/intermediary organizations on semester-long projects. Each team will address a specific design challenge (e.g., early childhood, out-of-school time, postsecondary pathways, neighborhood revitalization) and will deliver both a final presentation and a written set of programmatic and policy recommendations to their community partner.