HOW WE WORK

MAKING SENSE
MAKING SOLUTIONS
BUILDING COLLECTIVE EFFICACY

We bridge existing networks with local & State education and community leaders.
Together, we demystify how the State-to-local education system is designed.

Our Theory of Change:

  • If State & local education and community leaders can holistically make sense of how the State-to-Local education system is designed to get the outcomes and inequities students currently experience…

  • And there are opportunities for leaders to learn from one another, other states, research, data, and students and families about what is needed to create the conditions for every student in every zip code to attain academic success & wellbeing…

  • Then we will build our collective efficacy for tackling the long-standing systemic challenges that prevent us from improving the odds for student academic success & wellbeing.

IMPROVING THE ODDS
PLAYBOOK

As we increase the collective capacity for understanding the education system, we invite local leaders to develop recommendations and actions that inform a 10-year transformation playbook with short, mid, and long-term actions. These questions guide our work:

  • What can I do in my locus of control and influence?

  • What can we do as a network of leaders?

  • What can State leaders do?

THE “WHY” BEHIND OUR “HOW”

To ensure that ONE is additive to our existing education ecosystem, for over a year we met with over 50 State and local leaders about what they believe is needed in our system to accelerate academic excellence and wellbeing. With these insights, ONE’s approach was born to add system capacity.

  • •What happens now: Many organizations already convene leaders across the education system. Leaders collaborate in coalitions to advance State-level budget asks and issue-specific agendas (e.g., special education cap, summer learning, accountability, early literacy, etc.). Many have long-held priorities for systemic improvements that we never get to.

    How ONE adds system capacity: Sense-making, solution-making, and building collective efficacy to develop a 10-year vision and playbook for systemic change requires more than just new money and new bills. It requires building on prior upgrades that have garnered wide coalition support, but left unintended consequences and inequities in their wake with students navigating a system designed for 35 years ago.

  • •What happens now: Policymaking and advocacy overemphasizes State policy and new pots of money with little emphasis on implementation with fidelity and effective support for practitioners.

    How ONE adds system capacity: ONE catalyzes a focus on systems of accountability, asking: “how can we build on what’s working and better connect the dots between State goals, State education finance systems, expectations for funding distribution at the State and local levels, high-quality practices, and student outcomes? Who is responsible and for what at the State level? Local level?

  • •What happens now: Many leaders see a need for systemic overhaul, but it is daunting for any individual or organization to tackle alone. Current context forces an emphasis on crisis and scarcity.

    •How ONE adds system capacity: To make Oregon a national leader in 10 years, leaders across the system must row together in the same direction, towards a shared vision with a collective set of actions. We aim to connect the dots from a system designed for the past to a future-focused system in which Oregon students are thriving in school and in life.