Community Leaders Come Together for a Conversation with Deputy Secretary Cindy Marten

By Dorothy Jones, Director of Corporate, State, and Local Partnerships at National Partnership for Student Success Support Hub.

As a part of her 2024 Back-To-School bus tour, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education Cindy Marten convened a diverse group of community leaders, educators, youth-serving nonprofits, national service programs, and other stakeholders in Madison, Wisconsin earlier this month to explore how we can better meet the integrated academic, social, emotional, physical, and mental health needs of students. Hosted at the United Way of Dane County, the conversation was led by the Deputy Secretary, President and CEO of the United Way of Dane County, Renee Moe, and the Mayor of Madison, Satya Rhodes-Conway. The discussion underscored a growing recognition that addressing these needs requires a multifaceted approach, integrating various support systems, and breaking down traditional barriers.

Understanding the Evolving Needs of Students

Over the last few years, it’s become increasingly clear that students’ needs extend far beyond academics. This realization has prompted a reevaluation of how schools, out-of-school programs, and other learning environments can be designed to offer more holistic support. Here are some key takeaways from the discussion:

• Enhancing Out-of-School Time Programs: Like communities across the country, Madison has made an intentional commitment to out-of-school time (OST) programs. Madison-area Out-of-School Time (MOST) is a powerful collaboration between the City of Madison, Dane County, Madison Metropolitan School District, and over 45 Madison-area youth-serving organizations.
• Student-Centered Approaches: Programs must be made relevant to students’ needs. This includes being intentional about informing families about available programs and how they can benefit their children. Effective collaboration with parents is essential for building capacity and meeting the needs of students. By engaging students and their families and understanding their desires, programs can be made more robust and responsive.

Learn more about the NPSS Hub’s approach to people-powered student support.

Data Sharing and Collaborative Efforts

One of the major challenges discussed was the fragmentation of data and resources:

• Improving Secure Data Sharing: Often there are difficulties in data sharing among governmental entities and there is a need for better coordination, while also ensuring that student data is protected. When OST providers have access to up to date information on student performance and attendance, they’re able to better target offerings to youth and help improve student outcomes. While there is a promising framework for secure, real-time data sharing between districts and community organizations in Madison, the next step is to make this data actionable and use it to drive policy and practice changes.
• Streamlining Access and Partnerships: One recurring issue faced by organizations in Madison and across the country is the bureaucratic hurdles experienced by OST providers in accessing data and forming partnerships with school districts. Schools and districts are being required to take on more than ever before, limiting capacity for partnership building even when the support is needed and wanted. Efforts to improve these processes and foster stronger collaboration are critical.

Designing Holistic Support Systems

The conversation also turned to designing support systems that address the full spectrum of student needs:

• Integrating Services: Participants emphasized the importance of breaking down silos between in-school and out-of-school programs. By creating integrated systems, students can navigate services more easily without the stress of dealing with multiple, disconnected entities.
• Individualized Tutoring: Student needs are diverse, making individualized learning opportunities an essential piece of the puzzle. The Schools of Hope AmeriCorps Project, a collaboration between the United Way of Dane County, AmeriCorps, and the Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD), provides one-on-one literacy tutoring for K-5 students reading below grade level. Tutoring takes place during non-instructional time within the school day. This allows tutors to connect directly with classroom teachers and school literacy staff to ensure that tutoring is responsive to the individual needs of students and complements the district’s curriculum.

Learn more about NPSS-aligned student support roles.

Youth Voice and Community Engagement

The inclusion of youth in decision-making and the need for authentic community engagement were recurring themes:

• Empowering Youth: The importance of involving youth as active decision-makers rather than passive consultants was echoed throughout the room. Youth perspectives are crucial for designing effective programs and services.
• Community-Based Solutions: Participants pointed to successful community-based models like community centers, which integrate a wide range of services on-site and thrive due to strong community involvement.

Addressing Systemic Challenges

Several participants raised concerns about systemic issues and how they impact service delivery:

• Funding and Resource Allocation: Participants discussed the need for realigning funding structures to support successful models and ensure sustainability. There is a pressing need to address budget constraints and consider innovative funding solutions.
• Improving Staffing and Professional Development: Several voices emphasized the need for prioritizing careers in education and focusing on professional development. Ensuring that part-time staff have access to fair compensation and career advancement is crucial for maintaining high-quality programs and the workforce needed to support youth.

Interview with Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway

Following the roundtable conversation, we asked Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway a couple of questions about how the City is leading efforts to support youth in Madison.

Question: There are a lot of opportunities for cities to lead in creating NPSS aligned partnerships in their communities, what’s one example of how the City of Madison has done this?

Together, the city and school district lead MOST, an out-of-school time intermediary, and we’ve learned a lot about how to do this from Every Hour Counts and the National League of Cities. MOST provides infrastructure for the field and works to improve opportunities for youth. The MOST Coalition consists of a broad array of stakeholders invested in child and youth, and works to create and sustain a city-wide OST system. This includes representatives from OST program organizations, MMSD, the County, the City, funders, and more.

By investing in infrastructure for the field, Madison has been able to improve workforce conditions for OST organizations, create coordinated data systems that share real-time data across dozens of organizations, and helped raise millions of dollars to expand access to programs.

Question: A lot of the discussion centered on how we can support students in a collaborative and integrated way. You’ve done that in Madison on a few occasions, and were able to give a few examples to Deputy Secretary Marten. Can you share an example with us?

Summer is one of the most important times for young people, but without the infrastructure of schools it can be hard to make sense of what kids and their families are up to. So, the past several summers we’ve tracked data across hundreds of community based organizations and found out that not enough kids who qualify for Free or Reduced Priced Lunch (FRL) are attending summer programs. When they are attending, most of them are attending less than 65% of the time. This has huge repercussions for families, kids, and our community. But, it’s a solvable problem: community based organizations could be serving more kids with additional funding. The city was already funding as much as we could, so we had to get creative. Superintendent, Dr. Joe Gothard, and I recently visited some summer learning programs, saw their great work, and thought about how we could collaboratively address the challenge. One thing that we realized is that many programs mirrored our district’s summer school program and actually meet the requirements to count as summer school. As a result, the district implemented policy changes that allowed some city-funded neighborhood centers that were hiring district teachers during the summer to “count” as summer school. The district’s summer school enrollment increased and they got more state aid. They are passing that on next summer to community organizations to increase access. The city is tracking data and working with partners to make sure they have the capacity to scale.

Additionally, we hosted some “data parties” for providers to look at their attendance rates and brainstorm ways to increase attendance for kids together. Bottom line, the rate of kids attending more than 65% of the time doubled, and we tapped into a sustainable and scalable funding stream that allows more kids who qualify for FRL to access programs.

Moving Forward Together

The meeting underscored the need for a collaborative, integrated approach to supporting students. By breaking down silos, enhancing data sharing, and involving the community—especially youth—in decision-making, we can create more effective and responsive support systems. It’s clear that achieving these goals will require not only innovative solutions but also a commitment to ongoing collaboration and resource alignment.

As we move forward, let’s build on the momentum from this meeting to drive meaningful change and ensure that every student has the support they need to thrive.

Together, we can create a brighter future for our students and communities. Learn more about the NPSS and become a Supporting Champion.