Lessons Learned From Baltimore

• In Event: Nurturing Consortia in the Maelstrom of Education Reform: Conversations With Chicago, New York City, Baltimore, and Los Angeles

Abstract

Johns Hopkins University (JHU) operates the Baltimore Education Research Consortium (BERC), a partnership of JHU, Morgan State University, and Baltimore City Public Schools (BCPS). BERC’s executive committee includes members from local community groups such as the Urban League, Associated Black Charities, and the City Health Department develops and approves a long-term research agenda. Short-term research and analysis are managed directly with BCPS to provide timely strategic information for decision-making. BERC’s work has resulted in advances in policy and practice such as: the inclusion of chronic absence in the Principal's data portal; early warning indicator data reports to BCPS school staff; the first joint project between the Department of Social Services and BCPS describing the educational experience of foster care children; and development of college enrollment indicators for the Maryland State Department of Education. BERC hosts monthly Brown Bag forums held in the BCPS central office to share preliminary results and discuss implications, and shares its findings through technical reports, short policy briefs published on its website, and through local and national professional presentations.

Author

• Faith Connolly, Johns Hopkins University