The EdRedesign Lab (EdRedesign) at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE) has named Tauheedah Jackson (Ed.M. ’22) as the inaugural director of its Institute for Success Planning and has announced the first cohort of cross-sector teams joining its Success Planning Community of Practice.
“EdRedesign’s Institute for Success Planning will partner with communities that are on the frontlines of developing and scaling place-based and coordinated systems of personalized services and opportunities for all children and charting clear and accessible pathways to better academic and life outcomes. I am eager to see the trajectory of this ambitious, impact-focused initiative,” said HGSE Dean Bridget Terry Long.
With the generous support of the Barr Foundation and an anonymous gift, and additional financial support for Success Planning from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Oak Foundation, EdRedesign launched the Institute for Success Planning in March.
“We are beyond thrilled that Tauheedah Jackson will be at the helm of our Institute for Success Planning, guiding communities in designing personalized, relationship-based systems of support for children and youth through cross-sector collaboration. Tauheedah’s deep experience and wise insights are ideal for leading this initiative to ensure that the talents, interests, and needs of all children, not just some, are supported and nurtured,” said Paul Reville, Francis Keppel Professor of Practice of Educational Policy and Administration at HGSE and founding director of EdRedesign.
In her previous role at the Institute of Educational Leadership, Tauheedah served as the director of Place Based Strategy & Community School Initiatives.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has made clear that schools alone cannot solve the longstanding inequities in opportunities and outcomes for children of different economic and racial backgrounds, as well as for those with learning differences or whose first language is not English. What is exciting about the Success Planning framework is that it represents a paradigm shift that will enable communities to provide children with genuinely equitable opportunities to succeed in school and in life,” said Jackson.
Student Success Planning is an approach that connects each student to an adult Navigator, who creates a personalized roadmap to the supports and resources in the community that the child needs to thrive.
EdRedesign recently solicited applications for its inaugural Success Planning Community of Practice cohort (June 2022-May 2023), and selected 12 communities: Albuquerque, New Mexico; Asheville and Buncombe County, North Carolina; Baltimore, Maryland, Chattanooga-Hamilton County, Tennessee; Grand Island, Nebraska; Long Beach, California; Minneapolis; Nashville, Tennessee; New York City; Poughkeepsie, New York; and two communities from southern Illinois, including Carbondale Elementary School District #95 and Unity Point School #140.
“We believe it’s our job to help every student plan for and achieve success, and our Navigator program plays a key part in that work by making sure we know what students are thinking and feeling,” Metro Nashville Public Schools Director Adrienne Battle said. “We appreciate the opportunity to be part of this Community of Practice at The EdRedesign Lab so we can share our work as we learn from the work of other districts and communities.”
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