K-16 Regional Collaboratives: Strategic Planning for Regions to Create Lasting Education Partnerships
Across California, WestEd’s Center for Economic Mobility is supporting K–12 institutions and colleges to develop regional partnerships so they can work together to allocate shared resources and design pathways in fields like education, healthcare, and engineering.
The Challenge
Across the country, education systems face the complex task of coordinating across many different groups—K–12 schools, community colleges, universities, and employers. In California, policymakers decided to encourage these groups to work together to create smoother pathways into careers that are in high demand.
California launched the Regional K–16 Education Collaboratives Grant Program and gave $25 million in grants to partnerships in different regions. But the money was just the starting point. These regions also needed to build strong working relationships and systems that would last by
- establishing shared governance structures that balance the interests of multiple educational segments, employers, and community partners;
- prioritizing resource distribution so that funding addresses both innovation and scale;
- developing common metrics and data systems; and
- building mechanisms to sustain efforts beyond the grant period.
How We’re Taking Action
Beginning in 2022, we partnered with three very different regions—Los Angeles, Inland Empire, and Central Coast—to develop the operational infrastructure that would transform their bold visions into functioning systems.
- Data Governance: We helped each region develop governance structures tailored to their unique contexts, including executive steering committees with cross-sector representation, interagency implementation councils, and working teams focused on specific priorities like data infrastructure and pathway development. We also helped leaders from different sectors create a collaborative governance model that allowed them to unite around a shared vision and goals. These structures established clear decision-making protocols, accountability mechanisms, and communication channels.
- Resource Distribution: We also guided regions to develop transparent frameworks for distributing millions of dollars—including request for proposal (RFP) development, scoring rubrics, and reviewer norming protocols. This included providing technical assistance and ongoing coaching for local partners to strengthen their proposal development, pathway strategies, and implementation planning.
- Data Infrastructure: We worked with regional partners to develop common data definitions, reporting structures, and metrics aligned with state requirements. This included building regional data dictionaries and biannual reporting tools that enabled partners to track program enrollment, completion, and postsecondary transitions—disaggregated by key student demographics.
- Communities of Practice: We designed and facilitated quarterly convenings that brought together cross-sector teams to tackle common challenges, share emerging practices, and deepen their collaborative work. These communities of practice focused on critical topics like dual enrollment implementation, articulation agreements between institutions, and credential alignment with employer needs.