Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

In dozens of communities across the country, educators are working with partners in sectors like health and housing to improve students’ well-being inside and outside of school. Some of these efforts, referred to as “Cradle to Career” initiatives, start long before students enter kindergarten and continue until students reach adulthood. The Strive Network, the Harlem Children’s Zone, and Promise Neighborhoods, are examples of cradle to career initiatives.

Cradle to career initiatives often seek to focus on outcomes and metrics associated with academic achievement and economic success, including kindergarten readiness, third grade reading, and on-time high school graduation. Some initiatives align their efforts around an overarching goal of economic mobility for young people, and develop stronger partnerships and alignment across education, health and housing sectors.

This paper explores cradle to career initiatives that partner with affordable housing providers. It addresses the following research questions:

1. To what extent are education agencies partnering with housing providers? Are data available on where they are, who they serve, and what their goals are?
2. How are partnerships structured and funded? Are they structured to serve a discrete population in a specific location, or are they structured to change the way the systems work?
3. Do they work? How is success measured? Do partnerships improve student outcomes? Economic mobility?
4. What implementation lessons can we learn from existing partnerships and systems alignment efforts to pave the way for new ones and make them more impactful?

To address these questions, we first collect data on the number and location of such initiatives. Then, we use case studies to collect data on goals and expectations for partners, the assets and resources that they contribute, the ways they collaborate, and the data systems they use to monitor and measure progress. Findings from this research will inform the development and assessment of new and existing cradle to career initiatives.