by Patricia Balana, Managing Director, the GRAD Partnership
March 20, 2025
Last month, over 100 educators came together to learn, collaborate and inspire each other during the GRAD Partnership’s National Student Support Systems Convening. Over the course of two days, participants shared lessons, strategies and goals with the collective aim of building high-quality student success systems across the nation. While the implementation of these systems is unique to local contexts, we are motivated by the same vision: the widespread use of effective systems and routines in which school-based success teams use data and the other components of the student success framework to ensure all students are seen and supported in their pathway to success in and beyond school.
A subset of convening attendees represented GRAD Partnership Intermediary organizations. Intermediaries play a vital role in helping schools launch and continuously improve their student success systems. Intermediaries develop expertise in this work, serve as partners for multiple schools, and spread good ideas and innovations across the networks of schools they support. While a variety of types of organizations serve as Intermediaries, they generally represent local non-profits, community-based organizations, and higher education partners that support multiple schools and, in some instances, work across multiple districts.
During a session designed to foster collaboration among the Intermediaries present at the convening (some of whom had experience in this work and some of whom were newer to the work), attendees shared promising practices and discussed challenges.
Intermediaries reflected on early wins helping schools form success teams and invest in the mindsets central to this work. They also discussed challenges in gaining access to high-quality data and ensuring the data and team collaboration drive strategic action and results. In many ways, the discussion reflected progress building foundational structures with teams who are now tackling the hard work of using data to inform school-wide and targeted interventions.
“As an Intermediary working with multiple school partners, we know the value of working together to amplify our individual and collective impact. We are thrilled to be a part of this new collaboration among Intermediaries as we discover and replicate breakthrough ideas, and support one another through the more complex aspects of the work. It’s wonderful to know that together, we are making a difference in our local communities and through this broader network of organizations.”
Emily Pallin, co-founder and Executive Director of the RISE Network
The robust learning exchange at the convening left Intermediaries desiring opportunities for further collaboration. Future gatherings will create opportunities for scaffolded reflection, problem-of-practice discussions, and strategy and artifact sharing. And to ensure an ongoing exchange of ideas, the GRAD Partnership will be more formally launching an Intermediary Learning Community this spring. We look forward to continuing to elevate the good work happening in schools and through Intermediaries in upcoming blog posts.
“The 2025 Student Support Systems Convening offered a great opportunity to network with participants from various states and work with organizations and school districts in urban, suburban, and rural areas. With the challenges still facing schools post-pandemic, I left the convening with specific practices to implement and share with stakeholders from student-led attendance teams to scaling student success systems. The collective wisdom presented at the Intermediary session is just the beginning, and I’m excited that the conversations and resources will continue as we can expand our sphere of influence and learn from others to ultimately help all students succeed.”
Dr. Laura Moran, Education Consultant with Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network (PaTTAN, one of the GRAD Partnerships)