Bush Foundation awards three-year grant to strengthen student-centered learning practices

Our tremendous thanks to the Bush Foundation for its major three-year grant to Achieve Twin Cities to support student-centered learning practices in our career and college readiness services at eight Saint Paul Public Schools (SPPS) high schools. We are so honored by this investment in our work and excited to be part of a community of practitioners who are working to reframe the ways we support young people in their paths to postsecondary readiness. 

Funds from the grant will be used to refine and improve our student-centered advising model and deepen and align our services within SPPS. This new partnership will also provide access to the Bush Foundation’s robust network of providers and experts in the field, which will allow us to develop additional tools, training and resources to support our school-based teams and colleagues and share our own learning and expertise with other professionals in this sector.    

“We know that students can best succeed when they are understood and supported as individuals,” says our CEO Danielle Grant. “We share the Bush Foundation’s belief that access to educational opportunity is the single most important factor in resolving our region’s persistent inequalities at scale, as well as their commitment to promoting student-centered models to improve education equity. We are honored to partner with the Foundation to advance our shared goal of making our region a national leader in education equity through individualized learning.”    

Through our career and college readiness services in 28 SPPS and Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) high schools, our staff are embedded in school counseling teams and create supportive landing spaces for students to discover, explore, plan and take concrete steps toward postsecondary education and meaningful, life-sustaining careers. As the sole universal career and college readiness provider for both districts, our services are open to over 18,000 students each year. 

Through highly personalized guidance, we encourage students to consider not only their own individual strengths and interests but also their cultural values and community perspectives on life success. We also help them explore the ways that all of these factors influence their decisions, the opportunities and barriers they may encounter, and the resources they may need for navigating their best options.   

We believe this model and philosophy also supports our SPPS and MPS district partners’ commitment to intentional and robust student-centered learning, particularly by ensuring that students understand how their high school education directly relates to their career interests and attainment of their future goals.  

Thank you, Bush Foundation, for your investment in the future of our young people and the entire Saint Paul community! 

Learn more about our career and college readiness services in SPPS and MPS high schools.