October 2025 Newsletter

The Coleridge Institute and Mathematica are partnering to offer interested state agency teams an Applied Data Analytics training program later this fall and winter. This training series will focus on using data to explore and act on the E-W Framework’s Essential Question 14: Are students graduating from high school on time and successfully transitioning into further education, training, or employment?

Participating teams will use data from the New Jersey Statewide Data System, accessed through the Coleridge Initiative’s Administrative Data Research Facility (ADRF) environment. Coleridge and Mathematica hope to engage with five or six state teams.

Interested in participating? Contact Charles McGrew (Charles.mcgrew@coleridgeinitiative.org) or Steve Lipscomb (SLipscomb@mathematica-mpr.com) to learn more or to enroll.

The Urban Institute is pleased to announce the launch of the Student Upward Mobility Initiative (SUMI) 2025 Request for Proposals (RFP) seeking bold, innovative R&D on economic mobility drivers. The goal is to identify and measure (1) the skills and competencies developed late in high school (grades 11–12) that drive economic mobility and (2) how skill development and access to opportunity in early high school and middle school shape that trajectory. This RFP builds on SUMI’s first round and moves the needle closer to SUMI’s long-term vision: equipping education policymakers and practitioners with a short list of key skill-based, easily measured mobility drivers that can be used by educational systems and structures that drive students’ upward mobility.

SUMI expects to award $3 million in grants ranging from $50,000 to $500,000 for projects lasting up to 24 months. SUMI especially welcomes proposals that use novel data sources and creative study designs to push the boundaries of what we know about the drivers of mobility and how we can measure them.

Mandatory letter of inquiry due Friday, October 10, at 5:00 p.m. ET.

Learn more and apply here or reach out to SUMI@urban.org with any questions.

Building on the strong foundation in Phase 1, AEM is excited to announce the launch of Phase 2 of the E-W Indicator Framework Analysis Plans. This next phase deepens the connection between the Framework’s indicators and the Common Education Data Standards (CEDS), making it easier for states, districts, and organizations to measure progress toward education and workforce outcomes.

Through June 2026, the E-W Collaborators Group will meet monthly to refine metrics and expand usability across the education-to-workforce pipeline, with a special focus on (1) social, emotional, and physical well-being and (2) career readiness and academic success. To ensure the analysis plans reflect diverse perspectives, AEM will include district voices.

Stay tuned for updates as AEM continues to strengthen the analysis plans tool to inform practice and shape policy.

If you would like to join the E-W Collaborators Group or learn more about the indicators aligned to CEDS, please contact ewframework@aemcorp.com.

Cradle-to-Career Outcomes: Early Grade Reading and Middle Grade Math is the second in a four-course series. This course builds on Mathematica’s E-W Framework and the Outcomes Playbooks, helping participants explore essential tools, indicators, and practices that drive progress on early literacy and math milestones. Through self-paced learning and peer learning sessions, participants will prepare to guide conversations in their communities about advancing outcomes in these areas.

Course details:

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