CCSSO Partnership Overview

The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO or the Council) is a nationwide, nonpartisan, nonprofit membership organization representing the public officials who head state departments of elementary and secondary education across the nation, the District of Columbia, the Department of Defense Education Activity, and five U.S. extra-state jurisdictions. In addition to chief state school officers, CCSSO works with state education agency (SEA) staff, including deputy superintendents of education, federal liaisons, communications directors and various programmatic personnel.

The Council works tirelessly to ensure every child receives the opportunity to excel before and after graduation. The Council is guided by an overarching aspiration which is to ensure that all students—regardless of background—are prepared for success in college, careers, and life. To realize this, we bring together dedicated leaders and exceptional ideas to achieve measurable progress for every student. Our work includes supporting states as they implement new standards, reinvent systems that develop effective teachers, explore and adopt new technologies, and navigate political turmoil—all in the pursuit of helping students succeed. We offer a trusted forum for members to collaborate, share, and demonstrate best practices while providing continuity and support to key SEA staff. At the national level, CCSSO forges state consensus on pressing education issues, advocating for policies and practices that represent states’ interests. For almost 90 years, CCSSO has been bringing together the top education leaders, including state policy leaders, education experts, and others, to create solutions on shared issues.

Our focus for 2018-2019 includes working with states and SEAs on implementing the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) as well as engaging in partnership with our members to advance specific strategies that ensure all students have meaningful pathways for success.

Our Partners
The Council's Industry Partners comprise a select group of institutions and organizations that align and further the advancement of CCSSO’s mission and goals. CCSSO taps its partners’ expertise in areas such as education technology, assessment, research and analytics, curriculum development, and support for educators and leaders to help build the capacity of its membership. In turn, partners support professional development opportunities for Chiefs and SEAs by leveraging their human capital to better inform state policy decision making. Partners may have opportunities to network with chiefs and their key staff members through member meetings, participation in CCSSO initiatives, executive briefings, webinars, and other customized networking and programmatic efforts. Through this interaction and exchange of ideas, Council partners gain an understanding of key issues facing state education leaders while our SEA members benefit from exposure to new ideas, different perspectives, and innovative solutions.

	LEVEL 1	LEVEL 2
COST	$88,000	$68,000
Alternative Option	If agreeing to a two-year commitment, the fee is reduced to $166,000	If agreeing to a two-year commitment, the fee is reduced to $126,000

Collaborating to Build Capacity for What’s Next
CCSSO facilitates a community of peers and experts providing state education chiefs with guidance as they navigate their biggest challenges. As part of this work, CCSSO creates opportunities for states and partners to collaborate and focus on specific topic areas. These efforts ensure that the collective wisdom of states leads to more measurable progress for every student. In addition to the member meetings, partners may join the following consortia (for an additional fee). These consortia provide opportunities for states and partners to share and collect best practices, lessons learned, and strategies on specific issue areas. For 2018-2019, these collaboratives include:

• Career Readiness Collaborative (CRC): *New Program
  CCSSO’s new Career Readiness Collaborative (CRC) will draw lessons and models from the Council’s New Skills for Youth initiative and be anchored in the recommendations from the report Opportunities and Options: Making Career Preparation Work for Students. Specifically, this will allow states to learn from one another’s successes and challenges to:

  1. Convene effective cross-state collaboration between K-12, business/industry, and higher education, centered around use of labor-market information;
  2. Develop high-quality secondary to postsecondary career pathways that lead to valuable postsecondary credentials and careers; and
  3. Implement the use of career readiness indicators in state accountability systems & public reporting. In year one, CRC will focus on ensuring all states have accurate, timely data from across the K-12, higher education and employer sectors related to career preparation education. Representatives from these and other areas like governor’s offices, departments of labor and commerce, community groups, and others, will share viewpoints on a range of career readiness factors, using CCSSO’s career readiness needs assessment template as a basis for discussion. Later, state cross-sector teams will build a career readiness strategic plan, taking into consideration the results of the needs assessment, carefully incorporating and aligning related state priorities including labor market outcomes, college attainment and completion, credential attainment, expanded work-based learning opportunities, student outcomes, etc. Career readiness strategic plans will cement cross-sector state team work for the next several years, helping ensure continued collaboration within and across states.

• Education Information Management Advisory Consortium (EIMAC): EIMAC supports SEA leadership as they develop and deliver solutions that leverage data and technology to inform decision making around teaching and learning at all levels. Through EIMAC, SEA staff leverage collective state action to design robust and comprehensive state information systems; develop state capacity and practical resources for accessing, analyzing, and using timely information effectively; and lead collaborative state, national, and international efforts to examine trends and patterns in education to support the chief’s policy priorities and reform strategies.

• State Collaboratives on Assessment and Student Standards (SCASS): CCSSO supports 11 topically-focused SCASS networks based on member needs at the state level, relating to academic standards, assessment, and accountability structures—three of the most powerful drivers of student success.

• Teaching, Leading, & Learning Collaborative (TLLC): Through the Teaching, Leading, & Learning Collaborative (TLLC), CCSSO will supports states as they work to identify and take action on policies aimed at comprehensive approaches to improving teachers and leaders’ instructional practices with a focus on the implementation of college- and career-ready (CCR) standards. CCSSO believes that stronger connections across teacher and leader initiatives and instructional work with CCR standards will have increased impact and benefits for talent management systems, allow for more targeted professional development to support improved instruction for both teacher and leaders, and increase capacity for teachers and leaders to meet the needs of each student and improve learning.

Partnership Status	Price per Collaborative
Level 1 CCSSO Business Partner	$11,500
Level 2 CCSSO Business Partner	$13,000
Non-CCSSO Business Partner	$16,000

For more information please contact Elizabeth Clements at elizabeth.clements@ccsso.org or 202-336-7068.