“This is good news. This is good news for everyone, for all children,” Todd Bland said at the launch this year of the National Network of Schools in Partnership (NNSP) at the National Association of Independent Schools annual conference in February. NNSP promotes and supports educational partnerships to develop, test and share cross-school innovations that affect the educational experience of children in all settings.
More than 250 independent school educational leaders attended, and heard Maureen Dowling, director of the Office of Non-Public Education at the U.S. Department of Education, declare that, “The potential of this launch is beyond anything that I’ve been privy to at the U.S. Department of Education.” Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is equally enthusiastic about NNSP’s mission. “I’m on the team,” he said at the launch.
Todd Bland, Milton’s head of school, serves with 10 other national educational leaders on the NNSP board. The organization intends to meet the growing demand for models of best practice and access to expertise in developing partnerships, in order to scale innovation more quickly—and with greater results.
“Schools everywhere are engaging in public-private partnerships that expand educational opportunities for all young people,” according to NNSP’s Web site, http://www.schoolsinpartnership.org. The group is eager to act as a central facilitator, where educators and community leaders could turn for support in the design, implementation and improvement of high-impact partnerships.