Strategic Partnerships
Who We Are
The Strategic Partnerships staff provide connections and expertise to support and advocate for the success of adult and other underrepresented learners from within the Workforce and Economic Development Division.
Our staff is committed to creating a student-centered culture that focuses on the many assets students' bring to our system. Our work and goals directly align with Equity 2030 - we are working to eliminate equity gaps. With a focus on college access, we work toward lowering the boundaries between agencies, programs, and funding streams to maximize the resources available to students. We support community-based organizations and local and regional governments to better serve learners.
What We Do
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Advocacy includes creating opportunity for adult learners and those supporting them to increase their influence to ensure Minnesota State policies and practices support all learners. We also consult with local partners to understand organizational cultural differences and advocate for changes to help de-mystify the language and practices of higher education.
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Guidelines and best practice work engages our external partners and those who support learners’ foundational education and workforce development goals, and in working with colleges and university academic and student services staff, we learn of barriers to student progress. To achieve Equity 2030, we need to continuously look for unintended consequences that may result in barriers to learners and find creative ways to reduce or resolve this impact.
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Grant funding and collaboration efforts focus on strategic partnerships with staff reviewing private, state, and federal grant funding opportunities, and identifying those that support collaboration, experimentation, and expanded pathways for under-represented adult learners. We seek to secure funding and support others' grant writing efforts serving as a match-maker between organizations looking to build education partnerships and our colleges and universities.
Projects and Initiatives
All Learning Counts Leadership Team
Begun as a planning team for a system grant from the Lumina Foundation, the All Learning Counts (ALC) Leadership Team is a cross-department and multi-agency group, representative of Minnesota State colleges and universities, as well as our partners in workforce training, adult basic education, and others who work and advocate for under-represented adult learners. The Strategic Partnership staff are continuing innovation work to make college accessible for adult learners in the East Twin Cities Metro region with a grant from the 3M Foundation. We are looking for partners for this work!
Adult Placement Advocacy
We provide support, consultation, and partner development for colleges, universities, and our partners (and their students) implementing Guided Self Placement (GSP) to support students actively participating in college placement decisions. This role includes participating in work teams using research and information to implement accurate and reliable placement, especially for students with non-traditional backgrounds.
Ability to Benefit (ATB)
Ability to Benefit (ATB) is a provision in federal law that allows people who don’t have a high school diploma, GED or equivalent to get federal grants, loans and work study funding to help pay for college. Minnesota State was granted approval in August 2022 to begin implementing this program. Seven of our colleges and universities now participate.
The ATB process complements and supports Minnesota State’s ongoing Equity 2030 and Guided Learning Pathways work, and the State of Minnesota’s legislative goal to improve educational attainment across demographic groups by 2025. It is an invaluable tool in creating greater access to higher education in career and technical education pathways for adult learners who find themselves without a high school diploma or equivalent.
Students should contact the financial aid director at the college campus they would like to attend to find out more about Ability to Benefit.
Read the Minnesota State Ability to Benefit State-Defined Process Plan.
Credit for Prior Learning Assessment Network (C-PLAN)
Minnesota State is leading the way in making credit for prior learning more accessible and predictable for students across the state. Metropolitan State University is the host of C-PLAN, and the system office, along with our colleges and universities, are critical partners with a focus on assisting our education and career training community-based organizations in working to understand and meet the requirements of CPL and college/ university academic programs.
- CPL Liaison – we provide active support, consultation, and partner development for colleges, universities and our partners to assist in developing CPL agreements and crosswalks (agreements with multiple colleges) for standard credit awards.
- MyCPL – a system-wide platform for students seeking credit for prior learning assessments and matching to faculty expertise is in the process of implementation system-wide.
Collaboration for developmental education reform and English language learner instruction
Strategic partnership staff participant in a range of Minnesota State committees, work teams, and communication processes related to formal and informal shifts in how our colleges and universities provide developmental education and English language instruction. Our focus is on representing the needs of adult learners and representing the considerable assets that our education and community-based partners bring to this work.
Quality Credentials Academy Work
DEED, OHE, Minnesota State, UMN, and additional stakeholders are engaged in a 15-month project to create a policy framework that supports non-degree and degree credential attainment with a focus on equity. This initiative moves forward quality and transparency for learners pursuing a postsecondary degree and non-degree credentials, addressing the need for smooth transitions that increase stackability and portability of valued skills (i.e., skills that can continue building and skills that are recognized universally). This plan will be implemented over the calendar year, with the currently anticipated launch of policy focused on quality credential attainment in the Spring of 2023. Through this work, we hope to advance basic consumer protections and quality learning opportunities in Minnesota.
Non-credit to Credit Alignment Lab (NCAL)
A small group of colleges, universities, and the system office, with support from ECMC Foundation, Association of Community College Trustees (ACCT) and Education Strategy Group, are implementing the Noncredit and Credit Alignment Lab (NCAL), a two-year initiative to develop new or improved pathways between non-credit and credit programs. This initiative will leverage the framework for non-credit and credit pathway alignment in Educational Strategy Group’s guide, A More Unified Community College. Minnesota is one of fourteen institutions/systems participating in this two-year initiative.
State Financial Aid for Quality Non-Degree Credentials (QNDC)
Minnesota State, again working with the Office of Higher Education and Department of Employment and Economic Development, is working to address financial aid gaps for learners, specifically looking at the policy implication of financial assistance for non-credit credential attainment. Work will include a multi-state benchmark review and looking internally at policy and funding sources and will benefit from the integration of training program data in the Statewide Longitudinal Education Data System (SLEDS) to allow for better evaluation and understanding of the combined education and training systems in the state.
Credential Engine/ WIOA Eligible Training Provider List (ETPL)
Beginning in 2019, Minnesota State, Office of Higher Education, and Department of Employment and Economic Development began working with the national credential transparency organization, Credential Engine. This work culminated in the publishing of Minnesota academic and workforce education programs on https://credentialfinder.org/ through an API with an expanded Eligible Training Provider List hosted by DEED and in compliance with federal WIOA. We continue to work with Credential Engine and the Midwest Higher Education Compact on issues of expanding credential transparency, increasing the portability of non-credit credentials, universal transcripts, and potential listing of education pathways.
Minnesota State, along with representatives of Labor and Industry, k-12 Education, Adult Basic Education, and the Governor’s Office, participated in two National Governor’s Association learning labs to identify opportunities to increase access and participation across our different education systems. After significant effort to map work-based learning in Minnesota and various access points, Minnesota State added a work-based learning web page, including links and references to our partners. Currently, this group communicates on an as-needed basis.