Planning and Managing Effective Networks

Since its founding in 2008, Education First has helped numerous partners – from funders, to nonprofits, to the Federal Government – establish and facilitate networks of grantees, districts and educators. Effective collaboratives, communities of practice and grantee networks are a core service offering for Ed First. We believe our effectiveness as partners and facilitators derives from our extensive research and experience about what makes a network work. This deck, compiled in 2015 from a series of resources prepared for individual clients across multiple years, summarizes some of our deep thinking about the conditions, opportunities and challenges for successful networks. It begins with a summary of the types of overall networks, including how their structures are informed by their goals, and then conducts a deep dive on knowledge networks in particular. It also offers an analysis of two successful networks of school districts in California.