From Fragmentation to Coherence: Accelerating Progress toward Educational Equity

New report looks at education systems and barriers to achieving integration and innovation

By Carnegie Corporation of New York November 28, 2019

Students lose out when the adults in their lives get pulled in different directions. They lose out when their teachers teach one way to deliver a curriculum, and another to prepare them for standardized tests. They lose out when what they learn in one grade doesn’t prepare them for the next. Students also lose out when principals must focus on paperwork and not on improving instruction.

This lack of coherence stems from fragmentation — a complex and widespread issue of growing concern in schools nationwide. In response, the education program at Carnegie Corporation of New York commissioned a report, From Fragmentation to Coherence: How more integrative ways of working could accelerate improvement and progress toward equity in education. Meant for practitioners at all levels of the education system, including those in the public, nonprofit, and business sectors, this resource offers practical insights into the causes, consequences, and potential remedies of fragmentation.

As a companion to the paper, the Corporation has published a series of essays by its grantees in the Integration Design Consortium (IDC), an initiative to build the capacity of education and community leaders to work in ways that foster greater coherence and allow for meaningful improvements in education and more progress toward equity for all students.

To further the conversation, we invite you to share the report and the essays, and to contact the Corporation with your ideas and suggestions at education@carnegie.org.

From Fragmentation to Coherence: Accelerating Progress toward Educational Equity

1. Supporting Community-Driven Solutions to Achieve Equity and Improvement in Education

2. Redefining Professional Development: Educators as Leaders and Learners

3. To Improve the Lives of Students, Two Communities Learn to Relate Differently

4. Helping Education Leaders Build Coherence into Reform Strategies to Support Teachers and Student Learning

5. How Greater Continuity Can Help the Millions of Students Rotating Through Social Services

What do fragmentation and coherence look like in education systems? The IDC produced a video to explain.