Our Network Connects to Listen and Learn
We regularly bring together site leaders, research partners, experts in the field and SStF staff to reflect on how the developmental education reform movement and our network have been creating positive change.
2023 Learning Network Convening
Embarking on a New Chapter
During the 2023 Learning Network Convening (LNC), nearly 100 Strong Start to Finish network members came together as the initiative began a new phase. The event brought the perspectives of equity and system leaders, educators, researchers and technical assistance providers to the developmental education reform conversation. This year’s event also featured an in-person panel of three students who discussed how corequisite mathematics and English courses impacted more than just academic outcomes. The students explained how they self-enrolled in corequisites, the integral role advising played and how the classroom environment created a space for them to share individual experiences and center cultural practices.
Strong Start to Finish Monitoring, Learning and Evaluation Specialist, Antony Maikuri, and Managing Director of the Charles A. Dana Center, Afi Wiggins, led an interactive session that reviewed the fundamental principles of improvement science and explored how the application of these principles can advance equity. The presentation also discussed the application of improvement science to building equity data teams and equity-related continuous improvement processes informed by students’ experiences along with designing timelines and processes for improving the educational outcomes of students.
Strong Start to Finish Equity Consultant, Dr. Judy Marquez Kiyama, led this interactive workshop, which emphasized the instrumental role faculty play in supporting success, sense of belonging and opportunities for students, especially within developmental education reform efforts. Capacity building for faculty is a key component in these efforts, and the session focused on creating faculty development initiatives that are guided 
Assistant Professors from the Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC), Jamey Gallagher and Kris Messer, designed this interactive workshop that taught the audience how to overcome institutional barriers related to placement and student success. Throughout the session, the facilitators shared examples of how changes in placement
Lynn Brabender, 
This session, facilitated by Strong Start to Finish (SStF) Associate Director, Victoria Ballerini, Complete College America (CCA) Assistant Vice President, Brandon Protas, and Assistant Dean for Policy Research at City University of New York (CUNY), Sarah Truelsch, discussed developmental education reform policy changes at the system and state levels. The speakers presented an overview of SStF’s upcoming State & System Policy Framework for developmental education reform, guidelines for policymakers from CCA and how CUNY operationalized these recommendations for content and process during its reform journey. 
WestEd/Carnegie Math Pathways Director of Mathematics, Ann Edwards, taught attendees how integrating social justice teachings into courses can help make decisions for a better society during this session. Using a guide written by and for college mathematics educators to help them effectively integrate elements of social justice in their mathematics instruction, the presentation offered strategies and resources to help create equitable and just learning environments that support students to explore important social topics through mathematics productively.