Representatives from Rocky Mountain Partnership presented to the Adams 12 board on Feb. 5, describing a countywide effort to increase cradle-to-career milestones and listing district-specific targets and pilot projects.

Jody Nowicki and Emily Sanders of Rocky Mountain Partnership described a regional goal to move 71,000 additional young people onto cradle-to-career milestones by 2030 as part of a national Strive Together Cradle to Career network target. They said the regional partnership’s near-term plan focuses on restoring pre-pandemic outcomes with phase-one targets and an equity lens.

Adams 12 officials said the district is a target champion and presented district-level contributions to the county goal. The district described its numeric targets for the 2030 rollup: adding about 408 more third-grade readers, 360 more students demonstrating eighth-grade math proficiency, and increasing career-and-technical-education (CTE) skill attainment and enrollment with a 1,493 figure on the district page for CTE-related targets.

Adams 12 staff described classroom and program changes intended to reach those outcomes, including investments in early literacy (Benchmark Advance and reading interventionists), middle-school math instructional strategies, embedding mathematics credit into popular CTE courses (diesel and welding) so students can earn math credit while completing career pathways, and new concurrent-enrollment partnerships such as aerospace and engineering with MSU Denver and an FAA remote-pilot credential in an unmanned aircraft-systems pathway.

Rocky Mountain Partnership outlined three “high-impact projects” to launch in 2025: expanding navigator capacity and family-engagement pilots for chronically absent students, reengagement pilots using technology to help learners complete credentials, and a later workforce-development pilot focused on municipal navigators and high-demand certificates. Partnership leaders said collaborative grant opportunities — including an invitation to apply to the Wallace Foundation — could help scale successful pilots.

Adams 12 leaders said they would continue to partner with the network on data, equity analyses and community-based funding efforts tied to these targets.