About the Coherence Lab

The education leaders driving the movement around coherence

About the Coherence Lab About the Coherence Lab
JOIN THE MOVEMENT

A community of leaders, growing coherence

Today, coherence is a growing movement to create more equitable school systems. Coherence takes an organization wide and system wide perspective to identifying problems and solutions, prioritizes collaboration and communication between stakeholders and builds an intentional focus on equity into processes and decisions.

The Coherence Lab offers programs where education leaders can learn about and engage with coherence including the Coherence Lab Initiative, Coherence Lab Academy and Coherence Lab Intensive. In these programs, education leaders work with coaches to develop skills that they can take and integrate into their agency to improve how they tackle fragmentation.

Theory of Change
With a built-in focus on equity, coherence enables solutions to support all students.

IF we support the leaders of states and large districts to lead coherently by focusing and collaborating on key priorities, cultivating trust among diverse stakeholders, and building an intentional focus on equity into processes and decisions…

THEN state and district leaders will be able to develop solutions to complex problems and scale and sustain changes that inspire, empower and support educators…

SO THAT school leaders and teachers champion shared priorities and policies, and will be equipped to lead continuous improvement in their schools which will improve student experiences and outcomes, particularly for those who have been historically marginalized.

STEVE CANAVERO “
What really kicked me into gear about this opportunity was that we would have a discussion about what equity actually was.”
STEVE CANAVERO
Former Superintendent of Public Instruction, Nevada

Our Programs

Professional development pathways to support your equitable coherence journey

The Initiative
CCSSO members build awareness around the consequences of fragmentations and the key elements of coherence.
Email a team member 
The Academy
12-month engagement dedicated to building the key skills of the Coherence Framework.
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The Intensive
9-month follow-up to the Academy that helps scale learnings and strategies.
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Debora Carrera “
The Coherence Lab space is created for you to create, and do some design thinking in a creative way.”
Debora Carrera
Executive Deputy Secretary, Pennsylvania Department of Education
OUR HISTORY

Powered by Education First and the Council of Chief State School Officers

Education First
CCSSO

In 2017, Education First and the Aspen Institute Education & Society Program decided to address fragmentation in public education. Together, they created the Coherence Lab Fellowship (CLF), a practical solution to connect state education agencies with the mindsets, skills, tools and processes to address systemic barriers to coherence. In partnership with Equity Meets Design and their founder, Christine Ortiz, they incorporated equitable design thinking into the Coherence Framework and the Fellowship experience. The inaugural cohort of the fellowship was launched in 2018. In 2019, the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), joined the project team and they launched a second cohort of the fellowship.

The Coherence Lab builds on the successes of the fellowship while strengthening the community and tackling the coherence challenge. Built by insights of fellowship alumni and an intensive strategic planning process centered around the needs of the education field, the Lab supports more entry points for exploring coherence to transform the culture and increase equity at state and local education agencies.

BACKED BY RESEARCH, GUIDED BY EXPERIENCE

The Coherence Lab embraces leaders’ shared goal of improving education for all students

Leaders are coming together to address problems in a new way, replacing underlying barriers and silos with clarity and shared priorities.

Our project team’s experiences as education practitioners, and experience developing and implementing policy informed our belief that the solution to fragmentation would not just be a technical, infrastructure fix. An effective solution would have to account for human behavior within the system.

We conducted original interviews with parents, teachers, principals, school and local education agency leaders, using both formal and informal qualitative interview techniques, to understand how change happens in social sectors.

We discovered that in order to create a system of collaboration and integration amongst education agencies, leaders need to develop skills that inspire coordination and tear down silos in organizations. The Coherence Lab aims to do just that, offering resources and professional development opportunities for leaders at both the local and state levels.

Dive into our research
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Dive into our research
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Our Team

With a deep understanding of education policy at the state and national levels, Carissa leads CCSSO’s efforts to help states deliver equitable education opportunities to every student. Carissa, a first-generation college graduate, was named executive director of CCSSO in 2018 after serving for nearly five years as a deputy executive director overseeing membership, advocacy, communications, and data and information services.
CARISSA MOFFAT MILLER
CARISSA MOFFAT MILLER
Partnership Lead
Chief Executive Officer, Council of Chief State School Officers
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Jenn led Education First’s project team for the Carnegie Integration Design Consortium initial project in 2016 and the 2017-2019 inaugural CLF cohort. She is an expert in district, state and federal education policy, politics and advocacy; over the last 20 years, she has worked with K12 and postsecondary educators, policymakers and philanthropists in more than 30 states and with national and federal education leaders and organizations.
JENNIFER VRANEK
JENNIFER VRANEK
Partnership Lead
Founding Partner, Education First
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Roneeta leads the Coherence Lab Academy and Intensive, as well as co-leads the Coherence Lab with Isabel. Roneeta has led research in the areas of educator quality, teacher development, and district and school improvement, and launched and managed state and national initiatives to develop and scale student-centered assessment practices. Prior to joining Education First, Roneeta served as the Vice President of Strategy and Impact at the Linked Learning Alliance.
RONEETA GUHA
RONEETA GUHA
Project Co-Lead
Principal, Education First
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Isabel is specifically focused on building the leadership capacities of state education leaders and supporting them in their work. Isabel leads design and implementation of a suite of services for state education leaders such as capacity and organizational studies and assistance with strategic plans, and plans and executes high-quality leadership training opportunities for senior education leaders.
ISABEL RAHM
ISABEL RAHM
Project Co-Lead
Director of Leadership Academy, Council of Chief State School Officers
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Joselin leads the project management of the Coherence Lab Academy and Intensive, and supports coaching teams. Her work at Education First focuses on supporting foundations, state and local education agencies and nonprofits to design organizations and implement structures and processes centered on coherence and equity for clients. Previously, Joselin launched and implemented an inaugural community school model at a K-8 public school in Broward County serving more than 1,300 students.
JOSELIN PADRON-RASINES
JOSELIN PADRON-RASINES
Core Project Team Member
Consultant, Education First
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Rosybell supports coaching teams and evaluating the Coherence Lab Academy and Intensive. Her work at Education First focuses on conducting research and analysis to inform evidence-based strategies that support government agencies, nonprofits, and foundations in strategic decision making. Her previous roles included being the Research and Evaluation Fellow at ImpactED and a Scholarships Officer at the Philadelphia Foundation.
ROSYBELL MARIA
ROSYBELL MARIA
Core Project Team Member
Associate Consultant, Education First
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Our Funders

Coherence Lab is supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

Carnegie Corporation of New York
W.K. Kellog Foundation

Our Collaborators

Our materials and resources were developed with support from the Aspen Education and Society Program and Equity Meets Design.

Aspen Education and Society Program
Equity Meets Design