Articles
Recapping 2025
TDS continues its commitment to working alongside public educators in multiple school districts providing real time coaching and technical expertise on designing Student Success Systems which improve attendance and graduation rates. TDS builds capacity with a job-embedded certification process for school and district staff. TDS employs a research-based framework that includes the use of holistic data to co-create student success systems that improve attendance and graduation outcomes.
We begin 2026 grounded with an intentional focus on strengthening our partnerships and continuing to customize support for each partner’s unique context. TDS has been a pioneer in introducing student success systems nationally. Student success systems incorporate holistic data, actionable and proactive approaches to create comprehensive and evidence based frameworks to decrease chronic absenteeism and increase graduation rates. TDS believes in student centered mindsets and incorporating student voice while increasing engagement at the school level.
In 2025 we formally partnered with New Mexico Public Education Department (NMPED) Attendance Improvement Program; Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network (PaTTAN); Carlsbad Municipal Schools (Carlsbad, New Mexico); Grad Partnership; Johns Hopkins University School of Education; Albuquerque Public Schools (APS); University of West Alabama; Rural Schools Collaborative.
MARCH
Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching hosted its annual summit at High Tech High Graduate School of Education in San Diego. TDS co-facilitated a session highlighting our support to the Gadsden Independent School District in New Mexico.
APRIL
2025 brought an end to our multi year project in partnership with the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins, On Track to Career Success, supported by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. In April, members of TDS attended the 2nd National School Redesign Showcase. This culminating event brought students and school leaders from across the country together to share their learning and designs to increase student belonging with educational policymakers in Washington, DC. In addition, TDS collaborated on the development of the On Track to Career Success Playbook.
MAY
In May of 2025, our partnership and professional learning series with APS led to 50 educators earning 67 micro-credentials. The district continues to build the capacity of the Attendance Support Unit to facilitate each school’s design and implementation of Student Success Systems.
AUGUST
August was a busy month for TDS. Tara Madden, Executive Director of TDS, led a session entitled – Efficacy Through Connection: The Power of Supportive Relationships at the Rural Teachers Summit in Maquoketa, IA. This session and the summit was a great way to strengthen our budding partnership with the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque which is a local implementation partner of the Grad Partnership.
We enjoyed the engagement with community members at the Parent Action Committee town hall in Raleigh, NC. The Education Justice Alliance hosted the town hall with support from the Schott Foundation, an organizing partner of the GRAD Partnership. Raphael Curtis, TDS, members of the Schott Foundation and Education Justice Alliance engaged in dialogue with families on topics related to school advocacy, safety and leveraging Student Success Systems to improve student outcomes.
Finally, August brought the joy of delivering micro-certifications for Student Success Systems to multiple staff members in Albuquerque Public Schools.
SEPTEMBER
Our work in New Mexico continues to expand. Members of TDS staff conducted on-site visits in September to Carlsbad Municipal Schools. TDS conducted student listening activities and modeled the process for attendance audits to gather qualitative data with our partner educators in Carlsbad, NM.
DECEMBER
In December, Sonia Urban co-facilitated an in-person learning session with our partners at the University of West Alabama, a GRAD Partnership local implementation partner. The focus of this session was gathering and making meaning of Student Voice data. Participating schools in the cohort surveyed students about their school experience and are using the results to better understand root cause and develop action plans for the second semester and next year. It was a great day of collaboration and thought partnership.
