The Future of Work is Diverse, Inclusive, Just and Equitable

GlobalMindED closes the equity gap by creating a capable, diverse talent pipeline through connections to role models, mentors, internships for low-income students, returning adults, First Gen to college and inclusive leaders who teach them, work with them and hire them.
Meet Ahrash Bissell - President at The NROC Project, Implementing EdReady to Bridge Education Gaps for All Students
Dr. Bissell, and the NROC Project that he leads, has been a partner with GlobalMindED since 2017. Their work has been groundbreaking in providing open resource content to improve math, reading and writing and college preparation and success. We are grateful for the innovative leaders in their community who made time to contribute to GlobalMindED 2022, many of whom brought their students.

What is your personal story? What key moments led you to where you are today?  

I'm a biologist by training, but I've always found that the most interesting questions and challenges bridge disciplines. My career, both within and outside of academia, includes collaborations with lawyers, economists, archaeologists, geographers, educators, and many others. I think these experiences gave me confidence to help launch new, cross-cutting initiatives outside of academia, culminating most recently with the EdReady program at The NROC Project.

After many years of more theoretical and policy-oriented work, I wanted to build something practical that helped solve tangible problems. NROC was a perfect organization for me, as it is core to NROC's mission to collaborate with educators to imagine, develop, test, and refine technologies that improve student success. With this motivation, I was able to help build EdReady, an adaptive math and English learning platform that personalizes a student’s path to subject mastery.

As we state on our website, "‍Every student has goals, and every learner is some distance from those goals. EdReady meets students where they are and helps them address knowledge gaps that could otherwise limit their access to future academic and workforce opportunities." EdReady has proven to be extremely robust and flexible, giving us the opportunity to pursue projects that bridge many disciplinary boundaries, and to consider how we can be part of transforming educational systems across the United States to be more equitable, effective, and student-centered.

What did you learn from being at the GlobalMindED conference in 2022? 

In many ways, the GlobalMindED conferences are the perfect venues for connecting people to our work, given shared interests in cross-sector collaboration, education as a key driver of personal opportunity, and broadening equity-minded processes. The meeting provides ample opportunity to hear diverse perspectives on emergent, promising practices as well as slow-changing, legacy challenges.

We used the 2022 conference to bring together a representative subset of collaborators from our institutional partners around the country, both to reconnect in person after several years of pandemic restrictions, and to encourage reflection about how our collective work intersects with other promising practices and associated advocacy organizations. I have found that GlobalMindED helps me to take the pulse of which issues are currently resonating among our colleagues as well as the students they serve.

How can you and/or your company help GlobalMindED’s mission to connect First Gen and poverty-affected students connect to role models, mentors, internships and jobs? 

The heart of our work is a commitment to positive, institutional change. What we have found is that many institutional representatives are aware of some of the challenges faced by their students, but they limit themselves to tinkering around the edges of established processes, rather than re-examining and transforming the processes themselves. We have also found that many established processes arose primarily in response to logistical challenges, as opposed to clearly improving the desired educational or career outcomes. Technologies improve every day, and many historically intractable logistical issues are now manageable with the right technical tools.

We say "Technology can't—and shouldn't—replace the human art of teaching, but it can help you effectively individualize instruction at scale." By incorporating appropriate technologies into pathways for students to connect to meaningful educational outcomes, role models, mentors, internships, and jobs, we believe that we can significantly broaden access to such pathways and reduce the barriers that might otherwise impede or derail student aspirations for college and career.

What else can the GlobalMindED Inclusive Success Network do to inform and advance your equity goals?

Our challenge is finding and connecting with institutional partners in a sustained manner. Our work depends on these partnerships. While EdReady is available to any person in the world for free, our own research has shown pretty clearly that effective implementation requires integration with institutional programs, attention by supportive staff, and connection with tangible outcomes (e.g., degrees, certificates, jobs, etc). While we need funding from these partnerships to help pay the bills, our non-profit status and commitment to open access ensure that cost is almost never a barrier; instead, the real barrier is institutional commitment to improved practices and student outcomes. We think that GlobalMindED has the potential to bring committed, like-minded advocates and institutional representatives together in a manner that can expedite and advance our goals.

What advice do you have for the next generation of inclusive, inspiring leaders? 

The old adage, "Ideas are cheap", is largely correct. There is broad recognition about the many long-standing, inequitable practices in educational and workforce-development programs, and recognition that there are assuredly ways of improving the situation. The challenge is taking action and committing to something that not only improves outcomes but puts you on a path for further improvement. I think a key facet of leadership is in finding and committing to capable partners who can help you to achieve your vision. There are few things more satisfying than clearing the way for others to do excellent work.
June 2022 Conference Summary in Photos and Videos
We had an inspiring conference in June after two years of virtual gatherings due to COVID. If you missed that, you can still be a part of the experience through the photos from the 2022 GlobalMindED conference, as well as seeing the complete program for connections and inspiration.



Video remarks:


Save the Date! GlobalMindED 2023 June 7-9 in Denver: Join College Delegations, First Gen/Diverse Students and Inclusive Leaders in Education, Business, Government and Foundations
Honoring the 2022 Inclusive Leader Award Winners. Please see their stories:
GlobalMindED | 303-327-5688 | contact@globalminded.org | www.globalminded.org
Stay Connected