Explore our most recent case studies
We work to make education more accessible, affordable, accountable, and equitable
Our work is large-scale, interconnected, driven by data and grounded in learner and parent perspectives. By working in every part of the education system, we provide a broad point of view and deep knowledge that allows for bigger impact.
For over 12 years, HCM has worked across several states to transform the higher education financing model.
Since HCM’s founding, our K-12 team has focused on parent engagement across several states as a way to improve student outcomes and create more equitable opportunities.
HCM Strategists created the Courage and Hidden Common Ground Collaborative to help state-based organizations find common ground and amplify public support for equity-centered policies in support of higher education initiatives
SPOTLIGHT | Assessing State Readiness for Redesigning Public Education
Project: Yes. Every Kid. Foundation
Length: One year
Focus Area: Designing + Implementing Policy Agendas
Category: K-12
HCM worked alongside the Yes. Every Kid. Foundation to implement a new approach to assessing state readiness for education policy change.
SPOTLIGHT | Encouraging State Leadership in Expanding High-Quality Instruction
Project: Collaborative for Student Success
Length: 2021 - Present
Focus Area: Strategic Advice and Counsel
Category: K-12
HCM Strategists has held a strategic partnership with the Collaborative for Student Success since the Collaborative’s founding in 2014. In 2021, HCM supported the launch of the CurriculumHQ platform to advocate for and track publicly available state data on high-quality instructional materials, curriculum adoption guidance, and professional development and learning.
HCM’s Promising Policy Series: Driving Better Outcomes and Equity in Education
Project: Promising Policy
Length: 2018 - 2019
Focus Area: Market + Policy Research and Analysis, Designing, Evaluating and Implementing Policy Agendas, Strategic Communications, Campaigns and Coalitions
Category: Postsecondary
HCM Strategists’ mission is to inform the development, adoption and refinement of impactful policies that make a difference in advancing equitable student outcomes. We launched the Promising Policy series to offer materials that highlight good policy and to examine the differences between impactful, lasting policies and those that fail to deliver on their promises.
A National Imperative: Addressing Declining Black Student Enrollments to Fully Realize Black Leaner Excellence in Higher Ed
Project: Realizing Black Learner Excellence in Higher Ed
Length: 2021 - Present
Focus Area: Market + Policy Research and Analysis, Designing, Evaluating and Implementing Policy Agendas, Strategic Communications, Campaigns and Coalitions
Category: Postsecondary
Together with EducationCounsel, Achieving the Dream, and with support from Lumina Foundation, HCM Strategists is building a coalition to enact a national call to action that addresses decades-long declining enrollments among Black learners.
The Tackling Transfer Initiative
Project: Tackling Transfer Initiative
Length: 2018 - 2021
Focus Area: Change Management Strategies
Category: Postsecondary
HCM Strategists spearheaded the Tackling Transfer Initiative to create conditions for improvements in community college transfer that are scalable and measurable to achieve greater equity for students from low-income households and students of color.
Realizing the American Dream 2.0
Project: American Dream 2.0 Coalition
Length: 2012-2014
Focus Area: Strategic Communications, Campaigns + Coalitions, Designing, Evaluating and Implementing Policy Agendas
Category: Postsecondary
HCM established and led an unprecedented coalition to address how financial aid can play a role in advancing the American Dream, comprised of diverse national leadership—college and foundation presidents; civil rights leaders; top state policymakers; student activists; former budget and higher education officials; college access advocates; business leaders; and the nation’s foremost authorities on financial aid.
Project APPLY
Project: Project APPLY
Length: 2020
Focus Area: Strategic Communications, Campaigns + Coalitions
Category: Postsecondary
HCM Strategists and Kinetic Seeds created Project APPLY, a content series to enliven a national conversation around how today’s students and workers experience learning after high school.
Context for Success: Evaluating Postsecondary Outcomes
Project: Context for Success
Length: 2010 - 2012
Focus Area: Market + Policy Research and Analysis, Strategic Communications, Campaigns + Coalitions
Category: Postsecondary
Commissioned by HCM Strategists, Context for Success identified challenges in current methods of evaluating postsecondary education and sought ideas grounded in research that would have practical benefits in the higher education policy world.
Analyzing Middle Skills Jobs and Education Requirements
Project: Connecting Learning and Work: Analyzing Middle Skills
Length: Ongoing
Focus Area: Market and Policy Research + Analysis
Category: Postsecondary
HCM recognized the need to better understand the policy around skills development–both middle and high skills–that better support workers through alternative pathways in education, on-the-job-training and other programs to increase economic mobility.
Outcomes-Based Funding (OBF): Driving Outcomes for Students Through Aligned Funding Models
Project: HCM Outcomes-Based Funding Framework
Length: Ongoing
Focus Area: Strategic Advice + Counsel, Market and Policy Research + Analysis, Designing, Evaluating and Implementing Policy Agendas
Category: Postsecondary
A thought leader with deep experience in tracking, analyzing and working with states to improve state postsecondary policy, HCM Strategists has developed an unparalleled understanding of the state postsecondary policy and funding landscape.
Tackling Inequities Through Intentional Strategic Planning
Project: HCM Strategic Planning
Length: Ongoing
Focus Area: Strategic Advice and Counsel
Category: Postsecondary
HCM’s strategic planning brings a keen awareness of the external political and economic environment; research and best practice; and the central role of equity, diversity and inclusion that informs effective leadership.
Partnering with Learning Heroes to Create School Report Cards That Meet Parents Where They Are With Information They Can Use
Project: School Report Cards for Parents
Length: Ongoing
Focus Area: Market & Policy Research + Analysis, Strategic Communications, Campaigns + Coalitions
Category: K-12
HCM Strategists special partnership with Learning Heroes yields an ongoing, unprecedented body of research on parent mindsets and education.
K-12 ESSA Plans: Deep Diving into State K-12 Accountability Systems
Project: State K-12 Accountability Systems
Length: 2015 - Present
Focus Area: Market & Policy Research + Analysis
Category: K-12
Amidst a backdrop of fast-moving policy change, HCM Strategists recognized the importance of safeguarding states’ commitment to equity and success for all students and partnered with some of the nation’s leading education policy and advocacy organizations to track, analyze and help strengthen states’ accountability plans.
Support for Equity-Minded Leadership
Project: HCM Equity Framework
Length: Ongoing
Focus Area: Strategic Advice and Counsel
Category: Postsecondary
HCM believes state, system, institutional and community-based equity-minded leadership is needed to identify and eliminate postsecondary educational disparities that exist pervasively across racial, ethnic, income, geographic and gender lines.
Building Capacity for Change in Federal Financial Aid Advocacy
Project: Reimagining Aid Design and Delivery (RADD)
Length: 2013 - 2017
Focus Area: Designing + Implementing Policy Agendas
Category: Postsecondary
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Reimagining Aid Design and Delivery (RADD) initiative yielded important policy and seeded collaboration around federal financial aid improvement options.
IMPACT | Building public will for racial equity, postsecondary education opportunities, and a healthier democracy
HCM Strategists created the Courage and Hidden Common Ground Collaborative to help state-based organizations find common ground and amplify public support for equity-centered policies in support of higher education initiatives