On October 3, 2023, PEER convened its first-ever community advisory panel to inform the work of the Institutional Challenge Grant project team. Represented on the panel are current and former MNPS students, family members of students who attend MNPS schools, MNPS educators, and community leaders. The panel is designed to strengthen the research by contributing a range of perspectives on opportunities and challenges that students may have on the path to postsecondary readiness in Metro Schools. 

During this first meeting, the group dissected key data looking at early post-secondary access and success and began wrestling with what it would look like to achieve equity for students in this space. The Panel will continue to meet two additional times during the 2023-24 school year and twice during each of the next two school years.  

The Institutional Challenge Grant advisory panel is part of work on EPSOs funded by the William T. Grant Foundation.