The Holmes Partnership is a consortium of universities, public school districts, teachers associations and local as well as national organizations. It is truly a model of partnerships at work. Our partnerships serve as a major vehicle to reform teaching and learning whether in a public school or a higher education setting.

As the new President of The Holmes Partnership™, I am honored to follow in the footsteps of past presidents who have given so much to this organization. I am deeply committed to the key principles of The Holmes Partnership™, and I believe that this organization can enhance its national reputation by sending a clear and definitive signal that significant advances in closing the achievement gaps will require the systemic collaboration of institutions and groups, many of whom have not been united before in reaching this goal. The demographic changes already underway in US public schools with reference to race, ethnicity, and poverty are expected to magnify existing inequalities in students' access to postsecondary learning opportunities and future success. More than ever, we need collaborative ventures that end disparities in test scores, graduation rates, postsecondary attendance, and other gaps that are so detrimental to students' becoming productive citizens in the 21 st century.

I see the work of the next generation of partnerships as concentrated around five goals: fiscal, program development, engaged scholarship, Holmes Scholars, and impact.

• Attract external funding by identifying features of highly successful models that have made a difference, and promoting a dialogue among all partners as to how these models can lead to systemic organizational change.

• Articulate the role multiple partners such as community organizations, parent groups, businesses, health services, social service agencies, and museums can play in closing the achievement gaps.

• Provide a strong voice about the nature of engaged scholarship in partnership work.

• Create stronger linkages between Holmes Scholars' research and dissertations to partnership work.

• Demonstrate with empirical data what impact partnerships have had on increasing student achievement, and other critical indicators of performance, particularly among high poverty, low achieving schools, and how educators can be prepared differently to realize this objective.

With these goals, I envision The Holmes Partnership™ as leading the way in providing a new vision for public education that is more inclusive and attentive to the needs of students and their families as they struggle to adapt to a rapidly changing global economic environment. I welcome everyone's ideas and contributions, and over the next three years I will call upon many of you to help. The challenge is immense, but these words should serve as our guide - “Whatever you must do, do it now: the conditions are always impossible” (Doris Lessing).