Integrated Student Supports (ISS)

Foundation of Success We continue to build on the legacy of our founder Bill Milliken, whose transformational ideas about dropout prevention evolved to the essential principles of our national network. We have invested millions of dollars and countless hours of research in building an evidence‐ based model for Integrated Student Supports and a Total Quality System for ensuring its delivery with fidelity. We continue to support our network and are working toward tiered supports to meet the range of affiliates needs. We fought hard for federal legislation in support of ISS, and in 2015, Congress passed a federal education law known as The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) recognizing that students need precisely the kind of academic and non‐academic supports that CIS provides and brokers. ESSA now declares that ISS is an appropriate intervention, paving the pathway for access to public dollars to fund this critical work. Though many states are focusing on ISS‐related indicators under this law, we have more work to do to secure federal funds and capture the promise of ESSA. We have a communications campaign underway to tell the story of CIS and ISS in a way that engages students, parents, and educators as part of the solution. Millions of dollars and countless hours of technical assistance pass from the national office to the network each year. And we continue to partner with others to deliver lasting collective impact and results for our students. The CIS national board recommitted to this foundation in 2017 by establishing a programmatic center of excellence in the national office: The Milliken Center for Innovation and Student Success, named for our founder. The Milliken Center ensures funding for ongoing programs that support school programming and site coordination, as well as public policy and advocacy. An initiative in this plan will add an Innovation Lab component to the Milliken Center’s portfolio. The Milliken Center is expected to launch publicly in spring 2018 and will have increasing public profile as the focus of new thinking and improvements to the field of Integrated Student Supports.