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“... competitive standards of learning for all.”
VISION The region will have comprehensive educational opportunities delivered by our educational systems, families and communities who are jointly accountable for globally competitive standards of learning for all. STRATEGIES A. K-12 School Systems4: expectations defined and results to be measured. 1. Prepare graduates who are ready to pursue a four year college degree, technical education or to enter the workforce by requiring each student at the end of the tenth grade to select between college prep, tech prep or apprenticeship. Extend the Running Start program. 2. Require all students to pass a 12th grade competency exam before receiving a high school diploma. 3. Provide year-round schools with a 220 day calendar to provide the foundation to be competitive with our global trading partners. 4. Expect parents to be responsible for the education of their children, but when they are either unable or unwilling to fill this role, the gap will be filled by individuals from religious institutions, social organizations and employers -- every child will have at least one mentor. 5. Promote respectful and responsible citizenship among parents, students, teachers and administration. 6. Develop more hands-on and interesting learning opportunities that teach all application skills needed as citizens (i.e. teamwork, communication, computer skills, etc.). 7. Maintain a physically safe school environment. 8. Provide education and nurturing opportunities for everyone ages prenatal to 6 years old. 9. Teach the basics: reading, writing and mathematics. 10. Make schools more accountable by ensuring the graduate outcome index5 exceeds the resource index. 11. Pay public school teachers competitive salaries based on student achievement. 12. Foster creativity and imagination among our students. 13. Recruit more culturally diverse individuals for the school system and provide culturally diverse curriculum. B. Higher Education 1. Develop the region’s colleges and universities into a world class higher education consortium that exports education, prepares students for the highly technical jobs of the information age, delivers comprehensive engineering education post secondary through the doctoral level, and meets the needs of the region’s employers and students. 2. Provide access to post secondary education for students of all economic strata.
4 The Task Force participants voted by ballot to establish priority for the strategies within the six foundation areas. The highest priority strategies are indicated by bold type. 5 See footnote #3
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