Collaboration
Support and enhance collaborative partnerships with arts, business, civic, cultural, education, faith-based and health & social service communities to support the development of the whole child.
- Create and coordinate an information hub to more efficiently utilize volunteers, mentors, resources, and referrals.
- Organize business and community support around priority initiatives to increase student learning and better prepare students for college and careers in a diverse society.
- Coordinate and support access to informal learning opportunities for students and educators within the above communities.
- Establish a coordinator position to bring together resources, community cultural institutions, and businesses for the purpose of ensuring that each grade level visits each of these local cultural institutions.
- Obtain additional funding to underwrite the implementation and sustainability of initiatives.
Quality
Support and enhance high-quality teaching and learning in classrooms and other learning environments.
- Support and enhance professional development and education of early childhood educators (birth to 5 years).
- Provide resources and opportunities for professional development of teachers, staff, and administrators.
- Facilitate sharing best practices from early childhood education through post-secondary education.
- Support alignment of high school learning outcomes with college and career entry expectations.
- Continue to upgrade and refresh all learning environments with the tools, technology, and equipment needed to develop and enhance subject-specific instruction; work with outside sources to supplement efforts.
- Support educators to foster a culture of inclusion by valuing diversity and individual differences.
- Facilitate the enhancement of positive teacher and student interactions.
Innovation
Support and enhance innovative practices and/or programs that are working to enhance learning, the inclusion of the arts, healthy lifestyles & social responsibility.
- Support innovative and evidence-based strategies that bolster quality early education programs.
- Support innovative programs promoting learning in the arts in schools, classrooms, and the community.
- Support innovative programs promoting healthy lifestyles.Educate parents and children on the health impact of life choices including nutritional, physical activity and hygiene best practices.Support and facilitate curricular and extra-curricular physical activity programs.Support collaboration between private, community and governmental entities to provide access to existing facilities for recreation activities.
Develop a comprehensive age-appropriate health education program.
- Support innovative programs promoting social and personal responsibility.Encourage students to develop critical thinking about the impact of life choices promoted by popular media.Help parents and students make informed decisions about the use of social media and its impact on life choices.Facilitate access to service learning and volunteer opportunities. o Encourage students to value diversity.
Advocacy
Coordinate advocacy on pre-k through 20 funding and educational policy issues at every level of government.
- Build capacity to advocate on areas of mutual concern including equitable and expanded funding.
- Advocate for relief from state and federal mandates and regulations that require specific use of funds.
- Provide information, tools, and resources to encourage parents to advocate for education policy issues.
Access
Provide students multiple pathways for workforce and career preparation.
- Support initiatives that integrate challenging academic content with real-world career applications and preparation.
- Support the efforts of the institutions of higher education to improve post-secondary success.
- Educate families and guidance counselors about the value of career and technical education.
- Continue to implement collaborative strategies between K-12 and post-secondary institutions that help students focus on career planning including, college, career and technical education.
- Continue to leverage partnerships and implementation of career academy programs to ensure that all secondary students have access to quality, rigorous and engaging career pathways.
- Build employer partnerships to provide career relevant internships and job shadowing opportunities.
- Partner with local business and government to encourage and expand job and career opportunities.
- Increase community support for career preparation and financial literacy education.
Inclusivness
Ensure opportunities and support services for students and families.
- Identify gaps and align community efforts to provide coordinated health and social services to students and families in centralized locations.
- Increase investment (of time, money and in-kind resources) by civic, business and community groups in identified high-needs areas.
- Support parent engagement through partnerships with the Parent Academy and other community-based organizations.
- Collaborate with criminal justice agencies to develop programs to reduce gang involvement and juvenile crime.
- Provide opportunities for parents and children to visualize a more enriched education, by engaging in field trips to museums, cultural events, and other education-related activities.
- Expand awareness of volunteer and service learning opportunities.
- Expand and develop adult education programs to increase the employability of the current workforce.
- Develop a plan to utilize childhood health-related data to guide program planning and implementation.