Evon Walters: Partnerships strengthen B.C.'s education systems

A few months ago, my son learned from his teacher where he was at with his reading level. She explained to him (in a kid fashion I am sure) the data and how important it was to understand where he was starting from and more importantly, how and what it would take to get to the next level.

My son came home an Enthusiastic Partner, who now was taking ownership in his learning and supplemental activities. In that moment of witnessing his excitement, was the reaffirmation of the power of knowledge and what it could mean when an entire community has access to it!

Battle Creek, like many other small cities within America, wrestles with the challenge of how to best strengthen its educational pipeline in response to an increasingly knowledge-based workforce. The College and Career Readiness task force of the BC Vision initiative continues its work with a more focused approach to tackling some of the core and chronic issues that have been impacting this community’s education attainment performance.

This diverse task force, which comprises of a wide array of stakeholders, including representatives from the K-12 sector, higher education, and community-based organizations, has its sights on meeting the ambitious goal of “All students, regardless of race, gender, or socio economic background – will be successful in pursuing careers and life paths that lead to economic stability”.

In addition to the on-going work that is now occurring within the school districts, the College and Career Readiness task force has placed an emphasis on three priorities:

1. Establishing a more coherent, visible, and accessible College/Career Pathway system.
2. Strengthening the existing support/advocate system to ensure accessibility to all children.
3. Conducting an Education study to further understand the deep issues facing our education system, with an eye towards making comprehensive recommendations for transformative change within our community.

These priorities will provide the gateway towards taking a much deeper dive into better understanding the root issues and the need to galvanize around implementing recommendations aimed at addressing them. In looking at local academic achievement data from the Michigan Department of Education, it is evident that there will be the need for bold systemic change.

There are many local data trends we can look at, for example, our remediation rates. Remediation rates are courses that high school graduates take, should they lack the basic skills necessary to taking a college credit course.

The percentage rate of our local public high school graduates needing to take at least one remedial course is significantly higher than the state average. This rate becomes even higher when it is disaggregated by low income, ESL, African American students and students with disabilities. The growing achievement gaps linked to poverty, race, ethnicity and those with disabilities are real. These disparities become a moral and economic imperative, not only for Battle Creek, but for the state.

This is especially evident in light of the 2015 Business Leaders for Michigan and more recently, the Michigan department of Education aspirational desire of making Michigan a top ten state for jobs and education. Interestingly, much of the strategic priorities from the department of education mirror the areas of focus that is now being worked on by the College and Career group.

My optimism resides in the foundation that has been established thus far with the work done by the College and Career Readiness group. It has been liberating to witness the passion and the clear acknowledgement of the need for improvement. More importantly, the dialogue among cross sectors of community members, educators, superintendents, and parents has been insightful and informative.

In building upon these strategic alliances, there has been much value in taking advantage of the differing perspectives and context in constructing a better understanding of our challenges. It has been a healthy process that has come with a greater appreciation of the community’s history. Despite this foundation, much work remains in keeping the forward progress in developing something that is innovative, sustainable and measurable as it relates to ensuring systemic change in advancing education.

Similar to my son, this work cannot be accomplished without the greater community’s increased involvement, awareness and ownership of our city’s future. Become an Enthusiastic Partner! Invest your time and share your perspective in helping shape the future of our children and the entire Battle Creek educational system.

The next College and Career Readiness meeting is April 26th 2016 at 5:30pm at the Community Cultural Center.

Evon Walters is a co-chair of BC Vision's college and career readiness action team and the former president of Miller College.