As we accelerate our preparations for the 2016-17 school year, I am ever more aware of the heightened focus and importance of our children’s college and career readiness. For generations of Central Ohioans, a high school diploma meant a steady job and a middle-class income needed to support a family. It offered an opportunity to pursue a satisfying career. But today, a high school education is no longer enough. Success in careers and in life demands knowledge and skills that make some form of postsecondary education a virtual requirement.
On April 7, 2016, more than 300 Central Ohio stakeholders and participants came together for the Seventh Summit of The Central Ohio Compact to examine and address the matter. Many of this year’s attendees were new to the summit and for the first time a cohort of students were included in session work.
This year’s summit highlighted the fifth year of progress since the case was made for a regional goal of 60% of adults earning a postsecondary certificate or degree by 2025. A key resource in tracking this goal will be a dashboard to evaluate the region’s progress. In a major step forward, a Dashboard Beta Launch tutorial was included on the agenda, representing a key deliverable of the Compact and its work to this point.
Another decision point of participants was the commissioning of a renewal of the Compact. Through small group and session work, participants determined an updated Compact partnership should expand to:
- Ensure robust human services engagement;
- Focus on behaviors and analyses which promote policy alignment;
- Promote much deeper employer engagement; and
- Champion the requirement for relevant, college pathway communications to parents and students.
I am very excited that the ESC of Central Ohio and Columbus State Community College were commissioned by summit participants to serve as partners in drafting the updated Compact. Participants suggested that this updated version shifts the goals and activities from purely theoretical to the context and impacts on real students, families and employers.
The ESC of Central Ohio is well positioned to lead such an endeavor and continues to pivot its work to assist in creating a more college and career ready region. Last year, the ESC released Navigating Central Ohio’s College & Career Readiness System to guide schools, districts and institutions of higher education to better prepare students for participation and success at the postsecondary level and in the workforce. The report provided clarification regarding the state’s new College Credit Plus program, identified some of the region’s most promising college and career readiness practices and advanced recommendations to maximize students’ readiness for college and careers.
In addition, the ESC is involved in several of Ohio’s Straight A Fund grant projects with a focus on college and career readiness and career pathways. These projects involve new and renewed regional partnerships, expanded use of mobile and digital technologies, a more focused and intentional use of data and more. The ESC is also a key partner in the Central Ohio Partnership for College and Career Readiness Expansion project. This is a federally-funded grant project designed to engage more minority and low-income students in earning college credit through Early College High School programs.
Finally, the ESC has invested additional capacity toward the region’s college and career ready goals in its hiring of new staff to focus directly on this work. Christine Galvin, director of instruction with Bellefontaine City Schools, and Marcy Raymond, formerly of Metro High School, Reynoldsburg City Schools, and New Albany-Plain Local Schools, have joined the ESC to develop networks, assisting schools, districts, and institutions of higher education as they continue to build partnerships and programming focused on career pathways and college and career readiness.
We look forward to building and developing our college and career ready services in concert with our partners and stakeholders as this work moves forward and continues to evolve.