May 2011 All Hands Raised Update From CEO, Dan Ryan
Dear Children and Youth Advocates –
I’m writing to provide you with an update on the exciting progress of our community’s effort to better support all students from cradle to career. At its first meeting on April 12th, the Cradle to Career Council directed the formation of a new Data Team to review the indicators in the Report Card published in November of 2010. In addition, the co-chairs guided the development of a council survey to gain insight and input from council members on: 1) The indicators in the Report to the Community, 2) The proposed criteria for identifying priority strategies, and 3) Council members’ overall perception of the challenges facing our education systems and investments in place to address those challenges. For informational purposes, a copy of the Council survey is attached.
The Cradle to Career Steering Committee, a chartered committee of the Portland Schools Foundation Board, has also established its scope of work under Council guidance. The Steering Committee is focused on identifying the high-leverage strategies with the greatest potential to advance the five key goals of the partnership—that all students will: 1) be prepared for school; 2) be supported inside and outside of school; 3) succeed academically; 4) enroll in postsecondary education or training; and 5) graduate and enter a career.
The Portland area is beginning to gain national attention for its systematic, cross-sector approach to tackling educational challenges. In the past six weeks, our Cradle to Career partnership has been featured at national convenings at the White House Council of Community Solutions in Washington, D.C., the Ford Foundation in New York, and a summit of Northwest cities convened by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle.
Closer to home, we have initiated a process to re-brand and re-name the Portland Schools Foundation to better communicate our commitment to results-driven collaboration to improve outcomes for all students in Portland and Multnomah County.
Finally, we would like to remind everyone that all six of our partner districts have school board elections on the ballot. Parkrose and Portland Public also have funding measures which the Portland Schools Foundation has endorsed (please see attached). We encourage your participation prior to the deadline of 8pm on May 17th.
Sincerely,
Dan Ryan
