By William Teasley, Project Manager.

 

High quality public education is one of the greatest assets in economic development. The ability to generate a high quality workforce is paramount to the success of existing a future businesses in any community. It is often one of the top three questions asked by business looking to relocate in a community and telling the prospect that you have really good private schools does not address their questions.

In numerous districts across the country, education is often left to fend for its own and treated as an obligation not an asset. Districts in rural, suburban, and urban areas that have been abandoned based on racial or socio-economic issues are often left with limited resources and the students in most need of help, both at home and academically. However, through an engaged community and focused efforts to innovate, a school system can be revitalized and reenergize itself and its students.

The recent edition of Edutopia magazine’s School That Work series, highlighted an innovative approach that is transforming Jefferson County Schools in Kentucky (which includes Louisville), a district that serves almost 100,000 students. The school district’s superintendent and its educators utilize social and emotional learning to cultivate successful schools. They've created a homegrown initiative called CARE for Kids (Community, Autonomy, Relationships, Empowerment) that is being touted as a national model for district-wide reform.

CARE for Kids is an amalgamation of various existing social and emotional learning models that was created to suit Jefferson County's system-wide needs. Currently, 55 elementary schools and 23 middle schools (6th and 7th grades) participate in the program, with more set to join next school year. At the high school level, the program in being integrating into other reforms that are being implemented simultaneously.

Benefits from CARE for Kids includes reduced absenteeism and tardiness, reduced incidents between students, improved performance on tests, and students wanting to come to school and learn. It teaches character building and the importance of working together to achieve positive outcomes. The program is also integrated with other reform efforts such as those focused on improving reading and math. In Jefferson County Schools, their innovation meant pulling the best of what was seen in other places and configuring that to meet their needs and available resources.

As community and economic development professionals, we must partner with local public education systems to help them become globally competitive. No matter how we view our local educational systems, ensuring that we have high quality and globally competitive public K-12 schools will make attracting and growing local businesses and talent a lot easier.