{"id":5384,"date":"2021-01-27T15:11:55","date_gmt":"2021-01-27T15:11:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/2021\/01\/27\/a-richer-vision-for-education-economic-development\/"},"modified":"2022-09-27T19:49:45","modified_gmt":"2022-09-27T19:49:45","slug":"a-richer-vision-for-education-economic-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/a-richer-vision-for-education-economic-development\/","title":{"rendered":"A Richer Vision for Education & Economic Development"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_empty_space][wyde_heading style=”2″ title=”A Richer Vision for Education & Economic Development” subheading=”High Hopes for Today\u2019s Launch of the Commonwealth Education Continuum” subheading_color=”#047a40″ animation=”slideInUp”][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text animation=”fadeInRight”]There are high hopes for the work of the Commonwealth Education Continuum which was announced late last year. The meeting agenda<\/a> describes the effort as a \u201cmulti-agency education initiative\u201d and the objectives outlined suggest the focus will be to increase postsecondary attainment. A laudable and much needed focus for a state which ranks 4th<\/sup> in the nation for poverty and whose economy lags the nation considerably. <\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text animation=”fadeInRight”]This key fact \u2013 was the focus of my address to our membership during the Prichard Committee annual meeting in 2019. The point was simple: our improvements in K12 education since the 1980s were undeniable, but we were clearly not achieving the original vision of a \u201cpath to a larger life\u201d for more Kentuckians. Further, since 2015, we were starting to see signs of decline in key indicators of education progress. While poverty has never and will never be an excuse for lack of improvement, if we didn\u2019t start to see increases in the incomes of Kentucky\u2019s families – we\u2019d likely hit a plateau in the grand experiment to pull ourselves from the bottom rungs of the nation. Kentucky\u2019s next big play must be increasing overall educational attainment as measured by meaningful degrees and certificates, coupled with a richer vision for economic development: filling the jobs today and ensuring Kentuckians will be the job creators of our future.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_single_image alignment=”center” image=”13746″ animation=”slideInUp”][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text animation=”fadeInRight”]The depth of poverty and our improvements in education are inextricably linked. We know education can break the cycle of poverty – if a degree or certificate is meaningful in the marketplace and there is a marketplace in which to utilize one\u2019s skills and abilities. In Kentucky, we must focus on both \u2013 from the west to the east, the north to the south: preparing our people through education and ensuring our approach to economic development allows an individual to secure a job with a family sustaining wage and the ability to build wealth over time. A focus on postsecondary education as the nearest term strategy for beginning to break these cycles, and begin to move Kentucky, and Kentucky\u2019s families, from the bottom rungs of our nation in poverty \u2013 is the EXACT immediate approach. <\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_single_image alignment=”center” image=”13748″ animation=”slideInUp”][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text animation=”slideInLeft”]Ensuring we strengthen points all along the pipeline of education is critical for sustainability of our improvement and the exponential progress in the mid-term and the long-term necessary for Kentucky to improve its position in national standings. Following my 2019 annual keynote, we set to work on a new national rankings report, one that drives us toward the ultimate goal of improving the lives of Kentuckians. The Big Bold Future: National Rankings Report<\/a> highlights our ranking as a state in each of the primary areas of our education system: early childhood, K12, and postsecondary. Our national rankings, which we\u2019ll report to the public every year, goes one step further \u2013 to Quality of Life \u2013 as measured by educational attainment and median household income. <\/em><\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_single_image alignment=”center” image=”13749″ animation=”slideInUp”][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text animation=”slideInLeft”]To truly make these improvements \u2013 at the state and local level \u2013 a targeted and intentional approach to various groups of individuals in our state is necessary. The first step is knowing how different groups are doing. In fact, we must approach all of this work through the lens of excellence with equity<\/u><\/em> if we are to ensure we deliver for Kentucky\u2019s families, Kentucky\u2019s communities, and the growth of our state as a whole.<\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_single_image alignment=”center” image=”13750″ animation=”slideInUp”][vc_column_text animation=”slideInLeft”]<\/p>\n

(View Larger Image<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text animation=”slideInLeft”]We have high hopes for the work of the Commonwealth Education Continuum and look forward to the inclusion of the myriad groups and voices outside of state government who can lend critical public and community knowledge and vision, to the conversation.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are high hopes for the work of the Commonwealth Education Continuum which was announced late last year. The meeting agenda describes the effort as a \u201cmulti-agency education initiative\u201d and the objectives outlined suggest the focus will be to increase postsecondary attainment. A laudable and much needed focus for a state which ranks 4th in the nation for poverty and whose economy lags the nation considerably.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":5385,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"passster_activate_protection":false,"passster_protect_child_pages":"","passster_protection_type":"password","passster_password":"","passster_activate_overwrite_defaults":"","passster_headline":"","passster_instruction":"","passster_placeholder":"","passster_button":"","passster_id":"","passster_activate_misc_settings":"","passster_redirect_url":"","passster_hide":"no","passster_area_shortcode":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ed"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5384"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6043,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5384\/revisions\/6043"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prichard-backup.com\/July\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}