A Message to Our CommunityForging Partnerships to Improve EducationFall 2003

The word “crisis” has been used frequently this year, particularly when we discuss the economy and state of education.

In traditional Chinese language, “crisis” is written with two characters that mean “danger” and “opportunity.” The literal translation is: “opportunity riding on a dangerous wind.”

The challenge in education is how to work smarter.

We want to set the achievement bar high for our students, but we can’t expect a student to graduate with flying colors if the school building is falling apart, there aren’t enough books, and the class has a large teacher-to-student ratio because teachers are being laid off.

Maximizing Resources

Faced with such circumstances, we at the Alameda County Office of Education are constantly looking for the best ways to maximize and leverage expertise and resources for the districts. We have been successful in several ways, including centralizing key services that result in direct savings to districts; assisting with recruiting qualified staff; and offering technological assistance.

ACOE provides expert professional development at an economy of scale that districts could not attain on an individual basis. Through consortiums and cooperative bidding, we negotiate better prices on Internet services; software licenses; food services and supplies for districts.

In addition, ACOE assists our public schools by obtaining large grants for professional development programs for thousands of teachers countywide. Our professional development programs such as our mathematics and language arts seminars, are standards-based/research-based aligned, and support instructional materials that teachers are already using. ACOE also secures supplemental funding for community-based organizations that serve high priority (i.e., low performing) students and schools and works with high priority schools to close the achievement gap.

NCLB Isn’t Working Smarter

The federal government implemented the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in order to assess progress through the testing standards. NCLB attempts to address some issues of educational inequities and its goal is laudable: assessing students’ progress helps us understand the effectiveness of our curriculum and teaching methods. Unfortunately, the heart and soul of NCLB is about sanctions and punishment.

There are inherent contradictions in NCLB that contribute to inequitable results. Cash-strapped schools can not afford to pay transportation costs for students who transfer to a higher performing school; high performing schools are often at capacity; families don’t want to leave their neighborhood school; and while NCLB allows for students to receive tutoring, there are little to no funds to provide for that additional support. More importantly, the sanctions don’t address the root of the problem: Why is the school not meeting the NCLB standards?

Rather than fattening the lamb by weighing it, we think there are better ways to address the formidable task of closing the achievement gap. It is not beyond our grasp as long as our efforts are thoughtful and steady. There are no easy answers, but developing partnerships with the business community one of the ways we have been able to bring resources to our schools.

Successful Business Partnerships

Business-education partnerships are necessary for the development of school programs that foster an educated workforce. There are many examples of successful partnerships such as the Oakland career academies, as well as school-to-work programs, such as Berkeley Biotechnology Education, Inc., which trains youth for jobs in biotechnology. BBEI has a training program at Life Academy of Health and Bioscience high school in Oakland, and a partnership with Laney College and several companies in Oakland. The Oakland Rotary has a long history of supporting McClymonds High School with tutoring; scholarships; field trips; books for the school library; and enrichment programs such as the program that taught students how to build and sell a house.

Individual Oakland Chamber of Commerce members can, and often do, support youth by participating in career fairs and working with individual schools. The legal community is another good example of an industry’s commitment to education by sponsoring the countywide Mock Trial competition and providing speakers and activities designed to enrich social studies curriculum.

Business investment in education is an economic development issue. Business-education partnerships bring resources to schools and opportunities for students and enhance a student’s learning experience by exposing them to a reality different than what many of them experience in their neighborhoods.

Investing in each students’ future is an investment in our own future, and will directly impact the quality of life in our communities.

Sheila Jordan is the County Superintendent of Schools. She may be reached at 670-4144 or by e-mail at acoesuperintendent@acoe.org.