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Second Cycle of NCCER Job Training Program Commences

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St. Croix, USVI- The St. Croix Foundation for Community Development announces the commencement of its second National Center for Construction Education & Research (NCCER) Youth Training and Beautification Program. The Program will run from May 4, 2015 to July, 2015, after which time, students will have a certification in hand and be work-ready. First launched in 2012, through a collaborative partnership between the Foundation and the V.I. Department of Labor this training program provides local unemployed young adults with core construction and work-related skills, as well as on-the-job training (OJT).

Cycle 2 students Denis Matthew, Vitalis Mathurin, Jr., Dwight Barker, and Kadeem Phoenix, were selected by the St. Croix Foundation and the Department of Labor to participate in this twelve (12) week learning program which is administered using best standards & practices set by the (NCCER).  Upon successfully passing the NCCER test, each participant will become NCCER CORE Certified; which is a prerequisite to continue with the additional craft curriculum and the OJT phase of the program.

During Phase 1 of the Program students received classroom based instruction provided by Mr. Gregory Christian of Penntium Technical Training, located in Peter’s Rest.  The curriculum included practical, in depth education on basic safety knowledge, “safe-work” practices, proper use of hazardous materials and machinery, and the usage of construction materials and supplies. NCCER training also provided students basic communication and interpersonal skills, how to interpret construction designs, and critical thinking skills to prepare them for the real workforce.

Over the course of the program, students will put their new skills to work under the supervision of Contractor Dennis Smith who serves as their OJT instructor. Mr. DeAndre Harris, NCCER Core Certified and training program alum, has also returned to serve as a foreman and mentor to our students.

For their first OJT project, they are painting the exterior walls of some historic properties throughout downtown Christiansted, including, Joe’s Tailoring, 1101 King Street (former People’s Drugstore), and the Christiansted Lutheran Church. The Foundation is delighted to assist the Church with their restoration activities in preparation of their 150th Anniversary slated for 2016. According to St. Croix Foundation Program Officer, Ms. Jermaine Connor, “The NCCER Program will not only provide these young men with a paid summer job opportunity, but will also provide the beloved Christiansted properties with a long overdue facelift”.

Today, recognizing the critical need for more targeted job opportunities for our community’s youth, the Foundation encourages the private sector, corporate citizens, and local government agencies to partner with them, by offering full –time employment opportunities to students once the training program is complete. The St. Croix Foundation is also seeking to expand the program throughout the Territory by securing additional funding to provide more rigorous training for a larger pool of young men and women seeking to tap into a broader range of professional fields.

For more information on how to support this Initiative, contact the St. Croix Foundation at 340.773.9898.

  

Celebrity Chefs for 2015 St. Croix Food & Wine Experience Announced

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2015 ST. CROIX FOOD & WINE EXPERIENCE

St. Croix, US Virgin Islands – April 2015 – The St. Croix Foundation announces the start of St. Croix Food & Wine Experience, 2015.  This culinary, wine and spirits festival held in the US Virgin Islands, is scheduled to run from Sunday April 12 through Saturday, April 18. The weeklong event will consist of an impressive roster of guest chefs including well-known TV personalities, cookbook authors, James Beard winners and corporate chefs.

Guest chefs will participate in multiple events during the culinary series, working alongside students from the Career and Technical Education Center (CTEC) culinary program as well as with local chefs. Through a deepening partnership with the Department of Tourism, the event also brings to the Territory a variety of travel writers, bloggers and media representatives, expanding St. Croix’s national and international position as a culinary and tourism market.

As an outgrowth of the wildly successful, A Taste of St. Croix, which celebrates its 15th anniversary this year, funds raised from the St. Croix Food and Wine Experience support the St. Croix Foundation for Community Development, enabling the Foundation to continue its work in the areas of community revitalization, public safety, public education, and economic development.

According to St. Croix Foundation’s Executive Director, Deanna James, “Beyond, being a fundraiser for the Foundation, the Food and Wine Experience is also—at the core, a celebration of the rich culinary industry in the Territory.” “Named one of the top 10 international food and wine events by Forbes Travel.com, the event features a majority of St. Croix’s restaurants and wine purveyors, giving guests an unprecedented opportunity to really get a taste of local cuisine,” James continued.

The line-up of guest chefs for the 2015 St. Croix Food & Wine Experience includes:

Tony Castellucci – Executive Chef at Facebook and third time participant in the St. Croix Food & Wine Experience.

Sam Choy – Author, James Beard winner, restaurateur, Iron Chef winner, TV personality, “Godfather of Poke,” and the ambassador for Hawaiian cuisine. 

Tiffany Derry – TV personality, national spokesperson for the Art Institute’s Culinary Arts Program, Top Chefs All Stars fan favorite and finalist, most recently appearing on Spike TV’s Hungry Investors and Bar Rescue.

Duff Goldman (Ace of Cakes) – Founder of Charm City Cakes in Baltimore and Los Angeles, Chef Goldman starred in Food Network’s Ace of Cakes, a reality show named after his bakery, and now hosts his current hit, Duff Till Dawn.

Kevin Fonzo – Owner and Executive Chef of K Wine Bar, a James Beard nominee and acclaimed by Zagat and Bon Appetit, Fonzo is also known for his extensive work with First Lady Michelle Obama’s Chefs Move to Schools and the Edible Schoolyard.

Ray Lampe (Dr. BBQ) – Author, expert Judge on Travel Channel’s “American Grilled” and “World Food Championships,” frequent TV show guest and the newest inductee to the BBQ Hall of Fame.

Dean Spinks – Executive Chef at Facebook and third time participant in the St. Croix Food & Wine Experience.

Guest chefs of the St. Croix Food & Wine Experience participate in at least three events during the week, which range from relaxed to elegant options for foodies. Guest wine makers, spirit companies and breweries are paired with each event. The 2015 schedule of events is:

Sunday, April 12 – Cuisine on the Green golf tournament and tasting (at Carambola Golf Club)

Tuesday, April 14

  • Gourmet Vintner Dinner (at Tutto Bene) featuring Chef Tiffany Derry
  • City Crawl (Christiansted dine around) featuring Cafe Christine, Rum Runners, and desserts by Chef Duff Goldman at Zion Modern Kitchen

Wednesday, April 15

  • Icing on the Cake, held at the Buccaneer for an intimate cake decorating class with Duff Goldman
  • Food Fight on the Beach with Chefs Sam Choy, Dr. BBQ, and Dean Spinks (at Renaissance St. Croix Carambola Beach Resort & Spa)

Thursday, April 16 – A Taste of St. Croix (15th Anniversary Celebration) at the Divi Carina Bay Resort

Friday, April 17

  • Intimate Cork & Fork dinners featuring Chef Tony Castellucci and the St. Croix Culinary Juniors, Kevin Fonzo and Digby Stridiron
  • Sunset BBQ (on the Frederiksted Pier) featuring Sam Choy, Billy Desimone, Dr. BBQ,  Dean Spinks, and Chef Doos with the culinary students from the St. Croix Educational Complex

Saturday, April 18

  • Kids Cooking Event (at Pearl B. Larsen) with Chefs Ashley McKinnon and Frank Robinson
  • Wine in the Warehouse (at Leeward Islands Warehouse) fine wine tasting and appetizers
  • Food & Wine Experience has also led to the development of a dynamic Culinary Internship Program that provides St. Croix youth annual spring internships at participating guest chefs’ establishments. To date, CTEC students have interned at Facebook’s Headquarters in Silicon Valley California- an opportunity which translated into full-time jobs in California for the first two interns in 2014. Two more interns recently returned from a three week internship, which included a two week stint at Facebook and one week in Hawaii at the restaurant of James Beard award winner, Sam Choy. Next year, a lucky student will intern at the world famous bakery of guest chef Duff Goldman, Charm City Cakes.

“Despite St. Croix’s economy and declining population, the Foundation is grateful to all the organizations and individuals that sponsor the Food & Wine Experience, and to the guests who return each year to make this the preeminent food and wine event in the Caribbean,” stated James. “Even more consequential than the fact that most of the events in this year’s line-up are sold out, is the fact that the St. Croix Food and Wine Experience is now providing rich career pathways for local youth and in turn opening doors and transforming lives,” she concluded.

For information about tickets, events, and sponsorship visit https://www.stxfoodandwine.com or call the Foundation at 340-773-9898.

Major sponsors of St. Croix Food & Wine Experience, 2015 are U.S Virgin Islands’ Tourism; Leeward Islands Management Company; Divi Carina Bay; Glazer’s Premier Distributors, LLC; Reliable Rentals; Crucian Point; Innovative; H. Douglas & Jeannine Schrock; Seaborne Airlines; The Buccaneer; and Team Consultants.

St. Croix Foundation Launches 2nd Annual Christmas Lights Competition

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St. Croix, USVI – The St. Croix Foundation announces the launch of the 2nd annual island-wide Christmas Lights Competition to usher in the 2014 Christmas Season.

As an extension of the Foundation’s “Believe …” Campaign, the contest seeks to inspire and unify residents and businesses to come together and spread good cheer by lighting up our community. Through this contest, the Foundation hopes to revive the ‘ole time’ tradition where families toured the island at night to enjoy Christmas decorations.

Residents and businesses who wish to participate in the competition should contact the Foundation at 773-9898 to fill out an application form. The decorative theme should reflect Virgin Islands culture and should be creative, eye-catching, and incorporate the “Believe…” theme. Judging for the Christmas Lights Competition will take place Saturday, December 20th through Tuesday, December 23rd and all displays must be visible from the street. The competition is open to St. Croix residents and businesses only.

The Foundation kindly encourages everyone to use high efficiency LED lights for their displays, but this is not a requirement. There will be a maximum of six winners with prizes ranging from $75 to $400 to offset energy costs. Applications are currently available at the St. Croix Foundation’s office at 1023 Market Street, Christiansted, VI 00820 (or on the Foundation’s website at www.stxfoundation.org) and must be turned in by Tuesday, December 16, 2014.

The Foundation would also like to encourage businesses and individuals to donate to this festive celebration of the Season. For more information about the St. Croix Foundation’s “Believe …” Campaign or how to support the Foundation’s work in public safety, education, and community revitalization, please contact the Foundation directly at 340.773.9898 or visit their website.

St. Croix Foundation President 
Steps Down After 22 Years

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The St. Croix Foundation Board of Directors announces that President Roger W. Dewey is stepping down from his role after 22 years of leadership. Deanna James, Chief Operations Officer, who has co-directed the Foundation with Mr. Dewey for the past 12 years, will be guiding the Foundation’s transition with Board and Staff.

Dewey took the helm of the Foundation two years after its inception in 1990. The Foundation was established by two community activists, Philip Gerard, leader of the municipal government movement, and Michael Neuberger, retired aerospace executive. They desired to create a flexible, responsive organization that could address critical community and socioeconomic needs after Hurricane Hugo devastated the US Virgin Islands.

Since Dewey took the helm of the Foundation and with the leadership of Ms. James, the Foundation has been recognized for its work on the local and national stage by the National School Boards Association, the National Youth Leadership Council, the US Center for Disease Control, the US Small Business Administration, the International Downtown Association, and the Council of Foundations. Additionally, with the vision and dedication of many longstanding and productive partnerships, the Foundation’s annual fundraiser, the St. Croix Food and Wine Experience is now an internationally known event, named one of the Top 10 International Food and Wine Festivals by Forbes Travel Magazine, contributing to countless charitable projects and serving as an economic engine for the hospitality industry.

The Foundation’s scope of work, spanning from youth and education to community revitalization, public safety, economic development, and fiscal services encompasses all three islands and supports both critical services as well as impacts public policy. Dewey stated, “It has been a true honor to serve our community side by side with committed staff and Board members. The partnerships we’ve built over the last 22 years are the bedrock for the Foundation’s success and are testimony to our motto that “together we can make a difference.”

For more information on the St. Croix Foundation, please call the St. Croix Foundation at 773-9898 or visit their website at www.stxfoundation.org.

Together, We Can Make A Difference!

St. Croix Foundation Awards $28,000
 in Educational Grants and Scholarships

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The St. Croix Foundation is pleased to announce over $28,000.00 in   Educational Grants awarded to public schools on the island of St. Croix.

As an extension of the Foundation’s Model Schools Initiative, the Sprint To Excellence (STE) Grant alone awarded $23,000 in 2014. Launched in the fall of 2011, STE offers grants to public schools for projects in the following priority areas: 1) Innovative Instruction and Professional Development; 2) Literacy Enrichment and Assessment; 3) Classroom Management & Discipline and; 4) Mentoring and Personal Development.

After a comprehensive review and selection process, the Foundation’s Grant Review Committee awarded grants to four(4)programs based in local public schools for the implementation of high-impact, academic-based initiatives that support the whole child. Grants under the Sprint to Excellence title were awarded to the following schools:

Ricardo Richards Elementary School – $15,000.00 for their Berry Core Ready Project

VI Department of Education – $5,040.00 for the Advancement via Individual Determination (AVID) Program

Arthur Richards Junior High School – $1,000.00 for a Classroom Management Initiative

V.I. Ja Goju Jitsu-Ryu Federation St. Thomas Parental Committee, Inc. – $2,500.00 for a Charles H. Emmanuel Afterschool Education Connections Program

The Foundation also awarded $1,777.00 in Teacher Grants to public elementary school teachers for projects that enliven students’ creativity and provide students with a broad, interactive learning experience that incorporates the world around them. Grants were awarded as follows:

Ricardo Richards Elementary School- $299.99 for their Foreign Language Club

Alexander Henderson School -$500.00 for a Kindergarten Authors Project

Eulalie R. Rivera School – $489.99 for an Interactive Reading Project

Alexander Henderson School – $488.84 for an Arts and Craft Studio Project

The St. Croix Foundation’s Grant Review Committee has established strict grant reporting measures and phased disbursements, seeking to ensure that schools stay focused on meeting self-identified programmatic goals and timelines. In demonstration of their commitment to each school’s success, the Foundation is providing ongoing support and guidance throughout the duration of the project with the hope that successful initiatives will serve as models for other schools in the future.

In addition to the Sprint to Excellence and Teacher Grant awards, the Foundation also awarded Dove Memorial Art Scholarships totaling $3,000.00 to four students. Scholarships were awarded to the following students for enrichment opportunities ranging from music and dance to the culinary arts:

Tariq Lionel, University of the Virgin Islands Music Summer Enrichment Program

Keyshawn Hardy, Interlochen Arts Camp in Michigan

Kaylisha Ann Jerris, Skills USA Conference in Kentucky for the culinary arts

AnutMeri Kahina Christopher, Dance Theatre at Harlem School

According to St. Croix Foundation’s Chief Operations Officer, Deanna James, “The Foundation is firmly committed to supporting our students and teachers through innovative and targeted grants and scholarships. In these challenging economic times, our organization is acutely sensitive to how critical the funds provided through our grants are for students and schools.”

For more information on the Foundation’s educational grant programs or to donate to a scholarship fund, please call the St. Croix Foundation at 773-9898.

Together, We Can Make A Difference!

What Next?

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Because of the scope of the St. Croix Foundation’s work and the diverse partnerships we’ve built over the last 24 years, each year we gain greater clarity about how to effectively address our community’s needs. We sit on public safety committees and listen to the challenges and new initiatives to tackle them. We listen to our sister nonprofits discuss the social ills plaguing our Territory and the strategies they are employing to heal them, and we work closely with many public sector agencies seeking to support their efforts. What we have learned is that everyone is working tirelessly to institute reforms that will put our children and Territory on the path to prosperity. Yet despite our collective efforts and investments of time and money, we are still talking about the same problems after 20 or more years of trying.

In light of this, 10 years ago, our Board of Directors concluded that almost all roads surrounding our most pressing socio-economic problems lead back to education. Since then, we have invested over a million dollars and volunteered thousands of hours in service to our public schools, educators, and students. We have seen the inner workings of our system, interfacing with key policymakers and leadership teams from the very top of our educational system to working in the trenches with teachers and students.

Today, when we look at our community, we believe that we are in the midst of an urgent, unprecedented economic and social crisis. And the state of our children is particularly catastrophic. For years, the Foundation described the Territory’s children in terms of their academic failings. Now, we believe the situation is much graver. Our children are drowning. Even more chilling than that, our children are dying. In the USVI, in 2010, the death rate of children ages 15 to 19 was 145 per 100,000 teens, the highest level in a decade and three times that of the national rate.

While we recognize this is the result of a myriad of social failures, as a society we have all failed to act. We have failed to meet an urgent crisis with an urgent response. We have failed our children because, as we look out at them drowning, the life rafts we keep throwing at them are simply too small, too few, too tattered, and too outdated. We have spent years building strategic plans and engaging in discussions and debates about the problems and possible solutions, but we have simply not behaved like guardians witnessing their wards crying out for help.

As we stand in the middle of a raging storm, how can we be cautious and tentative in the strategies we employ to save our children? Here we are, in 2014, still weighing the viability of education reform strategies that have proven successful. And all the while, countries around the world that lagged behind the U.S. in every indicator are outpacing old frontrunners. And they’re doing so by being audacious in their response.

The Foundation believes that the real issue before all of us is not whether one strategy is more radical or risky than the other, but rather how do we begin releasing outdated strategies that no longer serve  us or our children and begin embracing innovation and change. This should be an exciting moment in the history of these islands. The possibilities are endless. The roads have been cut and paved for us, and there are now detailed roadmaps to help us chart our course.

As a community-based organization, we challenge ourselves to be courageous and resolute in our mission to serve and advocate for those things we believe will empower the least of us for the benefit of all of us. We do this at the risk of being unpopular or standing alone at times because we fundamentally believe that it is our civic obligation. Over the past 18 weeks, we have published editorials and advertisements to raise awareness on the importance of public education to our economy and social wellbeing; to provide information on a variety of reform models; to galvanize education stakeholders and policymakers to learn the system, analyze it, and reform it where necessary, and to encourage voters to demand that their candidates do so.

This November 4th is about finding the pathway to the progress we all need and desire. The chance to make rapid, deep inroads in our educational system and other social systems is profound. But the first step starts with real leadership. This November 4th we must select leaders with the vision and the courage to nurture greater tolerance within our community for sweeping, revolutionary reforms in the Territory. As we enter the voting booth, let us all be fierce, tireless advocates for our children’s success and social welfare! And when the election is over, let’s demand that it remains so. In reality, our children need every one of us. And we need them.

Vision 2015

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In 2010, the state of Delaware won first place in the nation’s Race to the Top grant program and, in turn, was awarded over $119 million dollars in federal grant money for their public education reform efforts. In reality, Delaware’s success was spearheaded by a nonprofit organization called the Rodel Foundation. With a mission of improving student achievement across the state and ultimately for Delaware to rank number 1 in the nation, over the course of several years, Rodel strived to galvanize both education and business communities around the need to transform their entire education system. To build their strategic plan, they convened a 24 member steering committee that was carefully selected and comprised “senior leaders from each of the critical [education] sectors” – a noble yet naïve endeavor in the world of public education.

Through every stage of their consensus building efforts, tensions and challenges arose, but as Marty Linksky, Rodel’s lead steering committee facilitator pointed out, “In order to reach a much higher goal for the children of Delaware, each participant would have to agree to disappoint some portion of his or her own constituency… as participants committed to reaching an agreement on 85 percent of the resulting agenda, realizing each party might resist about 15 percent.”

In 2006, Rodel publicly released their report entitled Vision 2015. And while today it is a comprehensive plan containing 45 specific recommendations for education reform, it took almost 3 years after its release for it to be endorsed by all senior members of every stakeholder group in the state of Delaware. After years of research and relationship building, Vision 2015 was fully and finally adopted by stakeholders in 2009 with the following objectives and recommendations:

  • Set high expectations for all students: make sure standards match those of the highest performing nations and; require state funding for 140 additional school hours per year.
  • Invest in early childhood education: mandate annual license renewals for all early childcare and education providers; build a data system to enable pre kindergarten and K-12 programs to share information seamlessly and track the educational progress of students.
  • Develop and support high quality teachers: treat teachers as professionals with increased pay and a new career path; strengthen higher education’s teacher preparation and professional development programs; establish professional development centers to allow teachers and  principals to share best practices and; create incentives and supports for schools to help new teachers succeed.
  • Empower principals: give skilled principals broader control of decision making related to people, resources, and time; create a statewide leadership academy to serve as a one- stop center for world class principal recruitment, retention, induction, and professional development.
  • Encourage innovation and require accountability: create a statewide Office of Innovation to disseminate best practices and new programs to schools and communities; create a pool of funds to strengthen school-community and school-business partnerships; define what it means to be a world-class school and; identify and provide funding to start and replicate best practice schools that work.
  • Establish a simple and equitable funding system: create a weighted student funding formula to provide different funding for students with different needs; distribute these funds directly to districts and schools, giving principals flexibility in how these funds are spent, along with accountability for results; engage in a careful analysis of how current education dollars could be spent more effectively or allocated differently.

While implementation of the plan was largely contingent upon funding by Race to the Top and building political will, today, Vision 2015 has become a national model for comprehensive, whole system reforms, and we believe that it is a blueprint that the Virgin Islands can use to develop our own Vision for the future.

Overall, the St. Croix Foundation found the story of Rodel compelling. It is a model of education reform that we believe has legitimacy because in order to change educational outcomes and to build a foundation for economic prosperity, communities like ours must first build consensus. But, to build consensus, our constituents, and more specifically our policymakers, must gain a deep understanding of our system. And then, we need to finally set aside the bickering, bipartisanship, and years of pointing of fingers so that we can collectively strive for one common goal: Putting our children first!

It’s time for all stakeholders to put down their swords, raise the white flags, and surrender entrenched positions so we can get serious about educating our children. As we near what many will agree is one of the most important elections in recent history here in the Virgin Islands, we challenge our political candidates and policymakers to make a commitment to creating a real Vision for our schools and to leading this Territory toward social progress and prosperity. It’s time!

Sources & Suggested Readings

Persistence and Agility: The Rodel Foundation of Delaware’s Efforts to Transform Delaware’s Education System: https://www.edfunders.org/sites/default/files/case_8_rodel.pdf

Vision 2015: Imagine: https://www.vision2015delaware.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Vision-Plan.pdf

There’s Nothing Common about Common Core

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In 2009, Common Core State Standards were developed by the Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Governors Association and adopted by the US DOE for the purpose of providing clear and consistent learning goals to help prepare students for college, career, and life. As defined by the Common Core State Standards [CCSS] Initiative the new standards “clearly demonstrate what students are expected to learn at each grade level, so that every parent and teacher can understand and support their learning. While the standards set grade-specific goals, they do not define how the standards should be taught or which materials should be used to support students.”

States were all given a choice to adopt both math and English/Language Arts standards. Most states (including the Virgin Islands) chose both standards while some states, like Minnesota, elected to adopt only one set of standards. Some chose to pass on them altogether. For Common Core states like Tennessee, the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools concluded it was the right choice because “the world is not the same as it was in the 1950s, 60s, or even just a few years ago. Jobs are different, college is different and our schools must be different. We have to teach in a completely new way, focused on mastering skills and working through problems instead of rote memorization. Our standards have to be more rigorous and our expectations higher if our students are ever going to be able to compete in a global society.”

Of course, as is common with most revolutionary changes in education, the Common Core Standards have generated some raging debates about necessity and equity. According to Parents For Public Schools there are pros and cons to Common Core:

Some Pros

  • CCSSS focus on core concepts and procedures starting in the early grades, which gives teachers the time needed to teach them and gives students the time needed to master them.
  • The standards draw on the most important international models, as well as research and input from numerous sources, including educators from kindergarten through college, state departments of education, scholars, assessment developers, professional organizations, parents and students, and members of the public.
  • The multi-assessment feature of Common Core State Standards requires that students come up with their own answers and defend them, ensuring the development of high-level thinking skills.

Some Common Core Cons

  • It will take time for both students and teachers to adjust to the New Common Core State Standards, and the transition will require new ways of teaching and learning.
  • Because Common Core assessments will be on-line, school districts will be forced to spend more on technology and to be sure all students have access to these tools.
  • Common Core State Standards will lead to even more high-stakes testing, at a time when many parents are already fighting the over-use of testing and opting out their children.

Implementation

Yet another major challenge for school districts is just how to implement Common Core. And, from what we’ve seen thus far, implementation will be a particularly painstaking challenge for the Virgin Islands. Last school year, we actually sat through some of the tests which will be given to elementary students, and we didn’t score very well. So we have a keen understanding schools to prepare our children and our teachers.

At the Foundation, we believe that any new standards, curriculum, or program must be accompanied by support for teachers and principals. We have begun to do just this through our Sprint to Excellence Fund which has awarded close to $20,000 to local public schools to support Common Core, including pre-testing students and capacity building for teachers for the 2014-2015 school year.

So, can our students and teachers rise to the challenge of Common Core? Of course, and schools like the one we are supporting are proof of that. But, according to the Center for Education Policy, our schools’ success relies on informed state and district policymakers, because Common Core is putting pressure on governments to assess current policy and ensure funding is in place for new student materials and teacher professional development. Of greater import is the need for policymakers across the nation to study and truly understand how their public education systems are structured and organized in order to assess what strategies and policies best support implementation.

As we near Election Day, St. Croix Foundation encourages every policymaker and education stakeholder to read the standards which can be found here: https://www.corestandards.org/read-the-standards/ and analyze our system itself so that they can hit the ground running to support our schools.

SOURCES & SUGGESTED READING

Common Core State Standards Initiative: https://www.corestandards.org/read-the-standards/

Common Core State Standards Pros and Cons. Parents 4 Public Schools:  https://www.parents4publicschools.org/Documents/Common_core_chart_final.pdf

Center on Education Policy: Common Core State Standards in 2014: Districts’ Perceptions, Progress, and Challenges: https://www.cep-dc.org/displayDocument.cfm?DocumentID=440

A Research Agenda for the Common Core State Standards: What Information Do Policymakers Need? https://www.cep-dc.org/displayDocument.cfm?DocumentID=436