Why Education Matters

Following the release of that report, the Greater Louisville Project (GLP) was formed to advance and track progress on the community goals identified around three “deep drivers” – education, jobs and regional growth. GLP set an ambitious education goal to increase the number of high school graduates and the number of people with GEDs, technical certificates, Associate and Bachelor’s Degrees. Increasing by 10,000 the number of young adults (25-34) with Bachelor’s Degrees, by the year 2010, would move Louisville to the top tier of its peer cities. 
 

Education: Key to Louisville’s Future

Mayor Jerry Abramson is committed to helping achieve this goal. During his inaugural address as Louisville’s first Metro Mayor, Abramson noted that Louisville’s location was a key to its past success. In the 19^th and 20^th Centuries, Louisville’s fortunes depended on its location at the Falls of the Ohio and as the portage point for river traffic between Pittsburg and New Orleans. Later, we were a crossroad for rail traffic and finally, we became a central hub for airborne freight, package handling and distribution.

Though Louisville’s past development hinged on location, Abramson said our economic future will depend on education.

In our fast-paced 21^st Century, we are part of a global economy, and because of high speed communication and global networking, high tech and knowledge-based workers can live anywhere. Information-age jobs require brainpower and skill of a different kind too. Education – both an educated workforce and an education system that can turn out new ideas and act on them – are the keys to economic competitiveness. Mid-sized cities like Louisville can better compete for these new workers and offer them a better quality of life than the mega-cities.

If the key is education, we must focus on it – at all levels – to remain competitive as a community. Two-thirds of the jobs of the future require some post-secondary education. We need to make sure every single student in our community is ready to take on those jobs.

We must fast-forward educational progress across the board: provide preschool for every child, cut the troubling high school dropout rate,  and energize more adults to go higher up the education ladder. Mayor Abramson’s education agenda will help facilitate that. 

  
Mayor Abramson’s Education Agenda

Increase children’s readiness for school
According to the WK Kellogg Foundation, one in three children nationally is not ready for kindergarten. About 9,000 students enroll in Louisville’s kindergartens each year – 7,000 in the Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) system alone. Early childhood development experts report it is important for parents and children to learn what is expected of them when the school bell rings. It is also important to take advantage of all the years a child spends at home, in informal care and in child care or preschool to maximize brain development and lay the groundwork for future learning.

• Kindergarten Countdown – Metro works with Metro United Way Success By 6, the public and parochial schools, and other community partners to host summer events for in-coming kindergarteners, including the Mayor’s Kindergarten Countdown Fair at Slugger Field. The goal is that: “All children and families in our community experience successful transitions to kindergarten.” Partners for the Kindergarten Countdown event include Metro United Way Success By 6, Louisville Metro Government, Jefferson County Public Schools, Catholic Schools, TARC, the Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness, the Louisville Free Public Library and many more. The agencies work throughout the year to increase school readiness and to educate parents and children about the transition to kindergarten.
  
  
• Reading Power – a program of the Louisville Free Public Library that complements Every1Reads and focuses on children ages 0-5 who are at risk of low reading achievement. Last year, for example, this program worked directly with most JCPS preschools in every area of the community.
  
  
• Early Literacy Project – Nurses and paraprofessionals who work in the Healthy Start and HANDS program, run by the Louisville Metro Department for Public Health and Wellness, routinely talk about the importance of reading to young children with and deliver books to the families of infants and young children during home visits. First Book Kentuckiana recently awarded 800 books to the Healthy Start and HANDS programs to foster early childhood reading. Metro United Way’s Success By 6 also supports the program by providing books.

Keep kids in school until high school graduation and increase opportunities for those who have already dropped out
Our city has been named one of America’s top 100 cities for young people 3 years in a row by America’s Promise, a nonprofit started by former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell. But not every student is doing well. Roughly one in four students who start 9^th grade do not graduate within four years, and the figure is higher for minorities. With the help of America’s Promise, Louisville was one of the first of more than 100 states and communities to hold a summit to address the dropout problem. Louisville is already ahead of many cities in that we have partnerships in place to help those who are at-risk of dropping out of high school. Yet together, Louisville can do more.

• High School Dropout Solutions – as part of the national America’s Promise Dropout Initiative, Mayor Abramson and JCPS Superintendent Dr. Sheldon Berman hosted a high school dropout solutions summit on July 30, 2008. The summit brought together a large and diverse group of stakeholders to learn about the school dropout problem in Louisville, and, more importantly, to gather information for an Action Agenda to help ensure that all of Louisville’s youth can graduate from high school and be prepared for success in adulthood.

• Louisville Education and Employment Partnership (LEEP) – Louisville Metro provides $290,000 annually to help LEEP counselors at JCPS schools assist at-risk students to stay in school, graduate, and make successful transitions to employment, military service and/or post-secondary education. Since Mayor Abramson began the program 20 years ago, LEEP has helped keep more than 25,000 at-risk high school students on track.

• Youth Opportunities Unlimited (Y.O.U. Center) – Louisville Metro Government provides approximately $1 million (WIA funding, Metro general funds, private contributions) to this center, which is a place where any young person 16-21 years old can get information about jobs, education and careers; focused assistance – on academic preparation, remediation and job placement.

Improve children’s performance in school
Thousands more kids in our city are reading at grade level thanks to Every 1 Reads, a program many community organizations support with volunteers and funding. The Mayor has supported Every 1 Reads by raising funds, recruiting volunteers, giving Metro Employees work time to volunteer, and staffing the community engagement initiative to get after-school providers involved. He created the Top Apple Schools award, to honor the teachers and principals of schools making the most progress in reading.

• Mayor’s Top Reading School Awards of Excellence – part of Every 1 Reads, an ambitious community effort, formed in 2004, to help every child read on grade level by 2008. Mayor Abramson gives awards to the schools showing the most progress on CATS reading scores or having the fewest novice readers. The Mayor uses the awards to promote the success of the Every 1 Reads program.
  
  
• Mayor’s Outstanding High School Seniors Award – presented to nearly 50 students annually at the Mayor’s Outstanding High School Senior Banquet.
  
  
• Metro Every 1 Reads volunteers – the Mayor allows employees up to one hour a week to serve as reading mentors in Jefferson County Public Schools. Louisville Metro Government has adopted Maupin Elementary as its focus school for volunteers. Every 1 Reads is a communitywide effort with the goal: “every JCPS student will read at or above grade level by the year 2008.” To date, $8 M had been raised privately, 10,000 volunteers trained as tutors and mentors, and nearly 70 community and faith-based organizations and groups rallied to provide tutoring and assistance to struggling students.

• Add It Up: GE Math and Science/College Bound – Louisville Metro supports this program to raise student achievement in mathematics and science and increase the number of JCPS graduates enrolling in college.

Increase out-of-school and after-school opportunities for youth

Children spend only so much of their time in school. Making the time they spend outside of school safe and productive is a community challenge. There are ways others, in addition to schools and parents, can make a difference – through mentoring, summer internships and other strategies. This is a community challenge that requires total community commitment. We must keep improving our public libraries – reinventing, redefining the library as an institution for the future.

• Mayor’s Youth Cabinet – Members, who include a representative from each high school, meet monthly and hear from directors of city departments; in quarterly meetings with Mayor Abramson, youth provide input about keeping Louisville youth friendly and attractive to young professionals; an opportunity for students to share thoughts and concerns about the city and build leadership skills.
  
  
• Every 1 Reads Community Engagement – The Office of Youth Development chairs a joint committee with Metro United Way, JCPS and the Urban League that works with after-school programs. Metro’s External Agencies Youth Fund provides $28,000 and Metro United Way $22,000 ($50,000 total) to non-profits to provide non-school hour programming to support E1R goals. The programs are united through a unique reporting system called KidTrax. KidTrax is designed to provide a data supported link between quality after school activities and the influence it can have on success in school. The bar-coded KidTrax Cards serve three purposes: as Louisville Free Public Library cards, as cards for free rides on Metro’s public transit system, and as tracking cards for after-school programs. KidTrax is a partnership in which JCPS collaborates with Metro, YMCA, Metro United Way, Boys and Girls Clubs, Salvation Army Boys and Girls Clubs and many other community based organizations that provide programming for youth in the metro area; over the past 5 years, Metro has provided about $100,000 to bring non-profits on-line with the KidTrax system.
  
  
• Community Schools – Metro Government and JCPS jointly support 8 community schools that are open to people of all ages from the time school dismisses until 9 pm for recreation, homework help and other activities; Metro and JCPS share the cost of the coordinators located in the following: Cane Run Elementary, Farnsley, Frost, Meyzeek, Western, Meyers and Iroquois Middle Schools and Iroquois High Schools.
  
  

Youth Website and Searchable Directory; Funding for youth programs; Training for youth workers – The Office of Youth Development not only offers its own educational programs, life skills training, youth employment skills training, job opportunities, and special activities that promote strong families and brighter futures for young people, but also provides funding for non-profit agencies to do targeted programs, has a training track for youth service workers, evaluates youth-based programs and services, and maintains extensive listings of youth services, afterschool programs, referrals and resources.

Help young people get ready for and connect to the world of work

Preparing for the world of work starts much earlier than high school graduation. Mayor Abramson wants young people in this community to connect to internships, work experience and career development opportunities. He wants kids to know they have a choice – a choice between hanging out on the streets and volunteering at the Louisville Science Center – a choice between sleeping late and getting an early start on a career. Getting them started early holding jobs that put extra spending money in their pockets teaches responsibility. They learn to show up for work on time, listen and take direction. They make connections with people who came from different neighborhoods, have different interests, and they stay out of trouble. They also start exploring different areas of work and begin thinking about what they want to do with their futures.

• Youth Services and Career Institute; Summer job fair; Studio 2000 –The Youth Services and Careers Institute (YSCI) is a work-readiness and college preparation program for 14 and 15 year old students that provides career preparation, academic enrichment, basic financial literacy, and leadership skills training. Studio2000 is a year-round, arts-based youth employment program coordinated by the Louisville Metro Office of Youth Development modeled after Gallery 37 in Chicago. Young people who are interested in a career in the arts have the opportunity to work with artists who are self-supporting. The Mayor’s Youth Opportunities Showcase brings together Metro agencies, businesses and non-profits that take applications for summer jobs, internships, and recreational opportunities.
  
  
• ACT college testing preparation – a 2006 Kentucky state law requires that high school juniors to take the ACT, America's most widely accepted college entrance exam which assesses high school students' general educational development and their ability to complete college-level work. Legislators who passed the law wanted to increase college awareness for high school juniors, as well as to encourage students to take more challenging courses for the preparation for college. To support the students and the school system, the Louisville Free Public Library offers (through the Learning Express Library database on its website) a comprehensive ACT and other practice tests. The library partners with the Princeton Review to offer a two-part program to help prepare for and work through the test at some library locations, including a free complete paper and pencil practice test and follow-up review. In addition, Library staff is developing training workshops for teachers, school media librarians and tutoring center staff to help a wide range of students to receive preparation assistance and test-taking tips. The library plans to recruit and train Metro Louisville employees as volunteer test coaches.
  
  
• CREW – a partnership of KentuckianaWorks (the Workforce Investment Board), Metropolitan College and Jefferson Community and Technical College that helps students align college work with career goals.

Improving educational attainment beyond high school
While the number of post-secondary degrees granted in our community continues to climb, there are still not enough people with degrees to push Louisville ahead of its competitor cities. The Greater Louisville Project’s “Deep Drivers” analyzed the data, identified key leverage points, and concluded that too few people had finished their degrees. People “stop out” for good reasons, but to get back on track they need information and guidance, financial aid, and funds to support them while they go to school. With the release of the Post-Secondary Education Task Force report and the state’s interest in the issue, the Mayor redoubled his commitment to remove barriers to completing college.

• Graduate Greater Louisville is a new, multi-phased collaboration. Phase I targets those who have some college (generally 90 credit hours) but have not completed their degrees. The first step was getting the message out that schools are ready to help these students complete their coursework. Greater Louisville Inc.’s HIRE (Higher Income Requires Education) forum pulled together more than 20 colleges and universities with the following goals: 1) increase the numbers of students who complete postsecondary credentials, 2) reduce the time it takes them to do so, and 3) eliminate disparities in educational attainment by race and income by the end of the decade. The public universities each identified a person or office to assist returning students and many crafted a “completer degree” where work experience can apply to course credits. Mayor Abramson helped broadcast available resources to help – KentuckianaWorks Scholars, short-term training funds, Kentuckiana College Access Center assistance, and more. Finally, the Mayor helped reach out to businesses, asking them to participate in “Team 10,000” by providing outreach and support for their employees.
  
  KentuckianaWorks Scholars – This program will help 500 Louisville-area residents finish their associate’s degrees. Approximately $1 million in college scholarships are available in the 2008-2009 academic year. Funding up to $3,000 is available for tuition and up to $600 for books and supplies. The money is part of the mayor’s effort to increase the city’s educational levels through the Graduate Greater Louisville initiative. Funding comes from the Workforce Investment Act, the federal government’s principal investment in raising the skills of adult workers.
  
  
• Kentuckiana College Access Center (KCAC) – Part of KentuckianaWorks, KCAC serves more than 850 students each year in 9 JCPS middle and high schools to help young people think about and enter college. KCAC works with students and their families (particularly students from low-income families and those for whom college is a first) to provide assistance in completing college financial aid and admissions forms, assistance in selecting a postsecondary institution, scholarship searches, and offers field trips to post-secondary institutions throughout the year. KCAC holds college planning workshops and has a wide range of college catalogs, videos and resource library offerings. In addition, they offer ACT, SAT, test-taking and study skills workshops and sponsor/co-sponsor college and career fairs.
  
• Metropolitan College