Group emphasizes collaboration of education, parents and other sectors

By Harold Gwin

The project links community sectors across a four-county region of the state.

YOUNGSTOWN — Helping children get the most from their education and preparing them for the work force are the goals of a new group focusing on education from preschool through college.

The Eastern Ohio P-16 Partnership for Education unveiled its plans Wednesday, calling for a collaborative approach to determining and providing the best educational practices to students in Mahoning, Trumbull, Columbiana and Ashtabula counties.

The group has adopted “One Voice” as its theme, and the name represents an unprecedented level of collaboration between multiple community sectors — education, business, government, social- service agencies and parents, said Joel Ratner, president of the Raymond J. Wean Foundation.

A 72-member council representing those constituencies has been at work on the project for a year, he said.

The effort grew out of suggestions from David C. Sweet, president of Youngstown State University, and Tom Humphries, president of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber of Commerce, Ratner said. The goal is to take the region from a manufacturing-based mentality to a knowledge-based mentality, he said, and the committee believes that P-16 is the answer to bringing the community together.

“We are in a work-force readiness crisis,” said Steve Kristan, director of external affairs for AT&T and vice-chairman of the Regional Chamber’s board of directors.

That puts our global preparedness at risk, he said, explaining that the region needs a more-prepared work force, and collaboration and cooperation are the keys to achieving that goal.

Our success depends on an integrated approach from all community segments, not just education, said Vicki Giovangnoli, superintendent of the Trumbull County Educational Service Center.

But the education sector must continue to strive for excellence while examining what it is doing, identifying gaps and being willing to accept new strategies, she said. Children must be able to transition smoothly through their educational experience, and the community must provide the necessary support system, she said.

Some of the methods designed to meet that target include creating a “post-secondary-going” culture, identifying support systems in place and those that are needed, identifying barriers that exist, creating more dual-credit programs that provide college credit for high school students and boosting scholarship aid, she said.

This is an area that needs to increase its college-going rates to be able to compete in the global community, and that effort will be enhanced by the P-16 movement, Sweet said.

Some specific strategies have been laid out, said Alison Harmon, associate dean of the Beeghly College of Education at Youngstown State University. They include defining what is good instruction through best practices, focusing on getting P-12 educators working with 13 to 16 educators, looking at what’s working and what isn’t in higher education, focusing on collaboration to help children have a seamless educational experience that allows them to build their knowledge from year to year and encourages them to continue their education and making sure professional development programs are available to educators.

Ratner said the initiative is hiring an executive director to spearhead the effort. Initial funding has come from the Wean Foundation, YSU, the county educational service centers, the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation and the Regional Chamber, he said.

gwin@vindy.com