This year we start the complicated yet rewarding work of connecting the numerous organizations and community stakeholders around the vision of all kids in our area succeeding from cradle to career. It is essential that we align resources instead of competing.

Here are our goals for 2015:

• Informed Community: Develop a comprehensive communication strategy to share the vision of the Jefferson Success Pathway with teachers, parents and community members
• Empowered Parents: Recruit and train a Parent Team from each of the focus schools and meet at least six times during the year to empower parents to be advocates for their child’s education and their school’s success
• Action Oriented Partners: Lead and facilitate Collaborative Action Team meetings to establish action plans to see student achievement growth based on the baseline report of the pathway goals and indicators
• Data Driven Pathway: Collect and organize data on each of the pathway goals and indicators and present a baseline report the community by December 2015

So far this year we have already seen movement in our area around helping all kids succeed.

• Jefferson Plan: Our local principals developed a plan to raise student achievement by resourcing the successful dual language program and transitioning Jefferson High to include 7th and 8th grade students. Staff from all of our focus schools are working together and viewing our area as an ecosystem instead of six different schools.
• Safe Routes to School: We learned this week that Edgewater Elementary and Lumberg Elementary will receive Safe Routes to School grant funds for next school year. These funds will be used for educating our youth on biking and walking to school as well as personal advocacy and safety. Walking/biking to school can be tied to increased student achievement.
• Increased Focus on Gifted Children: There is a myth that children growing up in poverty are not gifted. Jeffco Schools has invested more resources in the Gifted and Talented Program district-wide this school year. This means that more GT Resource Teachers are mobilized to resource gifted kids and train teachers to address their unique needs. One of the biggest parent meetings we have had at Lumberg was a meeting for parents of gifted kids. The room represented diversity of our area. It is important that ALL students have resources tailored to their unique needs and abilities. We are working with the district GT staff and Jefferson County Association for Gifted Children (JAGC) to hold a meeting for parents of gifted kids in our area on April 14 at Jefferson High School.

Working TOGETHER we can see all kids succeed from cradle to career and ALL members of our community thrive.