Ashtabula County is one of five sites in Ohio to receive a $20,000 from KnowledgeWorks Foundation grant aimed at smoothing the education pipeline for Ohio students from preschool through college.
The grants announced today will establish what are known as P-16 (preschool-grade 16) councils to plan methods for easing transitions from one level to learning to the next. The councils, composed of leaders from education, business and the community, will identify gaps in local education systems - - problem areas that hinder students from moving efficiently from early childhood to postsecondary education - - and set priorities for addressing those gaps.
"KnowledgeWorks Foundation has earned our respect from its unique initiatives and the support it has provided to Ashtabula County," said Kimberly Landis, executive director of Ashtabula County Continued Education Support Services. "Funding from KnowledgeWorks Foundation helped launch our College Access Program in 2000 and enabled us to assist thousands of students and Ashtabula County residents in pursuit of their college aspirations," Landis said. "Now, with P-16 funding from the foundation, we look forward to strengthening our partnership with area stakeholders to create a seamless system of continued learning for all our students that will improve economic and social conditions at the local and state level."
"This planning grant provides Ashtabula County with the opportunity to take a leadership role in advancing and aligning the educational and economic initiatives in the county to collaborate and leverage our resources to develop a seamless Partnership for Continued Learning to benefit our youth and our community," said Rich Crepage, superintendent of the Ashtabula County Educational Service Center.
The P-16 planning grant presents a great opportunity for collaboration, said Susan Stocker, associate dean of Kent State University-Ashtabula campus.
"I am looking forward to working with the P-16 educators and parents, with the goal of increasing the number of college graduates in our county," she said.
This collaborative effort is unique because it links education with economic development, Stocker said.
"It is crucial that we prepare students for the jobs of the future: jobs that will keep them here, working and raising families in our county," Stocker said. "Education and economic development go hand in hand, and this grant will give us the opportunity, in the long run, to demonstrate that."
The grant allows the opportunity for the various groups dedicated to the improvement of the public education system to come together to combine resources to strengthen the results of each group, said Louise Caldrone, executive director of the Partnership for Education in Ashtabula County.
"The vision of the Ashtabula Partnership for Continued Learning P-16 is to have area organizations and individual(s) working collaboratively to provide students a seamless transition from one level of learning to the next in such a way that no student is left behind, regardless of income or ethnicity," said Joseph Mayernick, executive director of Growth Partnership for Ashtabula County.
The P-16 initiative focuses on coordinating academic expectations and to connect coursework and credit transfer among educational systems. It was developed in response to research showing that students tend to get lost at key transitions in their educational life and have a difficult time recovering: whether because curriculums don't align between elementary and middle school, or because academic expectations aren't consistent between middle and high schools, or because credits don't transfer appropriately from one academic institution to another.
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County receives $20,000 grant for programs
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