Executive Director's Message
To our Education Partners and Friends,
I’m very pleased to share news about important changes underway at E3. With an eye to transforming education for all Oregon students, we are again breaking new ground through partnerships with the education community, business community and government agencies.
E3 and our affiliate, the Oregon Business Council (OBC), recently created a shared, unified education platform that integrates education policy and practices. For over a decade E3 and OBC have partnered to tackle the most challenging issues in education, with OBC focused on policy and E3 overseeing on-the-ground programs. The establishment of a single, unified platform enhances our ability to identify and resolve core systemic issues embedded in Oregon’s education model.
This month’s newsletter spotlights our unified education platform. You’ll see our priorities and goals, one of which is to support Oregon in rapid implementation of a statewide Career Readiness Certificate (CRC) program. We have entered into an exciting partnership with the Department of Community Colleges and Workforce Development, the agency responsible for rollout. The Department recognized early that engagement from the business community is essential in cultivating adoption statewide. I’ve been involved since early discussions and now am delighted to step into a new role as executive on loan to the CRC program for one year. A dynamic team of business, education and agency leaders already is in place to map strategy and tactics for CRC design and implementation, and I’m honored and pleased to be part of the team.
Duncan Wyse has agreed to serve as E3’s Interim Executive Director while I am focused on CRC. Many of you already are familiar with Duncan, who is the President of the Oregon Business Council and a board member of E3. Duncan’s qualifications in the education arena speak for themselves – he currently serves as Chair of the Oregon State Board of Education and is extremely well versed in programmatic and public policy issues related to education.
While discussions have been underway about how to marshal the combined expertise of E3 and OBC, Duncan and I have been fortunate to have outstanding board leadership guiding us through this exciting transition. I’m especially appreciative of Julie Manning at Samaritan Health Services for her sage counsel as board chair, and Morgan Anderson at Intel for her vision as chair of the development committee.
The education issues we have yet to solve are too big to go it alone. E3’s and OBC’s continued success will stem from highly collaborative partnerships with communities, employers and other key stakeholders. I appreciate your continued involvement and support as our valued education partner, and look I forward to building shared understanding and support for the Career Readiness Certificate program in the months to come.
Regards,
René Léger
Executive Director
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Combining Education Platforms
As we all know, Oregon has a mixed track record in education. While we’ve made headway by setting higher graduation standards, aligning K-12 curriculum and capturing data that measures our performance, Oregon continues to be plagued by inadequate funding, sub-par rates of high school graduation and an especially concerning low frequency of college enrollment.
To help focus public and private efforts on improved academic achievement, the state set ambitious goals for education attainment and workforce development. The broad vision is captured in a formulation that has come to be called “40-40-20.”
* 100% of high school students graduate from high school,
* 40% of Oregon adults have a bachelor’s degree or higher,
* 40% have at least an associate’s degree or other technical credential, and
* 20% have a high school diploma guaranteeing strong academic and work readiness skills.
Practically speaking, education and workforce development are essential to remain competitive in the global economy. E3 and the Oregon Business Council (OBC), partners in education for over a decade, have combined platforms to support Oregon’s 40-40-20 vision. The new platform creates an integrated approach for education policy and education practice.
Duncan Wyse, President of OBC and Interim Executive Director of E3, sees potential for tremendous synergy by organizing education policy, advocacy and innovative programs under one umbrella.
“The combined platform bolsters our ability to bring about statewide change in a practical and scalable manner,” Duncan said. “With E3 and OBC working together on key issues, and in concert with other education partners, we will forge new pathways to solve some of the most vexing problems in education today.”
E3 and OBC objectives fall into three broad categories: policy, advocacy and innovative programs. Their 2009-2010 goals include:
- Successful completion of the Oregon Small Schools Initiative
- Implementation support for Career Readiness Certificates and the New High School Diploma
- Investigating the causes of Oregon’s low rate of college enrollment
- Research into performance-based budgeting for education, Pre-K through 20.
- Proficiency-based education strategies for systemic implementation
- Assistance to the Oregon Business Plan for Education/Workforce recommendations
Look for updates on these goals and other ongoing E3 programs in future issues of the newsletter.
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