Education Matters

Education matters…at least it does to me, and I hope to use this blog to make it matter to you.  If you have school-age kids, it already matters to you. If you don’t yet have kids, or yours are already out on their own (“been there, done that”), education should STILL matter to you.  Why? 

Did you know that by 2018 (the year current 9th graders should graduate from college), 67% percent of all jobs in Washington will require a 4 year college degree? But in Washington, only about 30% of our high school graduates go directly to a 4 year college, and only about 20% graduate on time! Washington is in the bottom fifth of states in the US in this stat.

So what? Think about where we live. We are surrounded by companies, large and small, that make “high tech” products: Boeing, Microsoft, Honeywell, Amazon.com, Philips, biotech companies galore… We want our local kids to be able to get those good-paying jobs, don’t we?  In 2009, the VP of Human Relations at Microsoft said that 93% of the people Microsoft hires are from out of state!

Northshore students must be doing better, though – right?  Absolutely!  But there is room for improvement.  I want to use this blog to discuss some of the big, positive changes that have been taking place in Northshore for the last couple of years – things like the School Board’s new Goals and Performance Measures that seek to increase student learning and community involvement, new curricula and teacher training, the redesign of the Jr High Honors program, the redesign of the 5th grade Camp experience, budget issues (locally and at the state level).  Have suggestions? Let’s talk!

The economic future of our kids and our state is at stake here.  Stayed tuned for more details on how our leaders are trying to address the critical problems in education, and how you can help.