“Demographics should not determine the destiny of the children in this region. The greater Seattle region has one of the best-educated workforces in the nation. We import highly educated talent from around the globe yet struggle to provide a solid education for the children in our own backyard. The children who grow up here deserve as good of an education as the people who show up here. We are committed to nothing less than closing the unacceptable achievement gaps and making improvements everywhere along a student’s path from cradle to college and career.”
—Mary Jean Ryan, Executive Director of the Community Center for Education Results
“We urgently need to improve education results in South King County, and that will only be possible with a strong strategic framework. The Road Map for Education Results establishes the groundwork to make this vision a reality in our county’s schools. I applaud this ambitious, collaborative effort that will put us on track to deliver quality education to all of our students.”
—Dow Constantine, King County Executive
“The opportunity to align goals to a regional effort that will eliminate the achievement gap for low-performing students gives me hope that together our schools and communities can drastically improve the dismal state of our education system. Our children deserve better. By aligning the private sector, public schools, and communities towards shared outcomes that will eliminate the widening achievement gap for all children, CCER and its partners is ensuring that every child has the best opportunities for success.”
—Tre Maxie, Executive Director of Powerful Schools
“The Road Map Project is a great way for systems and institutions to connect with community in a relational way that gives ‘life’ to the data that can drive our education system to change while putting parents, families & communities in the drivers’ seat.”
—Sili Savusa, Family Center Coordinator for Southwest Youth & Family Services, Highline School District Board Member
“It’s impossible to address the challenges posed by racial and economic disparities in our King County neighborhoods without building a better education system for our kids. From pre-natal health, to kindergarten readiness, to reading and math skills, to family supports, to career-readiness; these are the building blocks we need to create healthy, diverse, equitable communities that work for people. When the education system—which is all of us—fails kids in our neighborhoods, it opens up the door to so many more failures down the road. Failures that are tragic because they are preventable.”
—Nathan Phillips, Project Director for South King Council of Human Services
“The Road Map aims to make improvements everywhere along a student’s path – beginning with early learning, and on to effective kindergarten preparation, support and success in primary and secondary years, through increasing college enrollment and achievement. This is an exciting time bringing multiple communities and groups together to help our children take great strides forward.”
—Denis Law, Mayor, City of Renton
—Dr. Mary Alice Heuschel, Superintendent, Renton School District