We spend billions of public and private dollars each year to support the education, health, and social welfare of our children and young people and yet, far too many of our young children enter kindergarten unprepared; far too many children are under-succeeding in school and, as a result, too many young people fail to complete high school or college.

The purpose of the Preschool through College (P20) project is to:
1. develop community consensus around a few major education goals from birth through young adulthood;
2. align work around those goals;
3. And, promote synergy and collaboration around filling the gaps that keep us from meeting the consensus goals.

By so doing we will create greater efficiency and accountability as well as community understanding and support. We can and must do a better job of using our resources to help young people acquire the skills needed to succeed in the 21st century, and to improve the economic vitality of our region.

Only 66% of Oregon high school students graduate on-time. The number in Portland Public Schools is just 53%. We know that these numbers are much lower in our minority communities. For these students’ future we must take action. Improvements, though, also help our state. A 1% increase in the number of children graduating from high school and going on to a college or training program will have a $1.6 billion long-term financial impact on our community.

Under the leadership of President Wim Wiewel, Portland State University has entered into a partnership with the Leaders Roundtable, Mayor Sam Adams, County Chair Jeff Cogen, and the eight Multnomah County School Districts to create a pilot project which will focus on the 250,000 students in Multnomah County.

The coalition has determined the five goal areas where we will focus our efforts. Every student will:
1. Be prepared for school
2. Be supported inside and outside school
3. Succeed academically
4. Enroll in some form of postsecondary education or training
5. Graduate to a fulfilling career

A million dollar investment in this project would achieve the following over the next two years:
1. Create a community consensus around specific metrics for each of goal area helping to align organizational missions.
2. Conduct a community-wide inventory of programs defining gaps in services.
3. Determine which programs could be replicated in order to dramatically increase high school graduation rates.
4. Create an infrastructure to duplicate the Multnomah County pilot project throughout the state.

The outcome will be a more efficient and effective use of community dollars, increased success by all of our children, and a better future for Oregon!

Randy Hitz, Dean
PSU Graduate School of Education