Which ones would you choose?

“Reclaim community ownership of the primary purpose of education”

How do we do this? One way is to come together to determine what skills or competencies we feel our young people need in order to thrive in a complex, rapidly changing world. Many conversations have taken place on this topic in the last 3 months, which have included business and education representatives, community organizations, parents, and students. Out of 29 competencies, critical thinking and communication were in the top 6 for all categories of people. Others rose to the top, including: adaptability, collaboration, empathy, integrity, perseverance, problem solving, responsibility, and technology literacy.

With support from Battelle for Kids and funding from Martha Holden Jennings, we have used the Portrait of a Graduate process to narrow down the choices for Washington County students. Through a series of 16 meetings people from all over the county have discussed landscape shifts that are impacting the world of work and the way in which we need to educate children to be prepared for it, and then participants chose the competencies they feel are the most important. Last Thursday was the BB2C Community Meeting/Business Advisory Council at which we discussed the compiled list of competencies. Small groups compared the differences between the top 6 choices made by business, education, and community representatives. Talk about some great discussion…. Each group then wrestled with choosing the single most important competency they felt should be on the final list.

The evening ended with a panel of superintendents and high school principals from 5 of the county school districts discussing their next steps with the Portrait work and what they took away from the evening’s conversation. A couple of the panel members stated that the competencies need woven into the fabric of education from Kindergarten through graduation, as opposed to having a couple of lessons on each one. One benefit repeated throughout the evening, and during the many discussions leading up to this point, was the idea that a common vocabulary will help all stakeholders work toward the same goals. Washington County has a history of working together for the benefit of our young people and our businesses, and this process is yet another step in bridging the gap between education and employment.

Thank you to every person that has been a part of the Portrait of a Washington County Graduate process and took the time to be part of the conversation! Look for the final Portrait in the coming weeks.