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Riverside County Superintendent of Schools delivers 2010 State of Education in Riverside County
Mr. Kenneth M. Young, Riverside County Superintendent of Schools, delivered the annual “State of Education in Riverside County” address February 26, 2010, to 400 education, business and community leaders at the Riverside Convention Center. (Read full text of speech)
The theme of this year’s event was “Public Education: Investing in Our County’s Future.” The event was produced by the Riverside County Office of Education, hosted by the Greater Riverside Chambers of Commerce and cosponsored by the Workforce Investment Board.
After highlighting outstanding academic programs and student achievement countywide, Young acknowledged that students are doing their best despite economic and social challenges. He called on parents to remain involved in their students’ educations, citing statistics that parent involvement decreases as students enter junior high and high school.
“I commend those schools that have found collaborative ways to involve parents in not just their children’s education, but in all important aspects of their lives,” he said. “Just think what a difference it would make in our society if every school had and promoted an ongoing parenting program.”
To that end, Young announced the Riverside County Office of Education was partnering with the 23rd District PTA (representing PTA’s across the county) to develop parenting programs, and a Parent Involvement Summit planned for later in the year.
Young praised programs like AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) that is helping prepare students for college. He said his focus as Riverside County Superintendent of Schools is to help more students graduate from high school and make sure they are prepared for college and the workforce.
Young described how overburdened community colleges and universities are in these economic times, and suggested that they could use the county’s 58 comprehensive high schools as campuses in the evening to relieve overcrowding.
Young said the county has students that are achieving. Riverside County students continue to improve on statewide tests, with API scores rising 166 points between 1999 and 2009.
He highlighted the achievement of students at Centennial High School in the Corona-Norco Unified School District, where state test scores rose by 195 points between 1999 and 2009 for all students, 223 points for African American students, 217 points for Hispanic students, and economically disadvantaged students by 214 points.
Young praised Romoland School District for meeting federal “No Child Left Behind” requirements, and announced that he will recommend to the state that Coachella Valley Unified School District no longer needs a state trustee to meet NCLB goals. He called attention to the California Military Institute charter school operated by the Perris Union High School District, the Nuview Union School District Early College High School program, and the “no excuses” credo at Perris Elementary School as outstanding programs.
Despite budget cuts, Young said, “No matter how difficult it gets, our county schools will find the way to get through this crisis and come out as a stronger, more effective, more unified educational system.”
For information contact:
Rick Peoples,
Public Information Officer
Telephone: (951) 826-6642
Fax: (951) 826-6199
rpeoples@rcoe.us
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