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RCOE’s Seventh Annual Riverside County Education Summit brings 300 educators together
California public schools have survived budget calamities and still managed to raise test scores measured against some of the most rigorous standards in the nation, but as the economy slides educators will need to be even more creative and collaborative to keep moving forward. (View video)
That was the message from the Seventh Annual Riverside County Education Summit hosted by the Riverside County Office of Education (RCOE) for more than 300 educators, community members and elected officials gathered Wednesday (October 28) at the Riverside Convention Center.
The theme of this year’s Summit was “Ensuring Student Success by Leveraging Our Collective Resources,” and speakers agreed that it was critical that educators share what works best for students.
“In California, public education is trying to achieve much more with much less,” said Kenneth M. Young, Riverside County Superintendent of Schools. “Rather than spending limited time and dwindling resources trying to conduct various educational ‘experiments,’ we believe this is the time to reinforce local efforts that data shows to be working extremely well and to look at proven, replicable efforts of other schools and districts in our county that are realizing the level of results we want for our students.”
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell said, “I have been to all seven of these Summits, and this may be the most important one. We have test scores going up and the achievement gap narrowing by small increments. But we must work collaboratively now more than ever.”
Most of the Summit was taken up by workshop sessions where successful schools and school districts presented information on their best practices in areas ranging from improving test scores to lowering the dropout rate.
Doug Reeves, nationally known education speaker and founder of The Leadership and Learning Center, said dropouts cost the United States billions of dollars in extra health and welfare costs. He said public schools should be considered great resources because they stave off a long list of social ills. “Don’t let anyone tell you that public schools are a great expense,” he said, urging educators to keep students in school by setting high goals and making the curriculum relevant.
Ken Hall, former Chief Deputy Director of the State Department of Finance in the 1970s, traced public education funding woes over four decades, but said public schools have found ways to rebound from each budget setback with better programs and better performing students. He said public schools survive through “caring, creativity, and resilience.”
Mark Hawkins, President/CEO of Altura Credit Union, founder of the Riverside Educational Enrichment Foundation (REEF), and a leading member of more than 20 educational and philanthropic organizations, was given the Riverside County Educational Leadership Award during the Summit. He said “our public schools are what set us apart from all other nations.”
For information contact:
Rick Peoples,
Public Information Officer
Telephone: (951) 826-6642
Fax: (951) 826-6199
rpeoples@rcoe.us
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