Idaho Business for Education is a group of nearly 250 business leaders from across the state. We are committed to transforming the State’s education system to set our students up for success in school, work, and life. My involvement in education efforts spans a few decades with a primary focus on early childhood education. Although modest progress has been made over the past few years, Idaho still lags well behind nearly all states in financial support for early childhood education and kindergarten.
In my message last Friday I described the action taken by our House of Representatives to derail a $6 million early education grant from the Federal Government. Idaho qualified for the grant because Idaho has not done enough research on the role of early education. Imagine what our Legislators will do with the funds headed to Idaho from the Care Act.
The reason Governor Little supported the grant request is simple – he is focused on literacy. Last fall fewer than half of Idaho’s kindergartners arrived at school with the basic skills needed to learn to read at grade level. According to Idaho Education News, the number was 43.5%. 49% of first graders and a slightly better 64% of third graders were reading proficiently according to 2019 data. A year of remote or hybrid learning is unlikely to have improved the readiness of students to begin to read to learn. Hats off to our Governor for his attention to education and to early learning and literacy. Idaho will not continue to grow if we cannot build a better prepared work force for the jobs of tomorrow.
IBE hosted a presentation by Bob Rainville and Tim Lowe on a program offered to 4th-6th grade youth to help them build the skills and self confidence they will need to graduate from high school and attain post secondary education. The statistics are irrefutable, students with low self-esteem and poor academics are nineteen times more likely to drop out. The social challenges and financial impacts for those drop outs and their communities are devastating. Everyday Leadership has proven an effective program to help break what is often a cycle of poverty in the students’ families. Providing a positive mentor, teaching practical skills, community service, interpersonal communication, peer support, advocating for each other, and envisioning a positive future make a difference. Grades improve dramatically for those students and disciplinary actions see a steep decline. The program is now available in multiple schools in our valley and is supported by Rotary Clubs and the YMCA. If you have an interest, sponsors are needed to add new schools.
This group of students can move on to a similar Junior High and High School program called AVID, Advancement Via Individual Determination. AVID deserves another message of its own—with 54% of the students in free and reduced lunch programs-these students are not blessed with abundant resources and often little family support. 99% of them graduated from high school in 2018 with an average GPA of 3.2 and 89% applied to a four year college. Impressive results for hundreds of at risk Idaho Students.
I believe there is no better investment we can make in the future of Idaho and our country than a strong and equitable education opportunity. Please contact your representative today and let them know you care.
Stay positive and test negative, please keep wearing those masks. Mike