Today the State Board of Education and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Paolo DeMaria joined key partners to unveil Each Child, Our Future, Ohio’s five-year strategic plan for education. Co-designed over the last year by parents, educators, employers, philanthropic leaders, policymakers and students, the plan seeks to lift aspirations, guide development of state-level policies and promote quality education practices across the state.
“Each Child, Our Future aims to ensure every child is challenged, prepared and empowered to become a resilient, lifelong learner who contributes to society,” said State Board of Education President Tess Elshoff. “By meeting the needs of the whole child, we’re giving children tools for success that will last far beyond their years in Ohio’s preK-12 education system. I’m proud of the State Board of Education’s work on this plan and excited to strengthen the partnerships essential for implementing the plan.”
“The education of Ohio’s students is everyone’s business, and the most exciting part of building this plan was seeing the engagement of partners from every corner of the state who care about student success,” said DeMaria. “Each Child, Our Future provides a clear direction to help make our education system the best it can be for Ohio’s 1.7 million schoolchildren.”
State Senator Peggy Lehner (Kettering), State Representative Andrew Brenner (Powell) and Ohio’s 2018 Teacher of the Year Jonathan Juravich (Liberty Tree Elementary, Olentangy Local School District) helped launch the plan at a morning press conference, which was followed by a day-long school bus tour. The bus tour featured three Central Ohio learning sites: a high-tech robotics, engineering and advanced manufacturing training program at Tolles Career and Technical Center in Plain City; effective approaches to school leadership, social-emotional learning and integrated student support services at Etna Road Elementary School in Whitehall; and high-quality after-school learning programs at the Columbus Museum of Art.
“I am most enthused that educators in the field were highly invested in the process to develop Each Child, Our Future,” said Juravich. “With the four equal learning domains, traditional academic areas are equal to well-rounded content, leadership and social-emotional learning in the development of students as human beings. This strategic plan amplifies the good work being done in classrooms across Ohio to support the development of the whole child.”
The five-year plan recognizes that equity continues to be Ohio’s greatest education challenge — making sure each child has access to relevant and challenging academic experiences and resources across race, gender, ethnicity, language, disability, family background and/or income. The plan also stresses the importance of partnerships and quality schools. It identifies one goal focused on student success after high school and 10 supporting strategies that address excellent educators, standards for students, accountability for learning, supports for the whole child, expanding early learning and transforming the high school experience.
This plan was built by Ohioans for Ohioans. Started by Superintendent DeMaria and the State Board of Education in the summer of 2017, more than 150 Ohio-based partners rolled up their sleeves to develop the plan. Moreover, an additional 1,200 Ohio citizens attended 13 regional meetings across the state to review the plan and provide feedback. In total, more than 1,300 Ohioans had a hand in crafting the plan.
A full copy of Each Child, Our Future can be found online here.