By Paul Pitre / For The Herald
Snohomish County has what it takes to build a world-class education system supporting a strong local economy and healthy, livable communities. It’s a matter of developing a unified flow.
I can confidently make this pronouncement because, during my 30-plus years in education, I traveled across the country, worked with many committed educators, and only found in Snohomish County the collaborative spirit and unified approach to student success necessary for sustained progress. Indeed, Snohomish County benefits from a rich history of cooperation born out of the days spent fighting to broaden educational opportunities. We didn’t inherit our world-class education system. We had to fight for it together, brick by brick, campus by campus.
The passion for education and opportunity is energizing and inspiring. Our collective expertise, energy and effort are the ingredients we need to build a world-class education system. How we get there is clear: We focus on the “collective” part of the equation. Success depends on all of us adopting a “one-system” mentality that spans pre-K through post-secondary education and considers the opportunities beyond.
If our shared goal is to serve students, let’s make the education continuum easy for them to navigate. When students come up against barriers along their educational journey, they often disconnect, and once that happens, it’s like losing the flow; getting them back on track is tough. Communicating with students early and often — especially through significant transitions like high school to post-secondary education — is how we help students persist. Communicating in this way requires strong relationships between educational institutions as well as within them. Operating as one system is the way to realize our vision for a world-class system that maximizes student access and outcomes.
I’m not so naïve to think that everyone is willing to exchange information, share resources, change activities and share the risks, rewards and responsibilities. There are enormous challenges to achieving this objective. It’s easy when our mission and goals seamlessly align. Indeed, we share a common purpose of educating the next generation of citizens.
Another hurdle to the one-system approach is how we respond to industry needs. Post-secondary education — and by this, I mean all education and training beyond high school — is critical to meet the demands of economic evolution. The call for credentialed employees will continue to grow as technology advances. Education needs to keep step with economic and industry progress, so it’s our responsibility to increase the number of students pursuing education beyond high school.
According to the highly acclaimed book “Minding the Gap,” our competitive global economy makes post-secondary education a universal requirement. More than 65 percent of jobs in the U.S. require some education beyond high school. Even with the demand, just 1 in 10 students in our country’s lowest economic 20 percent earn a post-secondary credential. I challenge us to do better.
I’m optimistic that by working as one system, we can create an integrated, equitable educational system where students navigate a rational, coordinated predictable pathway. We have the expertise and drive to lean into the flow of education, making it grow and thrive.
Communicating across institutions advances student success, which leads to greater prosperity among our citizenry, community and county. More prosperity advances educational quality and access, promoting student success.
A world-class education system is a cycle with a distinct flow. I believe Snohomish County has what it takes to set it in motion.
Dr. Paul Pitre is chancellor of WSU Everett.
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