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EcO15 Regional Council/County Coordinator Meeting
January 31st
9:30 am
Location TBD
CEC Board Meeting
February 16th
7:30 am
CLC, Summerville Room EcO15/Dream It. Do It. Sophomore Career Fair (Bartholomew Co.) February 24th 9:30 am CLC, AMCE, IUPUC, Ivy Tech, & PCOT
Busy Bees Advisory Committee Meeting
Click here to include your event(s) in the upcoming newsletter. |
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Early Childhood Education | | | |
The Busy Bees Academy
The Busy Bees Academy (BBA) headquarters now known as the Richard L. Johnson Early Childhood Education Center is buzzing with all sorts of activities and community visitors. In September, the Academy received a visit from Congressman Mike Pence. He is pictured below reading to the students.
BBA now has 152 students enrolled at the three locations (Taylorsville, Clifty Creek and Richard L. Johnson Early Childhood Education Center). Also, Busy Bees Academy was able to ensure that all students have access to transportation this school year. The Parent Academy was a huge success in December with a theme focused on Early Literacy! 
The parents from all three BBA locations came to the Johnson Center for snacks and family engagement activities. This event allowed parents to practice early literacy skills with their children as well as receive supplemental handouts with information of activities parents could provide at home. The Community Scholarship Program started last year to help more four year olds in Bartholomew County have the opportunity to attend a high quality preschool program. To achieve this, we raised funds to provide scholarships for families to attend other community preschools. Currently, fourteen preschools are participating in the Community Scholarship Program: ABC Stewart, Children Inc., Community Center of Hope, Faith Lutheran, Fairlawn Preschool, First Christian Church Preschool, First Presbyterian, Learning Tree (First United Methodist), Little Seeds (Asbury United Methodist), North Star Montessori, Ogilville, Sandy Hook Preschool, St. Paul Lutheran, and St. Peter Sprouts (Waymans). Each of the Community Scholarship families will also receive wrap-around services from the BBA including a Family School Partner (FSP) and access to the Parent Academy programs. Thanks to the generosity of BCSC, the CEC, Cummins Foundation and The Heritage Fund, 60 additional children have enrolled in preschool! This summer the BBA will be offering a Summer Academy to keep these children on the right track and combat summer "brain drain." The Summer Academy will be supported, in part, by a grant from the Women's Giving Circle. |
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Latino Education Event (Fiesta Navideņa)
BCSC, Family School Partners (FSP) and CEC work together to develop programs and events that help the Latino community.
The Christmas Party, held on Sunday, December 4th, was one of those events. It was designed to teach parents how to successfully guide their children through high school and through their post-secondary education. The event also reminded those in attendance of their culture and roots.
During the event, parents were divided into groups. They were asked to discuss ideas regarding the following points:
1. How can we, as parents, help our young children succeed in school?
2. How can we, as parents, help our children graduate from high school and attend college?
3. How can we help our children if they drop out of high school?
Parents presented their own conclusions; reading every day to our children, spending time with them, taking into account their ideas, paying attention when they are talking, talking to them about their future and their education, motivating them by telling them the benefits from having a university degree, being involved in the schools and our children's activities, and giving them good examples. 
274 people attended and spent a very enjoyable afternoon filled with learning, talking, and listening to other's ideas. Participants hit the piņata and enjoyed a delicious dinner, while watching a traditional dance performed by Folkloric Productions. It is important not to forget the Latino roots, culture and traditions.
Thank you, very much, to the volunteers for their great work, and thank you to all of the generous organizations and businesses for their donations (Best Buy, Circle K, Clifty Creek Elementary School, El Nopal Restaurant, El Otro Taco Restaurant, El Sabor de la vida Restaurant, El Toreo Restaurant, Family School Partner, Imagination Station, IUPUC, La Azteca Market Store, La Rancherita Market Store, Latino's Hair Salon, Mi tierra Market Store, Papa's Downtown Deli Restaurant, Riviera Maya Restaurant, Susan Dunker, Target and Wal-Mart). We especially want to thank the parents that attended, as we need to increase their involvement in their children's education, to increase graduation rates, and help Latino students go to college. |
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EcO15 News |
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Fall 2011 EcO15
Advaced Manufacturing Enrollments
The Dream It. Do It./EcO15 initiative encompasses the  development of a network of advanced manufacturing integrated technology labs and associated programs located throughout the ten counties in Southeastern Indiana. The integrated technology labs provide students with the opportunity to pursue education built around a curriculum of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). With this investment in the region we now have the following number of integrated technology labs and associated programs:
- Post-Secondary and Learning Center Labs= 11
- Gateway to Technology Middle School Programs= 17
- MSSC/High School Project Lead The Way Programs= 27
- Advanced Manufacturing Center of Excellence= 1
Another positive indicator for the future viability of regional manufacturing relates to high school STEM enrollments that have continued to increase an additional 27% on a regional basis. Other student enrollments include:
- Post-secondary advanced manufacturing related 2 year and 4 year degrees increased 74%
- Project Lead The Way (PLTW) pre-engineering/technical education programs increased an amazing 579%
- Career Technical Education programs increased by 51%.
- Manufacturing Skill Standards Certifications (MSSC) numbers are cumulative and have increased 121% over the 2008 baseline
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EcO15 Regional Council
Targeted Regional Initiatives
The ten-member EcO15 Regional Council meets every six weeks and is governed by a federation model. The purpose of this group, consisting of one representative from each county, is to serve as the long-term sustainability group, focused on high-level initiatives of a regional nature that will have the most impact on the development of the regional learning
system in support of the goals of EcO15.
 The regional council continues to focus on the regional initiatives that can be pursued together for the benefit of the people, industries, and communities of the region. The council recently conducted a strategic analysis that identified targeted regional initiatives. The council, EcO15 Coordinators, and the region's stakeholder teams are working together as a group to create detailed work plans while preparing to make second-stage funding requests for the following strategic projects:
1. Advanced Manufacturing education pathways leading to significantly larger numbers of students enrolling in and graduating from high school with an emphasis on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math), leading to post-secondary STEM-based degrees and careers. Programs of focus within the advanced manufacturing education pathway include continuation and growth of:
*Dream It. Do It. (Marketing and Outreach),
*Project Lead The Way & additional targeted, STEM based programs
*Targeted certifications,
*Associates and Bachelor's degrees
2. Project Based Learning Academy- educator professional development programs and a cadre of PBL coaches.
3. Early Childhood Education and Adult Education planning initiatives.
The council realizesit is vitally important to support the post-secondary education partners in recruitment and success rates of students in the fields of study related to advanced manufacturing/STEM. Right now, enrollments and success rates are too low relative to the opportunities for large numbers of people to enter STEM-based roles in the region. Enlisting industry in the recruitment efforts as well as the retention efforts of the post-secondary institutions will be key to success. We need to see increased enrollments and graduates in advanced manufacturing/STEM related industry certification, 2 yr. and 4 yr. degrees. Companies need much larger numbers of people, both now and in the future, with these skills/education levels.
The Early Childhood portion of the white paper is still in the planning stages and we need to hold discussions with other stakeholders before developing a document. The thought is for Early Childhood education to be predominately focused on pre-k (4 year olds). It is estimated that nearly one-third of children in our region begin kindergarten behind socially, physically, emotionally, and academically. If they start behind, they stay behind. There is a high correlation between early childhood education preparing children to enter kindergarten and high school graduation rates. It is important for the region to develop and pursue strategies leading to increasing availability of accessible, affordable pre-k education.
The Adult Education plans being developed are complex in that approximately twenty per cent (37,000) adults over the age of 25 do not possess a high school diploma. Currently, approximately 1,400 adults are pursuing a G.E.D. However, there are analyses that need to be conducted to further understand the make-up of this portion of the Southeast Indiana citizenry.
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2011 has been a pivotal year for the growth of project based learning (PBL) in southeastern Indiana.
The PBL Academy has prepared a vibrant community totaling 247 K-12 Southeast Indiana teachers utilizing PBL in their classrooms, most of which are in traditional schools.
Through the PBL Academy, 100% of public school corporations in the ten-county EcO15 area now have teachers who are employing PBL. The SE Indiana PBL teaching community now encompasses 56% of all public schools in the region. Also participating in the PBL development programs during the past three years have been 13 school administrators and 8 post-secondary educators.
Accountability is an increasingly important concept in education, and the leaders of the PBL Academy recognize the necessity of developing criteria and processes by which those participating in PBL-based educational environments are assured of high quality and performance as well as are recognized for the innovative educational practices in which they are involved.
We are working with the leaders of the PBL Institute to develop PBL certification processes for state-wide (and beyond) application.
Again in collaboration with the PBL Institute leaders from CELL, IUPUI, and Wayne Township and, likely, with leaders of the Talent Initiative which is providing PBL opportunities in NE Indiana, we will be developing metrics and processes to collect both quantitative and qualitative student performance data as a function of learning in PBL classrooms.
The direct involvement of community partners in working with PBL educators to develop projects that engage students in real challenges is integral to PBL. Therefore, the PBL Academy requires that each participating educator partner with some organization outside the classroom: a business, a local governmental office, a community-based organization, etc.
We currently have 160 such partners. They will serve as the basis of a network that we will develop to provide on-going support to educators and students engaged in PBL. |
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