E3 Alliance

(Community Matters) Yesterday, finally caught up with my friend, Susan Dawson. Gosh, Susan was Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce Chair and I was her vice chair/treasurer, something like 7 or 8 years ago. Back then, she ran a high-tech consulting group, the Athens Group. Now she’s leading the E3 Alliance.

The E3 Alliance is a “regional effort to increase global competitiveness, economic vitality and overall quality of life for Central Texas by aligning our education systems to better fulfill the potential of every citizen.

Guided by an objective data map and a clear community vision, we propose to better align the practices of our regional education system and allocate our investments and services more efficiently to dramatically and sustainably increase educational outcomes. The E3 Alliance acts as the Central Texas P-16 Council.”

I’m impressed with their Blue Print for Educational Change which was adopted collaboratively by over 100 regional community and business leaders. Its four goals are 1) All children enter kindergarten school ready, 2) We eliminate achievement gaps while improving overall student performance, 3) All students graduate college-and-career ready and prepared for a lifetime of learning and 4) Central Texas as a community prepares children to succeed.

Susan notes in a recent newsletter: “It’s not that our schools are failing – in fact, student performance has gotten better by almost any measure you can use. But when 90% of the fastest growing jobs require some post-secondary education, far too few of our students are graduating high school, going into college, or getting any post-secondary degree to meet the needs of a competitive economy.”

Kudos to Susan, her supporters and her board members, including Sylvia Acevedo, David Balch, Jesus Chavez, Stephen Kinslow, Earl Maxwell, Michael McDonald, Patrick Pringle, Edwin, Sharpe, Denise Trauth, Gregory Vincent, Marina Walne and Pete Winstead.