March 30, 2006
State Schools Chief Jack O'Connell Helps Kick Off First
Meeting of ARCHES, Designed to Improve Student Achievement
SACRAMENTO — State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell today urged members at an inaugural conference in Merced of the Alliance for Regional Collaboration to Heighten Educational Success (ARCHES) to work together on strategies that will help students succeed in school.
"Partnership efforts such as ARCHES are critical to our efforts to eliminate the achievement gap and prepare all California students to succeed in the rapidly changing global economy," said O'Connell. "But this needs to start at the classroom level. Through ARCHES, local leaders will work together to find ways to improve student achievement. It is my hope that ARCHES will help lead the way for similar regional collaborative efforts throughout California."
O'Connell encouraged the development of ARCHES following the formation in December 2004 of the Superintendent's California P-16 Council. ARCHES is a voluntary group of education, business, and community leaders whose purpose is to improve student success, close the achievement gap, and to support the development of a statewide network of regional councils for the P-16 Council.
The P-16 Council links preschool, elementary, middle, high school, and higher education to create a seamless system of student learning and is also charged with examining ways to improve student achievement at all levels. In order for the P-16 Council to accomplish this goal, O'Connell suggested the development of regional councils to address local educational needs. As a result, ARCHES was created to work toward supporting the development and implementation of the regional councils.
The county offices of education in Region 7 of the California County Superintendents Educational Services Association, the Partnership for the San Joaquin Valley, and the University of California, Merced are hosting the first ARCHES regional conference today on the Merced campus. The purpose of this conference is for the attendees to learn more about the P-16 strategy, its strengths, challenges, reliance on data, and to share successful strategies so they may return to their local communities to start or develop regional collaboratives that can help address their educational needs.
ARCHES has funded 11 new or emerging regional councils throughout the state and professional development for members of the collaboratives has been provided for these grantees.
For more information on ARCHES, please visit Alliance for Regional Collaboration to Heighten Educational Success. For more information on the Superintendent's California P-16 Council, please visit P-16 Council.
