Initiatives

Quality Education for All(By invitation only)

The Quality Education for All Initiative is a 10-year initiative that seeks to positively impact public education in Duval County by improving the performance of all public school students, with particular attention to closing the achievement gaps between minority and majority students, and poor and non-poor students.

Duval County Public Schools
Timeline of Major Events
1864-2005

The Quality Education for All initiative has three components: Community Learning, Direct Investment, and Advocacy and Public Policy.

Since its launch in 2005, the Quality Education for All intiative has both initiated its own programs and inspired and facilitated the launch of other program within the community.

Major activities include:

The Forum on Quality Education

One of the first programs launched by the Foundation under the initiative, the Forum brought together 27 community leaders for 18 months of seminars and meetings, concluding in June 2007. The Forum concluded in June. “The learning that took place during the Forums was unbelievable,” said Foundation trustee Cynthia Edelman. “We met with national experts, teachers, students, parents, people from other communities and gained so many new perspectives and a much richer understanding of the challenges – and the opportunities – that we face today. Every member left better equipped to be a voice in support of public education reform in this community.”

Learning to Finish

Learning to Finish is a five-year initiative to address the high school dropout crisis. A partnership among the Pew Partnership for Civic Change, The Community Foundation and Duval County Public Schools, Learning to Finish seeks to mobilize the constituencies surrounding nine target schools to make dropout prevention a priority for their communities.

Learning to Finish focuses on at risk 8th and 9th grade students during their transition from middle to high school. Key strategies to be implemented include early identification and support for at risk students, transition programs and school to work opportunities.

Jacksonville’s campaign targets three high schools with high dropout rates and the six middle schools that feed into them: Nathan B. Forrest High, Englewood High, Terry Parker High, Jeff Davis Middle, Jeb Stuart Middle, Southside Middle, Landon Middle, Arlington Middle and Fort Caroline Middle.

Making the Move: Transitions to Middle School

Making the Move provides grant funds to schools to underwrite programs that assist students in transitioning to and from middle school. Evidence suggests that the transitions from elementary to middle school, and middle school to high school present challenges for students, parents, and teachers. Students confront new schools and new social situations at a time when they are in an unsettling phase of maturation. In Duval County, as in many school districts, standardized test scores of middle school students are noticeably lower than those of elementary school students. And in Duval County, relatively few investment and intervention efforts are targeted at middle schools.

Steps to Success

In partnership with an individual donor to The Community Foundation (who had participated in the Forum on Quality Education) the Foundation has unwritten a program to support students living in Jacksonville public housing.

Called Steps to Success, the program, which will be implemented by Communities In Schools, will serve students in grades 2-6 who live in one of the several Jacksonville Housing Authority properties. Steps to Success will encourage these children to set and achieve goals that will help them succeed in school and life by concentrating on attendance, behavior and academics.

To learn more about the Quality Education for All initiative, refer to the reports in the News & Publications section.

The Community Foundation's Commitment

The staff and trustees of The Community Foundation believe that the future health and well-being of Duval County depend upon the strength of the Duval County Public Schools. The Foundation believes that improving public schools is a public challenge that requires a public response - all have a stake in the schools and all have a role in making them stronger.

In the Quality Education for All initiative, The Community Foundation pledges to:

• Use knowledge to stimulate action;
• Promote significant and sustained "public" involvement in public education;
• Serve as an "engine for change" regarding public education in this community;
• Stay the course.

Other Initiatives:

• Art Ventures Initiative
• Build Capacity of Nonprofit Organizations through Reflective Practice
• Community Theater Initiative
• Early Childhood Initiative
• Education Initiative
• Seniors Initiative
• Women and Philanthropy Initiative
• Other Initiatives

[ back to Initiative ]

[ top ]