Xavier’s Forum on Education features Ohio's First Lady

On Friday, June 26, 2009 at 8 a.m., at the Cintas Center on the Xavier University campus, the Community Building Institute will present the free Strive Community Forum on Education. The public is invited. Lunch is provided free of charge for those who have pre-registered. To register, contact Nancy Hackett at 513-745-3264 or hackettn@xavier.edu.

Ohio First Lady Frances Strickland will be the luncheon speaker and also lead one of the discussion sessions. She had the opportunity to pursue higher education and eventually earned a doctorate in educational psychology at the University of Kentucky --where she met her future husband. After graduation, she worked many years in a public school system as an educational psychologist. She authored a screening test for kindergarten-age children and a children’s book, The Little Girl Who Grew Up To Be Governor. As first lady of Ohio, Frances works on a number of initiatives. In addition to serving as the chair of the Family and Children First Councils, Frances lends her help to work on education, the environment, renewable energy, and inclusion.

The Strive Community Forum on Education will be an opportunity to discuss the importance of education in initiatives that seek to improve the quality of life in our area. Instead of hearing from people about what is happening, most of the time will be spent offering you the chance to provide your thoughts on what we need to do to address the three critical themes drawn from the Striving Together report card:

Increase the Pace of Change
There is a great deal of success to build on: 35 of 53 student outcomes from birth through college are on the rise. Now we need to find ways to build on these successes to help more students succeed more quickly.

Increase Rigor in the Classroom
Student scores are improving to meet state standards. We can be one of the first communities to aim even higher by ensuring students not only meet these benchmarks, but are fully prepared for college or career training.

Increase Enrollment, Retention, & Graduation from College and Career Training
In today’s tough economic times, we need to prepare students for tomorrow’s jobs. This requires education beyond high school. Increasing the number of graduates is a key indicator of our ability to compete in the 21st Century.