The Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce has long considered various K-12 and workforce development needs. Recently, the Chamber established an Education Coalition as a means to inform the community about the status of education in our city and encourage involvement and support for education reform. The Education Coalition is comprised of 39 community partners and local businesses working to address the education crisis in Indianapolis. The framework for the coalition includes: Effective Teachers and Principals, Educational Options, College and Career-Ready Students, Governance, and Familial Engagement. For more information on the coalition, visit http://indyeducation911.com. This website was created as a place where families, teachers, principals and students can go to get information on critical issues like education reform, legislative history and updates, school interventions, and best practices.
Another way the Indy Chamber has worked to improve the state of education is through the implementation of Common Goal, a program aimed at increasing high school graduation rates, that ran from 2008-2011. The program is currently operating in its final year, providing a mentor and guest speaker program for at-risk youths.
Below are some accomplishments from Common Goal:
- Overall county-wide graduation rate increased from 70% in the 2007-2008 school year, to 81.2% for the 2009-2010 school year, a 12% increase since the Indy Chamber began the initiative in 2007.
- Through contributions made by the community, Common Goal has provided graduation coaches, mentoring, credit recovery and summer internships to youths at risk of dropping out.
The Chamber also partners with the State Department of Education and Marion County Public School Superintendents to improve the state of education in our community.