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MEDIA ADVISORY July 5, 2016 SANTA CRUZ, CALIF. - The Santa Cruz County Office of Education announced it was awarded $805,608 from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to help support the vision and mission of the county’s Transitional Kindergarten (TK) -16 educational collaborative, Santa Cruz County College Commitment (S4C). This implementation grant was preceded by a $150,000 planning grant awarded last summer that has been used to establish a teachers advisory committee, an operations team, visits to other educational collaboratives in the state, and launch a high school and higher education joint committee of Math educators to align our courses and systems so that more students reach their postsecondary goals. Superintendent Watkins stated “This grant will assist in taking us to the next level in preparing all students for post-secondary success.” S4C’s Vision - All students successfully meet their personal college and career goals Mission - Prepare every Santa Cruz County student for post-secondary college and career opportunities. Ensure students persist and complete post-secondary learning opportunities. Organizational Goals: Establish goals and metrics a each grade span embedded in TK-12 LEA Local Control Accountability Plans to measure our progress towards realizing our vision Increase the number of high school graduates who are transfer ready in mathematics by 15% in five years Increase Overall A-G Completion Rate from 48.5% by 3% each year Increase the A-G Completion rate for underserved students by 5% each year Educate and engage community leadership in Common Core State Standards and College and Career Readiness standards Implement a county-wide TK-12 data system for tracking student achievement Develop an aligned common system for tracking high school graduation, postsecondary training programs, college acceptance, enrollment, persistence and completion within our S4C region Foster opportunities for apprenticeships, internships and other job related experience opportunities County Counseling Collaborative will develop a comprehensive action plan to accelerate the S4C goals for College and Career Readiness. Develop an aligned professional development plan based on identified needs Information contact: Mary Anne James, Associate Superintendent, Educational Services Phone: (831) 466-5980 Email: majames@santacruzcoe.org