What is the P-16 concept?
P-16 is an integrated system that aligns Pre-K through 12th grade, higher education, business, foundations, and social service agencies to graduate all children from high school fully prepared to pursue and succeed in post secondary education leading to meaningful and productive careers.
Among the typical goals of many P-16 organizations:
Expanding access to early learning for children ages 3-5 and improving their readiness for kindergarten
Smoothing student transitions from one level of learning to the next
Closing the achievement gap between white and minority students
Upgrading teacher education and professional development
Strengthening the relationships between families and schools
Creating a wider range of learning experiences and opportunities for students in the final two years of high school
Improving college and post secondary education readiness and success
Why is it needed?
The shift from the Industrial Age to the Information Age combined with major demographic shifts that reflect the increasing diversity of our school aged children puts a premium on citizens ability to think critically, perform responsibility in pubic affairs, and meet the higher-level skills required by the workplace
What are P-16 Assumptions?
Every child can learn
Making age-appropriate learning opportunities for all early learners will pay dividends to individuals and society
An education system should be responsive to the context of its times
Participants in the education system – from Pre-K through post secondary schooling – should be encouraged to work together
Educators should interact with their colleagues working with learners at the next lower and next higher levels
The education system should be flexible enough to respond to the changing and increasingly diverse environment.
