EducateNKY Launches Bold Strategic Plan

On October 23 at the OneNKY Summit, EducateNKY launched a bold strategic plan to transform the Northern Kentucky education landscape into one of the best at meeting the needs of families and learners.  President & CEO Cheye Calvo talked about deeply held beliefs in the community vs. the realities of today:

• In NKY, we believe all kids deserve a fair shot at learning.  But in reality, only half of NKY kids start Kindergarten ready to learn.
  • 52% of NKY students arrive at kindergarten ready to learn. 36% of River City district students arrive at kindergarten ready to learn.
• In NKY, we believe our kids are the future.  But in reality, NKY kids are not being prepared for the future.
  • Following Kindergarten, kids in NKY see a steady decline in proficiency all the way through high school.
• In NKY, we believe NKY is a thriving region. But in reality, declines in education threaten our community’s prosperity.
  • NKY kindergarten readiness in down 3% from 2014. NKY Grade 8 combined Reading and Math proficiency is down 12% since 2013. The NKY average composite ACT is down 1.5 points since 2019.
• In NKY, we believe NKY is a place where you can roll up your sleeves and get stuff done. But in reality, we let the complexities of the education system keep us from making change.
  • Those complexities often lead to scapegoating, hopelessness, and ultimately a lack of progress that is not reflective of our community’s can-do attitude.

Our goal is to ignite possible.  We need to show our kids and their families that in NKY they can start strong, build their skills and own the future. EducateNKY will work with partners and the community to create conditions that make change possible.  While only 30% of the 10,103 young people in or headed to public school in the River Cities are on track for success, we are setting an ambitious goal to increase that to 54.6% by 2034. EducateNKY will serve as a catalyst within three areas:

• Incubator – Help bring new, research-based ideas to life.
• Accelerator – Assist existing organizations expand their impact.
• Activator – Collaboratively create opportunities for public/private partnerships in business, education engagement, legislative initiatives, and/or in school-based settings.