Education Needs Addressed by CAPE

• SCHOOL READINESS
  A child's educational trajectory begins to take shape long before that child's first day of kindergarten. The differences in school readiness among children, differences that stem in large part from the home environment, are amplified in the classroom. In order to put students on more equal footing, resources are needed to provide parents with information and skills related to early child development. The importance of early childhood education was summed up in the CAPE planning by a Wabash County educator in this way: "Give it all [the money] to the early childhood people. If you just get them ready for me, I can do my job."

• ADULT BASIC EDUCATION/WORKFORCE EDUCATION
  The numbers speak for themselves. About a quarter of adults in Wabash County have less than a 12th grade education. It is estimated that one in eight adults is functionally illiterate. At the other end of the spectrum, only 11% of adults in the county have a bachelor's degree or higher. This state of affairs is both explained and complicated by the job structure in the county, where over 47% of all jobs are unskilled or semi-skilled. Whether from social service providers or employers, the message is the same: upgrade the skills of the adults with the lowest levels of educational attainment enabling them to become more valuable as employees and more self-sufficient as citizens.

• STUDENT ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT
  Kindergarten through grade 3 are critical years for students. As many local educators can attest, students not performing at grade level in math and language arts by grade 3 confront an uphill battle in trying to catch up. Further, there is strong feeling among educators and business leaders that many students perform poorly in high school because they do not see the connection between high school performance, employability, and quality of life. While student achievement is important throughout K-12 education, particular attention needs to be given to students at these critical junctures.

• COLLEGE PREPARATION AND PLANNING
  Lilly Endowment's CAPE initiative grew out of concern over Indiana's ranking with respect to the number of bachelor's degrees in Indiana. While few would suggest that every student should go to college, there is growing recognition of the need for some type of education or training beyond high school to enhance one's employability. There is a general sense that families need timely and accurate information about postsecondary education at crucial times in order to make informed choices that result in more students acquiring educational training beyond high school.

• COMMUNITY AWARENESS OF THE VALUE OF EDUCATION
  There is a strong sense among educators, employers, and community leaders that there exists in Wabash County a mindset among many families that education simply is not important. Some have speculated about a cultural bias while others point to the cumulative effect of an economy anchored in low-tech manufacturing. While the need for community awareness could serve as an umbrella need under which all the others fall, it also stands on its own as a focus of CAPE marketing and program efforts.

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