The Jacksonville Public Education Fund (JPEF) is committed to increasing the academic achievement of all students in Duval County Public Schools with a special emphasis on at-risk students and low-performing public schools through advocacy, community engagement, and data analysis.
JPEF works as a “critical friend” to DCPS to introduce district leaders to best practices in support of student achievement, demonstrate the effectiveness of those interventions in the Duval County context, and advocate for their broader implementation across the 170+ public schools in Jacksonville.
The Jacksonville Public Education Fund engages in a three-pronged strategy to achieve its goals. These three strategies are: Objectively analyze and evaluate education policies, data and programs and publish these findings to the public and key stakeholders; engage, train and mobilize the community in support of high quality public schools at the school, district and community-wide levels; and advocate for the implementation of best practices and policies in support of achievement for all students at the district and state levels.
Parent Leadership Model
As part of its community engagement strategy, JPEF has recently embarked upon a new initiative to create a Leadership Academy to train parents and other stakeholders to be productive, successful partners in education reform.
ONE in THREE
JPEF’s launch into community engagement will be through the ONE in THREE campaign, designed to build the will of our community to advocate for a high quality public school system. Through a powerful art exhibit and documentary which features compelling stories of students facing enormous odds in completing their education, paired with an active media and on the ground campaign, ONE in THREE will attract thousands of citizens from all sectors and all neighborhoods to become more informed and more involved in advocating for quality public education. Citizens will have the opportunity for on-going engagement in three ways: by helping form a large base of education advocates ready to take action on education issues, by participating in community conversations and forums to build and solidify a community-wide vision for strategic action, and increasing direct involvement with schools and struggling students.
Education Resource Strategies (ERS)
One of JPEF’s key advocacy issues is that the public education system, at both the state and local level, uses its resources as effectively and efficiently as possible. Toward this goal, we engaged Superintendent Ed Pratt-Dannals and, with his support, successfully advocated to the Duval County School Board to contract with Education Resource Strategies (ERS) for extensive look into their current resources allocations.
Parent Leadership Model
Thanks to a generous grant from the Chartrand Foundation, Jacksonville Public Education Fund is in the process of conducting best practice site visits around the country to learn more about a parent leadership model that originated in Kentucky. Upon completion of this research, JPEF will develop a Leadership Academy in Jacksonville. Participants will be tasked with using their training to design and complete an advocacy project within their school communities. JPEF plans to train at least 30 leaders each year and to grow to a cadre of 150+ engaged advocates over five years.
ONE in THREE
JPEF has gained the support of many partners and funders in developing this important effort to unify and mobilize the broader community. The support of The Chartrand Foundation helps JPEF to reach its $250,000 goal to fund the full-scale campaign effort. We know that this campaign will greatly service the Jacksonville community by developing a powerful coalition of education stakeholders who are informed and empowered to take action that will lead to better education outcomes for all students in Duval County.
Education Resource Strategies (ERS)
Duval County Public Schools (DCPS) has entered into a contractual agreement with ERS. The generous grant from The Chartrand Foundation will be used to fund a portion of this contract, helping JPEF to fulfill its $200,000 pledge to DCPS. We feel that this type of initiative will demonstrate to the community the district’s commitment to continuous improvement and will produce a series of analyses that the district can use as baseline measurements as it moves toward goals developed throughout the engagement.
With a graduation rate just under 67%, Duval County is 6.5% below the national average.
Based on the February 2011Quality Education For All Initiative survey report 41% of Duval Co. residents feel that having a top-rated public education system is most important to Jacksonville’s future, which is up from 35% in 2006.
According to the Alliance for Education, reducing the dropout rate in Jacksonville by just 13% (1000 students) would result in an estimated $13 million in additional earnings each year for those students.
Overall, Duval County has a lower per-pupil-funding than almost any other urban district ERS has studied - over 35% less than Boston or Washington, D.C., and less than half of Rochester, NY spends.
Duval Co. spends education funds more efficiently than any district ERS has studied. 6% of DCPS's budget goes to central overhead (less than half spent by Atlanta or DC) while 77% goes directly to schools (highest among urban districts studied).
This type of data analysis is critical if Duval County Public Schools is to operate in a smart, data-driven manner that helps all kids.”
- Trey Csar, JPEF President
My hope for Jacksonville as a result of the ONE in THREE campaign is that we will bring awareness to the entire community; the students, schools, teachers, administrators, and school board to obtain a commitment from each sector to take a stand.”
- Sharon Hodges, Parent Advisory Council Chair; 2010-2011 DCPS Adult Volunteer of the Year
