RISE/TVEP: A VISION FOR PROGRESS

As noted in the previous post, RISE/TVEP was formed out of a need to bring together partners around educational topics and a desire to make progress for Treasure Valley students, specifically students in the schools of the Southern Idaho Conference.

The SIC spans districts across the Treasure Valley, and its schools educate over 40% of the students in the state of Idaho. The Districts and schools in the SIC are Bishop Kelly High School (700 students), Boise (25,500), Caldwell (6,400), Emmett (2,450), Kuna (5,400), Middleton (4,100), Mountain Home (3,900), Nampa (14,000), Vallivue (9,100), and West Ada (39,500). That's about 36% of the students in the state (all numbers courtesy Idaho Department of Education, fall 2018).

Southern Idaho Conference districts are also demographically diverse. Nampa, Caldwell, and Vallivue have large populations of students who qualify for free/reduced lunch, and many students who are classified as Limited English. Boise has a large population of Limited English students, as well, and abut half of those students are refugees from locations around the world.

A Brief History

Originally, the SIC Superintendents met to discuss important issues in athletics for the conference. Beginning in the early 2000's, the meetings took on increased importance as the leaders began to address curricular and programmatic issues in academics.

In 2010, the Superintendents of the SIC took a stand against Students Come First, the series of laws passed by the Idaho Legislature as part of a plan to curtail union rights, implement Pay for Performance, and reduce teacher staffing by providing computers and requiring online classes for high school graduation. In the ensuing grass roots initiative process to overturn SCF, the three provisions, now in code, became know as the Luna Laws. 

In November, 2012, all three of the Luna Laws were overturned at the ballot box in an historic vote. 

Afterward, SIC Superintendents, local business organizations, and non-profits in the Treasure Valley met to pick up the pieces and find a way forward. Their efforts began what was known as the Treasure Valley Educational Partnership. TVEP was constituted to provide a space in which progress could be made on issues such as adequate preparation for school, success during the school years, and improving the prospects for post-secondary education.

Going Forward

Strive Together is the primary sponsoring agency for RISE/TVEP. The Strive Network includes over seventy partnerships, and two in Idaho (the Treasure Valley and Pocatello). Strive Together's goals for the next five years includes a "deeper focus on systems change and additional sectors that affect educational outcomes and underlie disparities".

In our Treasure Valley partnership, that means that we will maintain our focus on data-driven committee work, and engage further in systemic change efforts, in conjunction with non-profit, business and college and university partners, such as:

• early childhood opportunities across the valley
• college preparation programs such as AVID
• wrap-around service programs such as Community Schools
• mentoring and  scholarship programs that improve college-going prospects for students

We also will ramp up our efforts to:

• promote the great things our schools are doing
• engage about proposed policies and laws that affect k-12 education
• advocate on issues of importance to our school districts

In our efforts, we will work to promote the interests of students in the Treasure Valley. We know the power of collective impact, and look forward to working with our educational partners to foster positive growth in our system.