Go to the following website to see the newest optioon for our educational attainment study: http://groups-beta.google.com/group/panhandle2020?hl=en. You can join in the discussion. I hope the committee uses it! Thanks!

Several days ago, the study committee met to discuss ground rules and to see an overview of the data. It was a lively meeting led by our very capable facilitator Russell Lowery-Hart. We had a number of new committee members, yet everyone seemed to grasp the urgency of addressing this community issue. The core group is excited about the input from the community at large, and looks forward to the process. We have lots to learn, and know it will be an exciting endeavor for all.

'In a posting that you referenced from Washington State Governor Christine Gregoire, you quote her as saying that "(she) doesn't want to be second to Texas in anything!..."
Quoting one of my business colleagues and applying the Texas Panhandle "We'll show you we can!"-attitude, MOVE OVER WASHINGTON, You ain't seen nothin' like a Texan that's been pushed too far!'
~Charles van Blommestein
Substitute Teacher Amarillo ISD

We had 80 people at our first Learning Meeting today, and they are ready to get busy! Thanks to all who attended! The group is really dynamic, and is already asking great questions! Under the able guidance of our facilitator, Dr. Russell Lowery-Hart, we created our groundrules for behavior, learned about the data and the study process, and got to know each other a little bit. Now I have some more things to do, including creating a blog where we can all post comments and have an ongoing dialogue (patience, please!), and also generating a review of the current and past trendlines of educational statistics for about the last 50 years.

This is going to be an amazing group, and I look forward to working with them all! Thanks for your time and energies!

This morning I attended the Education Summit of Washington Learns, a governor-led state-wide initiative to raise their state's levels of educational attainment. Bill Gates was the keynote speaker, and while some of the experience I've had as a school board member in Amarillo made me disagree with some of his views, his focus was on improving their schools and their levels of educational attainment for the good of businesses and the entire community. Governor Christine Gregoire, who created this study and report development with legislation and who chairs the steering committee, gave a rousing speech explaining the report, the subsequent implementation of the recommendations, and the study's importance to the state of Washington. And, she said, "I don't want to be second to Texas in ANYTHING!" Washington state's educational attainment levels certainly are higher than ours, so right now, that's not a worry she should have along these comparison lines.