Governor Snyder Public Private Statewide Initiative Announcement (Monday, April 22, 2013)

April 19, 2013 at 1:00 am

Snyder to unveil plan that would link private sector, education at 

summit

By Jennifer Chambers

The Detroit News

Lansing — Visits to factories, laboratories and businesses would be part of a student's educational experience in Michigan under a new initiative Gov. Rick Snyder will announce Monday that brings the private sector and education sector together.

At the Governor's Education Summit, which kicks off Monday at Michigan State University, Snyder said he will announce a plan to connect private sector companies with the state's public education system to give students exposure to in-demand career opportunities.

"We have open jobs in our state. Couldn't we do a better job of communicating that? We could do more partnering early on in high school and middle school to give exposure to careers," Snyder said Thursday in a phone interview to discuss the summit. The event will take place at the Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center in East Lansing.

Snyder said the education system has two purposes: to help one get a career and to foster personal enrichment.

For too long, there has been a disconnect between those two things, Snyder said. A private sector partnership can make the connection, he said.

"It could be doing tours of businesses to showing kids how things are made. It's a great learning experience, if they find something they are excited about that could encourage them to do better in school."

Business leaders from across the state will speak at the summit, including Sam Cummings with CWD Real Estate Investment; Mike Finney with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation; Paul Hillegonds with DTE Energy; Bill Parfet with MPI Research and Doug Rothwell, president of Business Leaders for Michigan.

Amber Arellano, executive director of the Education Trust-Midwest, said blending private and education sectors could have positive results, depending on how it's implemented.

"Is it substituting core instruction or adding to it? Those are the questions I have. Relevance is important to kids. But when kids aren't reading and we have to make trade-offs, we have to think about that," she said.

On Thursday, the Royal Oak-based policy, research and advocacy organization issued a report saying Michigan students ranked near the bottom nationally in academic growth on a national exam over an eight-year period.

The governor's emphasis on talent and matching is sensible, Arellano says, as long as students have mastered core subjects first.

"We can do as much matching as we want, but if people aren't prepared we can't make matches," she said.

jchambers@detroitnews.com

From The Detroit News: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130419/SCHOOLS/304190357#ixzz2QvRPo3PH