Commit!

Mission Statement

Each child is our responsibility.and our future.

Commit! is a collaborative of Dallas area stakeholders, each highly committed to the transformative power of education, who are willing to work together and be mutually accountable to each other for their respective roles in strategically ensuring that all students graduate from Dallas-area high schools and succeed in either college or the work force. Current Challenges Facing Dallas Area Public Education Too many children in the Dallas area are not graduating from high school and are not being adequately prepared with the skills to succeed in a 21st century economy. While there are numerous pockets of under publicized excellence, the overall perception of the quality of Dallas-area public schools is a hindrance to the regions future growth and vitality. In todays environment, the resources provided to our schools are less than in recent years and yet our schools are expected to produce greater results with more students featuring different socioeconomic challenges. Many parents are not sufficiently aware and engaged in their childrens educational options nor are they sufficiently empowered to exercise them. There is not an overall regional strategic plan in place that can be collectively executed by the various public school districts, higher education institutions and numerous non-profits focused on improving educational outcomes.

Commit! Core Beliefs of Commit! All children are capable of achieving at a high level given the right resources and support, regardless of their background. Major improvements in the education of all of our youth are not only possible but are critical to the future of the Dallas area. Without a high-quality public education system, the regions ability to generate economic health for all and reduce the tragic challenges of poverty for many is severely hindered. Improvements to educational outcomes are not the sole responsibility of teachers and their respective school districts. The power of Commit! is to bring significant additional resources to educators in areas such as parental education and engagement, mentoring, and after school and summer programs. The effectiveness of our collective public education system is directly correlated to the quality of its human capital at every level. Increasing and supporting human capital talent focused on education in the region will have a material positive impact on educational outcomes. Partners of Commit! collectively realize that as individual institutions, our efforts are tactical and our results are limited. By strategically working together towards common goals, we can confront and overcome the numerous obstacles to providing every child with a high-quality education. Creation of a regional strategic plan in which each of us own some of the responsibility for educational outcomes, will increase our collective effectiveness while providing the ability to attract significantly more support from community stakeholders and philanthropists focused on the transformative power of education.

Commit!
Commit! Core Goals of Commit!

Each child is our responsibility.and our future.

The goals of Commit! are simple, powerful, transparent and measurable. They are as follows: Prepare every child to enter and succeed in school. Ensure that every student subsequently graduates from high school with the skills and support to access and subsequently succeed in college or the work force. Materially reduce or eliminate the gap in academic preparedness and resulting outcomes between students of varying demographics such as race, income or gender.

Commit! Commit! Commit! - The Obligation of Signatories to Commit! Partners of Commit! signify their agreement with its Mission, Core Beliefs and Core Goals, and commit to publicly support the wisdom and importance of creating a regional strategic plan for education that seeks to achieve those Core Goals. Partners will provide meaningful input to the creation of Commit!s strategic plan. Once Commit!s strategic plan is completed, partners agree to review it with their governing boards. Each partner, deciding that it is supportive of both the Plans overall interim and long-term goals as well as the proposed methodology to strategically achieve them, will then seek the full commitment of their respective institution to report and be held accountable to other partners and community stakeholders for their respective contribution to Commit!s overall mission. Partners will additionally agree to serve as ambassadors for Commit!, sharing the message of its Mission, Core Beliefs and Core Goals in our community, while seeking to gain support for the effort and recruit additional partners to join in the important work.