Choosing Our Future 2.0: An Introduction
A refreshed and renewed commitment to the students of Fresno
The work of Choosing Our Future 2.0 is based on the the work of a special 2004 task force, made up of dynamic and committed grasstops civic leaders, commissioned by the interim superintendent to perform an independent evaluation of Fresno Unified School District.
At the time, Fresno Unified was facing not only the threat of a fiscal takeover by the state, but more alarmingly, over 50 percent of school sites had academic performance ratings in the bottom 10 percent of California. In early 2005, the culminating report produced by the task force, Choosing Our Future: A Community-Wide Call to Action, became a guiding document for a concerted turnaround effort.
What is the purpose of Choosing Our Future 2.0?
We are once again at a crossroads and it is time to refresh and renew our commitment to students in Fresno Unified and to Choose Our Future!
While there have been significant financial and operational gains, and some academic gains, since the last report was written, several concerns remain related to district transparency and the persistent struggle to dramatically improve student academic outcomes.
GO Fresno will lead Choosing Our Future 2.0 to:
Provide an honest and transparent accounting of how we have grown, where we still need to grow and what has changed about the world our graduates are entering.
Engage the community in setting a vision for what our schools need to look like in the future.
Create a set of policy recommendations that help guide the district’s work to dramatically improve student outcomes and students’ readiness for the 21st century
“We can choose to engage constructively and collaboratively to build a strong educational foundation for our children and our community or we can sit on the sidelines and point fingers while the problems remain unsolved. Either way, we are Choosing our Future.” – Authors of Choosing Our Future, 2005
How will GO Fresno lead this work?
GO Public Schools Fresno will collaborate with families, educators, and community members to design and implement a three-part engagement process.
PHASE 1: Current State – Where are we today?
We will develop a thorough and transparent accounting of how we have grown, where we still need to grow, and what has changed about the world our graduates are entering.
Key steps include:
- Gather data from publicly available sources and in
conjunction with Fresno Unified. - Work with partners to best understand the changing landscape of the world our graduates will enter.
- Summarize and share this data with community members and Fresno Unified.
PHASE 2: Vision – Where do we want to go?
We will engage our community in setting a vision for what our schools need to look like in the future.
Key steps include:
Design and host community engagement events to gather perspective from families, educators, young people, and community leaders.
- Recruit and train parent leaders to help support and lead these sessions.
- Ensure a broad and diverse cross-section of parents, educators, and students are engaged in the process.
- Learn from other organizations that have led similar work in other cities.
PHASE 3: Recommendations – How will we get there?
We will work with our network to create policy recommendations to help guide the district’s work to dramatically improve student outcomes and students’ readiness for the 21st century.
Key steps include:
- Invite partners to present and help our network explore policy ideas and best practices that drive toward our community’s education vision.
- Work with local educators and families to prioritize and refine policy recommendations.
- Share recommendations broadly throughout the Fresno community for feedback and implementation support.