The Grant Center Drafts APTS Comments on the Department of Education’s Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2011-2014
January 24, 2012
In January 2012, the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) released a notice inviting comments on its strategic plan for FY 2011 – 2014. Through this strategic plan, the DOE announces six goals focusing on the critical areas of early learning, college and career readiness, and combating the high school dropout crisis. The six goals laid out in the plan are improvements intended to guide the day-to-day work of the DOE staff. APTS applauds the DOE in joining public broadcasting in their effort to support the highest-need communities in America. However, there are areas of the strategic plan that could be strengthened to improve the outcomes for students even further.
APTS submitted comments in three key areas. These include:
- Strengthening Schools’ Digital Capacity: Schools should be supported and encouraged to create and implement high-tech digital content and services that help students learn, keep them engaged and prepare them for the modern workforce. As a result, APTS proposes Sub-Goal 5.4: Technology and Innovation should be a goal unto itself. APTS also encourages the DOE to use grant competitions and partnership opportunities to provide chances to use digital media as a tool to enhance the digital capacity of schools.
- Building a Strong Network of Expanded Learning Opportunity Providers: As technology evolves and students become increasingly connected to learning both in and out of school settings, learning outside of the classroom has never been more important. To reflect this, APTS encourages the DOE to include a new goal to liaise with expanded learning opportunity providers and to help communities provide better, more comprehensive services to students and families through partnerships with these organizations.
- Encouraging and Fostering Public/Private Partnerships: The DOE recognizes that the support and involvement of trusted partners is a necessity in carrying out its many initiatives. APTS encourages the DOE to include a new goal to reflect this commitment to fostering public/private partnerships through grant competitions and policy priorities. As critical community resources providing high-quality digital programming and services, as well as outreach services to hard-to-reach neighborhoods and homes, public broadcasting stations can help fill the role of community partner.
Read the comments in their entirety here.
Read the U.S. Department of Education’s Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2011 – 2014.
UPDATE: In April 2012, DOE released a public response to the public comments on the Department's Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2011-2014. A limited number of changes were made to the Department's Strategic Plan based on the estimated 70 comments filed in all. You can read DOE's public response in its entirety, here.
