SD27 - The Annual Report of the Virginia Business-Education Partnership Program

  • Published: 1994
  • Author: Secretary of Education and Secretary of Commerce and Trade
  • Enabling Authority: Chapter 752 (Regular Session, 1993)

Executive Summary:
The Virginia Business-Education Partnership Program (VBEPP) was established in 1992 by Governor L. Douglas Wilder to promote partnerships between education and the private sector as recommended in the report of the Governor's Advisory Committee on Workforce Virginia 2000, "Partnerships for Excellence: The Virginia Plan for Strengthening the Commonwealth's 21st Century Workforce." Specifically, the program was developed in response to Recommendation five which says that the Commonwealth of Virginia should create a system for the development and support of partnerships between business and education.

The Virginia Business-Education Partnership Program is challenging partnerships to take risks, set high expectations, and produce results, rather than be content with "feel good" exercises between the business and education communities. Ongoing initiatives include leadership in partnership development, statewide technical assistance, network and referral services, publication development and disbursement, and partnership recognition.

Standards of Excellence for Business-Education Partnerships have been developed as guiding principles for effective, results-oriented partnerships. Using the Standards as a guide for recognizing partnership excellence in the Commonwealth, the Governor's Partnership in Education Awards were presented in conjunction with the first statewide Governor's Conference on Business-Education Partnerships (October 1-2, 1993).

Program priorities include:

• Facilitating the development of strategic reform partnerships across the Commonwealth by making collaboration of business, education, and community leaders a highly visible statewide movement;

• Being proactive in education and supporting businesses to take an active role in education reform at the state and local levels;

• Developing a regional network structure to service all localities across the Commonwealth;

• Providing incentives and resources for starting the process of community collaboration, with business professionals, educators, and parents involved for school improvement and reform.

The following steps are recommended to encourage the development of strategic reform partnerships which are integral to school improvement efforts across the Commonwealth:

Outreach -- VBEPP should continue to focus on its primary mission of increasing student performance through the promotion of partnerships between education, business, and community groups. Improving and expanding education, training and information dissemination should be of primary importance, with additional focus put on establishing statewide and regional networks, widening the scope of relationships with the business community and other community groups, and developing an improved set of materials and resources to support partnership activities.

Resource Development -- VBEPP should identify goals for resource development and conduct an in-depth examination of options for achieving those goals, including consideration of establishing a funding philosophy This review should consider such options as establishing a public-private foundation to support a challenge grants program, charging for services, and corporate sponsorship.

Recognition -- VBEPP should continue to recognize outstanding partnerships in the Commonwealth. This should include continuation of the Governor's Awards Program.