The Greater Louisville Inc. Education Department is responsible for connecting the business community with our educational systems - Pre-K to PhD. It is evident that education and training is a vital part of forming an individual's persona, value system and foundation for future accomplishment. It is also evident that none of this can be achieved without a strong educational background. Starting at an early age, we can begin to shape our future workforce, while at the same time working with our current talent pool to make sure the workforce pipeline is complete. Through strong education we can develop the workforce of the future and make sure that Greater Louisville remains a competitive business region.
The range of education choices begins with the region's largest educational institution, the 97,000-pupil Jefferson County Public Schools System. JCPS offers a number of optional and magnet programs, and has an open enrollment policy. It has earned national attention for student achievement and for the system's integration of technology into the classroom. The system's Gheens Professional Development Academy is a national model for teacher training. The community also possesses a variety of private schools - among them the state's third largest school system, the Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville's 52 schools - which extend the range of educational approaches.
However, the educational choices do not end at the high school level. The region's post-secondary institutions offer a wide variety of higher education options, from traditional four-year programs, accelerated evening and weekend programs geared toward working professionals to certificate programs that validate a student's mastery of high-tech skills such as computer networking.
Business Leaders for Education (BLE)
The Business Leaders for Education is predicated on the belief that education is this community's surest path to prosperity and will engage business and community leaders in the overall objective of raising community-wide levels of education. The group will provide thought, leadership, creativity and vision to the development of recommendations that will result in transformational change in educational attainment. To achieve these results, the group will:
- Engage in necessary meetings to delve deep into the subject of education and educational attainment;
- Raise the level of interest in and commitment to educational issues by pledging your personal reputation and involvement to this effort;
- Help with raising funds for necessary project work.
HIRE Education Forum
A collaborative forum to promote business and community prosperity, the HIRE (Higher Income Requires Education) Forum fosters collaboration among the post-secondary institutions with the purpose of aligning regional community economic development goals to form the foundation of a regionally responsive workforce development system.
Graduate! Greater Louisville: GED to PhD
Attending college offers individual benefits such as career advancement and greater lifetime earnings potential. Additionally, raising the educational attainment level of our community increases our community's economic competitiveness. This program helps students get their higher education goals back on track.
Add It Up
The Add It Up program represents the work being done in the GE Foundation College Bound District Program - a collaboration among education, business and community leaders to strengthen the college-readiness skills of K through 12 students in select U.S. school districts. Launched by the GE Foundation in 2005, the program is working with JCPS to improve student success, especially in math and science.
Every 1 Reads
The first program of its kind in the nation, this community-wide initiative is close to achieving the ambitious goal of having every child within the Jefferson County Public School system reading at grade level by 2008. Volunteer readers and mentors, as well as financial support, are needed to help.
Educational Systems Information
K-12 Education System
Post-Secondary Education System
Adult Education System
