Candidate for
Board Member; Cincinnati City School District

As CEO of the Partnership for Innovation (PIE), I have provided numerous national op-Ed pieces, articles and interviews indicating ways Boards of Education can accelerate academic performance and increase career readiness. My Nine Point Plan for Accelerated Achievement is copied below.

In fact, PIE sponsored a national Forum on May 17, 2011 featuring former Massachusetts Governor Jane Swift and Dr. Bob Sommers, OH Gov. Education Director discussing the steps required to allow our students to compete across the global marketplace (http://www.piemedia.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/PIE-Flier-v21.pdf).

Our PIE Forum on September 1, 2011 at the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber of Commerce highlighted national keynotes Dr. Jay Kayne, Entrepreneurship Chair at the Farmer School of Business at Miami University, and Dr. John Box, Sr. VP of Junior Achievement USA and regional panelists defining career readiness (see http://www.piemedia.org).

Mary's Nine Point Plan for Accelerated Achievement

Compiled from my published articles, speeches, interviews and Nine Point Achievement Plan (http://www.MaryMeansBusiness.com), I believe academic achievement will improve as the BOE, Superintendent and District personnel:

1) Fully introduce pay for performance salary incentives and enhancements to ALL teachers based on student and school performance.

2) Fully establish Core Curriculum Standards and provide necessary technology to teach and test the efficacy of such standards.

3) Introduce flexibility into the curriculum, personnel and school schedule necessary to tailor each student's specific needs to the appropriate school and its portfolio demographic

4) Introduce project-based learning into standard curriculum, enabling student skill proficiency in the 4C's: "Creativity, Collaboration, Critical Thinking and Communication" (Nelson Vincent, University of Cincinnati).

5) Encourage the establishment of State-approved, certified and ranked high quality Public Charter Schools within neighborhoods served by long-term (3 year) public schools with State records of non-improvement and/or failure.

6) Establish a non-quorum roundtable of elected/appointed officials to discuss synergies, efficiencies and opportunities among stakeholder organizations.

7) Work with academic institutions such as the University of Cincinnati (Dean of Education Dr. Larry Johnson) to mainstream current Teach for America + UC students into the CPS classrooms, and incent further collaborative efforts to create dynamic "hands on" teaching opportunities for aspiring teachers.

8) Encourage greater "district of choice" designations throughout the district, and effectively fund (via financial efficiencies or other financial options) Riverview Gifted Academy and Eastside Schools, serving as "best practice" template across district.

9) Heighten budget transparency, enabling clear communication to stakeholders on financial issues, and committing "best practice" efficiencies be implemented before new revenue measures (levies) are ever introduced.