From the Office of the Governor

by Jennifer M. Granholm, Governor of Michigan

As your Governor, I have committed myself to being a partner in the effort to turn high priority schools into high achieving schools. Michigan has set high standards for school leaders to make sure that ALL students achieve academic success. School principals are the leaders of learning. At the building level, the job of school principal calls for leadership invested in excellence, and it’s not an easy job.

When you have a struggling school, you often have a struggling community. That’s why I am calling on others in government, business, labor, and the faith-based community to support the efforts of principals. Working together, I believe we can help ALL of Michigan’s youngest citizens reach their full potential—as students and as productive members of our society. The Children’s Action Network (CAN) is my effort to convene a network of state agencies to work collaboratively to better support and provide services for Michigan’s children. CAN brings together all state agencies that touch the lives of Michigan’s children in some way. CAN works across state department boundaries to uplift all children. Organizations coming together through CAN include the Michigan Department of Education, Family Independence Agency, Departments of Corrections and Community Health among others. As a part of this effort, the Family Independence Agency has established Family Resource Centers, which are currently located on site in 20 of Michigan’s high priority schools.

Last May, principals from Michigan’s high priority schools participated in the Michigan Department of Education’s Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) Principals’ Academy. Their participation was an important step toward making sure that our children are educated to attain high academic standards. Having seen scores of successful “turn-around” efforts in Michigan schools, I know there is no substitute for strong committed leadership in this process. Over the summer, high priority teams were formed in eight regional service delivery areas around the state. These high priority teams will continue to meet throughout the school year to provide information on their progress to assist Michigan’s high priority schools.

In February 2003, I launched Project Great Start, a new initiative recognizing that education begins at birth, not when a child enters school. This initiative seeks to coordinate existing early childhood initiatives and programs to achieve common objectives and measurable outcomes for Michigan’s youngest children. Visit www.greatstartforkids.org to learn more about this important initiative.

I want Michigan to be the state that leads the nation in education. I believe that if we all pull together as partners, that goal can be within our grasp. While being a principal is a challenging and, all too often, thankless job, I join the many in Michigan who are thankful to our principals for accepting this challenge with such determination.

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