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Stephanie Klein-Davis | The Roanoke Times

Suzanne Morse is a fellow at Virginia Tech's Center for Organizational and Technological Advancement, based in Charlottesville. Morse also is author of a book called "Smart Communities" and president of the Pew Partnership for Civic Change. Roanoke City schools used Morse's book as a guideline for how to be effective.

A better, smarter Roanoke

Suzanne Morse wrote the book "Smart Communities" that a committee used as a guideline for its plan.

Three major goals

1. Increase preschoolers' preparedness for kindergarten.
2. Have third-graders read at grade level.
3. Increase high school graduation rates.

Six major 'themes'

1. After-school programs: Assess school- and community-based programs; connect programs with school instruction for all schools and grade levels; create coordinator position and advisory committee; expand public awareness.
2. Community centers: Identify locations; expand partnerships; create community resource coordinator position.
3. Leadership: Develop criteria for student leaders; create steering committee; identify/develop programs throughout city schools.
4. Preschool/early childhood care and education: Link existing campaigns; inform parents/caregivers of children ages 0-5.
5. Reading: Increase reading proficiency; enlist student and community mentors; pursue "Roanoke Reads!" initiative.
6. Vocational education: Create dual-enrollment program with Virginia Western Community College.

An ambitious plan to improve preschoolers' readiness for kindergarten, ensure that third-graders can read at least at their grade level and raise graduation rates was presented to Roanoke Mayor Nelson Harris during a Monday afternoon ceremony at Stonewall Jackson Middle School.

The recommendations range from additional community involvement with the city's students through free programs such as volunteer reading mentors, to more expensive propositions such as the creation of community centers that could cost an estimated $200,000 to $300,000 each to operate each year.

The "Promise of Roanoke" initiative, culminating in a 54-page list of strategies to accomplish those goals, began in April with the appointment of a 125-member committee charged with identifying "what should be done to prepare the children in our community to succeed as students in the public education system, and in life."

The number of participants was inspired by the city's 125th anniversary year. The project was the brainchild of Harris and other city leaders, and it aims to leave a lasting legacy of that milestone through a partnership among city government, the city's schools and Virginia Tech.

The team was initially divided into seven "action groups" that came up with a wide-ranging list of recommendations for the city government and school board.

By July, however, its members "took 45 recommendations and really squeezed them into six guiding principles" to pursue, said Susan Short, director of Virginia Tech's Roanoke Center, who helped guide the team's work.

Those focus areas include the broad categories of after-school programs, community centers, developing student leadership, preschool/early childhood care and education, communitywide reading initiatives and vocational education.

Although a number of private and public after-school programs exist, the school system has never inventoried and assessed those programs or worked to ensure they are available to students citywide, something the report recommends.

The creation and maintenance of more neighborhood-based community centers, including the use of existing school facilities, are needed to provide programming for children from the end of the school day until 6 p.m., the report asserts.

Not counting the cost of constructing new facilities, the group estimated that would cost $200,000 to $300,000 per center, per year, for "staffing, security and facility improvements, and additional transportation costs."

The centers also could house elements of expanded school-community partnerships, such as the 7-year-old one between Highland Park Learning Center and a group of nearby religious congregations.

Early identification of students with leadership potential "not necessarily related to academic performance" also is crucial to helping serve all three of the initiative's major goals, the report says.

Making sure parents know about preschool and early childhood educational opportunities is another key to success, the group said.

Almost half of the city's children under age 5 live in households with incomes below the poverty level, the report said, and only about a quarter of those under 5 attend any sort of preschool.

Helping Roanokers of all ages become better readers will raise the reading skills of young children, even preschoolers, the report said. Students can be reading mentors for their younger peers, and adults set an example for all children when they read.

Finally, the report says that students who drop out of school "often do not see the worth of education and cannot make the connection between school and a career."

Adopting a dual-enrollment program in vocational courses at Virginia Western Community College can help improve the dropout rate by keeping students who are interested in technical training in school.

Although no one was promising that every recommendation in the report will be enacted, Harris said the city "will take what you have harvested for us and begin to implement" those ideas "for a brighter future for the city."

The report's major goals "are not only good for our public schools, but are good for our city and our community. They are not just good, they are critical."

School Board Chairman David Carson praised the group's provision of "concrete ideas and suggestions. We will accept those and move forward as appropriate."

Carson insisted that "we are fine" in terms of the "quality of teachers that we have" and how they are doing their jobs. But quality education also depends on "engaged, prepared and committed students ... parents ... [and] community" for success.

These recommendations largely address those concerns, he said. "This lays out research-based recommendations on how to go about getting that outside-the-classroom" support.