About PASS^©

Under the guidance of the statewide Council for Educational Change (CEC), the Partnership to Advance School Success (PASS) is an effective model for improving student performance. Designed by the Florida Council of 100 and the South Florida Annenberg Challenge, PASS brings top corporate executives into the classroom, by serving as mentors to principals for a period of three years. PASS is a hands-on model uniting the talents of business leaders, school principals and educational coaches. Most of all, PASS is a commitment by Florida's business community to leverage what it does best - running efficient, focused organizations - to improve the quality of public education.

PASS has three primary goals:

• Raise the grade level of Florida's under-performing schools
• Enhance principal leadership skills
• Demonstrate how a partnership model involving business executives, principals and educational coaches builds higher achieving schools.

Florida CEOs build one-on-one relationships with principals. They share their expertise through school-site visits, phone calls, email, mentoring sessions and business site visits. At the same time, professional educators, serving as coaches, contribute their expertise to the team as well. They work as a team to improve the quality of education and raise student achievement levels.

The PASS model supports existing school improvement initiatives, while bringing in a business perspective, additional resources and innovative approaches. To assist in that task, and ensure accountability, student test data, attendance records, teacher feedback and other achievement information are carefully collected, analyzed and applied on a classroom level.

With its many successes to date, the PASS model exemplifies how Florida's commitment to excellence in public education can be achieved - one school at a time.

The 2010-2011 PASS Annual Report is available for download below. The report is generated from an independent evaluation conducted by the University of Miami.

For additional information about this outstanding program, please contact us:

Sal Paniagua, Development Manager
Sherry E. Clarke, PASS Coordinator for Central and North Florida
Dr. Patricia Penn Dixon, PASS Coordinator for South Florida