The mission of educational systems is to provide a quality education that develops the content knowledge, skills and attitudes that enable all students to reach their maximum potential. This challenge is compounded as schools prepare students to compete in the global economy by becoming life-long learners that can adapt and remain competitive in an ever changing and dynamic environment.

Education, one of the four pillars in the Miami-Dade County Public Schools’ 2009-2014 Strategic Plan, reflects the following far reaching goals:
• Provide for the education of all students
• Raise achievement of all students to world-class standards
• Maximize each student’s strengths to meet their full potential
• Develop the whole child
• Enable students to successfully transition into postsecondary living and contribute
to society

Meeting the goal of raising achievement will be accomplished when each student succeeds academically, personally, and civically as measured by:
• demonstrating age/grade level appropriate knowledge mastery;
• having a post-secondary plan;
• graduating; and
• successfully entering the workforce or higher education arena.

The foundation of the 2009-2010 Education Plan is based on the following three tenets:
Excellence: Every student is provided with a world-class education

Equity: An equitable allocation of resources based on student needs

Efficiency: Uniform teaching standards, high expectations, quality
resources, and support

The challenge of preparing students for the third millennium in the face of shrinking resources presents the opportunity to re-examine the implementation of the core curriculum, teaching and learning resources, and deployment of professional development and in-class support. The Education Plan presents a more streamlined and results-oriented approach that focuses on all teachers delivering the core curriculum effectively so that expectations for what students should learn are consistent across all schools. Complementing the core curriculum are a suite of essential learning resources including the pacing guides, instructional focus calendars, lessons plans, core interventions, and technology tools.

Experience and current research demonstrate that quality instruction is the key to student learning and performance. Teachers must be sufficiently knowledgeable about the content they teach to make learning real, relevant, and challenging for every student. Therefore, targeted and sustained professional development, coupled with in-class support, is critical as a means of building teacher capacity. The Education Plan delineates a tiered approach for providing professional development and in-class support through the strategic deployment of District/Region support staff to schools based on the State’s Differentiated Accountability designation with the schools in most need getting the highest concentration of support.

The Education Plan builds on the successes of 2008-2009 while articulating a more comprehensive, consistent, and coordinated approach to the implementation of the curriculum across all schools. It leverages the collegial efforts of District, Region, and school-level administrators and support personnel to ensure that Miami-Dade County Public Schools delivers a world-class curriculum to each and every student in the District in 2009-2010.