Summit Education Initiative

At Summit Education Initiative, one of our core roles is making education data accessible and actionable for our community.

That’s why we maintain public dashboards tracking student progress across key transition points - from kindergarten readiness through postsecondary success.

These dashboards are used by educators, nonprofit leaders, policymakers, and community partners to guide decision-making and improve outcomes.

We invite you to explore the data:

https://www.seisummit.org/our-data

Because when data is shared, impact is possible.

Recently, we hosted our Spring PK–8 Collaborative Breakfast, bringing together educators, community partners, and leaders from across Summit County who are committed to helping children thrive.

The PK–8 Collaborative serves as a space for partners to align efforts, learn from one another, and take action around two shared goals: increasing Kindergarten Readiness and ensuring more children are reading proficiently by third grade.

This year's conversation focused on early literacy and highlighted the bright spots happening across our community. Together, we explored the importance of strong early learning experiences, family engagement, relationship-building, and whole-child supports in helping children become confident, successful readers.

We are grateful to the schools and organizations that shared their successes, strategies, and resources. Real progress happens when communities work together, and we left inspired by the collective commitment to ensuring every child has the opportunity to succeed.

A special thank you to the Akron Zoo for hosting us and providing such a welcoming space for connection, learning, and collaboration.

As we wrap up another incredible year of the Summit County Youth Coalition, we are filled with pride for the student leaders who showed up, spoke up, and worked to create meaningful change in their schools and community. 💙

This year, our youth leaders gathered feedback from more than 1,000 of their peers, analyzed data, developed action plans, and presented recommendations to school and community leaders. Through their leadership, they demonstrated that young people are not just the future—they are powerful changemakers right now.

A special thank you to Akron Public Schools for their partnership and commitment to elevating student voice. Together, we are creating opportunities for students to help shape the systems that impact their lives.

To our student leaders: thank you for your courage, passion, and dedication. We hope you have a fun, restful, and well-deserved summer. We can't wait to see all that you accomplish next year! ☀️✨

Community voice in action.

At SEI, we believe meaningful change starts by listening—and grows when community voice helps shape decisions, strategies, and solutions.

Your voice doesn’t just matter. It drives the work forward.

Youth success doesn’t happen by chance—it happens by alignment.

SEI works across sectors to connect people, data, and action so that every student has the support they need to thrive.

When systems work together, outcomes improve.

Smiles, voices, and a whole lot of impact 💙

The Summit County Parent Coalition continues to create space for families to connect, build relationships, and lead alongside one another—with their children at the center of it all.

This is more than engagement. It’s about parents sharing their experiences, shaping solutions, and helping drive decisions that impact education and opportunity across our community.

When families are supported, connected, and empowered, we build stronger systems—and brighter futures—for every child.

Myth: Data is only for researchers.

Reality: Data is for everyone—educators, parents, community leaders, and partners—to make informed decisions that move outcomes forward.

At SEI, data isn’t just collected. It’s shared, understood, and used to drive action.

When partners come together with a shared vision, real change happens.

Hearing directly from those we work alongside reminds us why this work matters—using data and collaboration to better support every student, every step of the way.

Ever wondered what Summit Education Initiative means by “Transition Points”?

Transition Points are key academic milestones that research shows strongly predict long-term success: from early childhood through postsecondary education.

At SEI, we track progress at critical moments, including:

📚 Kindergarten Readiness
📖 Third Grade Reading
➗ Eighth Grade Math
🎓 Ninth Grade Success
🎯 College & Career Readiness
🏫 Postsecondary Enrollment

These milestones matter because each one builds on the next.

For example:
• Kindergarten readiness predicts later reading success
• Third grade reading proficiency is linked to high school graduation
• Ninth grade GPA predicts future academic outcomes
• Postsecondary enrollment is strongly connected to economic opportunity

Success isn’t defined by one test - it’s shaped across a lifetime.

The Barberton Preschool Collaborative came together for a hands-on training focused on curriculum and strengthening high-quality learning experiences for young children across our community. By learning side-by-side, educators are building stronger connections across programs and aligning around what matters most—ensuring every child is supported with engaging, developmentally appropriate experiences as they prepare for kindergarten.