The Road Map Project run by an education think tank is calling for stronger education systems and in the short-term focusing on strategies to help students now in South King County and south Seattle.

The think tank, the Community Center for Education Results, recently released its “Baseline Report” that describes a troubling state of education in Renton, Auburn, Federal Way, Highline, Kent, Tukwila and south Seattle.

The group is looking at ways to combat the challenges that face students in the region as they try and gain access to college and career credentials.

The Road Map Project is a collective impact initiative aimed at getting dramatic improvement in student achievement from cradle to college and career in South King County and south Seattle, according to as press release.

The group noted in its report that the Renton School District has bright spots in its focus on quality teaching in math and science.

The district has 72 teachers who have earned math and science credentials from a partnership the district has with Seattle University.

The Renton School District also benefits from a partnership with the University of Washington in which teachers learn more about their subjects and improve their teaching practices.

The Road Map Project wants to use the Renton district’s example as a model for creating this type of “system-building” work across the area it studied.

Overall, the project has culled data that finds that the region is home to 70 percent of King County’s low-income students, 69 percent of the county’s English Language Learner students and 58 percent of the county’s students of color.

“The data we show in the Road Map Baseline Report at each stage of education – from cradle to college and career – is a sobering reminder of the urgent need to dramatically improve student achievement in South King County and South Seattle,” said Mary Jean Ryan, executive director of the Community Center for Education Results (CCER), which staffs the Road Map Project.

The goals of the project are to boost third-grade reading levels with help from city halls to classrooms to doctor’s offices and libraries. Some of the project’s members are working in Olympia on better policies to support English Language Learners.

A major effort continues to sign up eligible students for the state’s College Bound Scholarship.

The scholarship covers the cost of tuition at Washington’s public colleges and universities for low-income students.

School districts worked collaboratively with mayors and community partners to achieve 93 percent of eligible students signed up in the Road Map region.

The project is also dedicated to helping students sign up for the Free Application for Federal Student Aid or FAFSA.

The Road Map’s intent is to align efforts in the community toward the same goal of improving educational outcomes in the region and to track and report that progress.

“The Road Map Project stands out because, while there have been many calls for educational improvements over the years, none has involved a collective commitment to united action by school districts, educators, elected officials, non-profits, community members and funders,” said Dr. Edward Lee Vargas, superintendent of Kent School District. “Success at this scale is possible if, and only if, we all work together to place students and their future at the center of our decisions.”