Mission Statement:

The mission of the Central ERZ is to work in partnership with students, families, and the community to ensure that each student acquires the knowledge, skills, and core values necessary to achieve personal success and to enrich the community.

Vision Statement:

The members of the Central ERZ envision that every participating school will be a thriving, dynamic and inspiring educational environment that produces self-directed learners and stimulates citizens of all ages to trust in, invest in, and benefit from public education.

The Seven Guiding Principles:

1. Trust-Trust emerges as relationships are built and sustained through open dialogue and mutual respect for those involved in the change process. To foster a trusting environment, the Central ERZ will work to maintain lines of communication to facilitate a mutual exchange of information, both formally and informally.
2. Common Goals-Common goals identified by the Central ERZ, and have emerged from the shared vision of improving the overall educational system for all children.
3. Parity-ERZ stakeholders will work together to reach innovative solutions to identified needs. Dialogue among parents, community members, teachers, administrators, higher education faculty, and regional education service cooperatives will continue to expand.
4. Committment of Resources-Central ERZ partners will make equitable contributions of resources.  The Central ERz will continue to identify cost effective, viable resources and make this information available.  The process of managing and sharing available resources will occur through extensive collaboration among key stakeholders..
5. Ongoing Dialogue-The continuing dialogue between partners provides both the basis and framework of change. The Central ERZ’s facilitation of interaction iand discussion among all key stakeholders will expand beyond the schools and include neighboring communities, businesses, and parents.
6. Shared Knowledge Base-The University of Arkansas at Little Rock will assist key stakeholders to develop a shared knowledge base of ongoing practice and research to accomplish the overall goals of professional development, improved school performance, and academic achievement. The Central ERZ will store and disseminate resource information available to address educational issues.
7. Public and Professional Accountability - With input of all key stakeholders, the Central ERZ will research a variety of measurement instruments designed to evaluate partnership operations and measure outcomes against professional standards.