What is SAM?
SAM is a commitment shared by educators, leaders and communities across Spartanburg County, SC that our children will grow into well-educated, independent adults.
But it's more than just that.
SAM is also a commitment to increase the importance we place on academic achievement for every child, from cradle to career and it's a commitment to assure that our young people gain the education required for life and work in an economy that requires specialized knowledge to be productive.
It is a sustaining commitment across our urban and rural county of 288,000 people to link the numerous resources we already have in place: our schools, colleges, and non-profit educational support partners. This is a commitment to focus their unique missions on persistent and targeted gains in academic achievement at every stage of learning.
This commitment will do the most to advance our indicators of community well-being: civic and public health, social and natural environments, and economic development.
“SAM is not another new program or a call for school reform. It is an effort to generate support for academic achievement county-wide at every stage of learning from kindergarten readiness to college degree completion. It is a movement to elevate the value placed on academic achievement by the citizens of Spartanburg County.””
Driving Forces
The vision of the Spartanburg Academic Movement is a county-wide culture that values educational achievement, and a robust economy that demonstrates that value.
How can we deliver on this promise? What are the driving forces of the Movement?
They are our schools, our colleges, our partners, and our collective commitment to measurement and collaborative action.