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Date: 11/16/2022
SPRINGFIELD – Tech Foundry Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Tricia Canavan will serve as a local voice for education after being appointed to the state’s Board of Elementary and Secondary Education by Gov. Charlie Baker.
Baker formally appointed Canavan to the position in July. Currently, she serves as one of two Western Massachusetts members of the 11-person board along with former Holyoke School Committee member Michael Moriarty.
Canavan became the CEO of Tech Foundry in March. She previously worked as an educator and the former president of United Personnel Services.
Reflecting on her appointment, Canavan aspires to bring an underrepresented perspective to the board.
“As someone who is a Western Massachusetts resident and very involved in both education and workforce development issues, particularly in our gateway cities, I hope that I can bring that perspective and voice in terms of the opportunities and challenges that we see for our students,” said Canavan in an interview with Reminder Publishing.
One area of focus for Canavan is ensuring equity in education, especially for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color) communities.
“The kids who may be in one ZIP code may have one educational experience, and kids in a different ZIP code may have another educational experience, so we want all of our kids to have equal access and equal opportunity to gain the skills, knowledge and academic enrichment everyone deserves,” said Canavan.
Canavan continued, “When we look at college readiness and college attainment, we need to make sure that all of our kids in Massachusetts have an opportunity to succeed … We see that achievement gap impacts our BIPOC students in ways we don’t see with students that don’t represent BIPOC backgrounds.”
Equity represents a significant topic for Canavan – both in terms of education and her leadership position at Tech Foundry. In the summer, Tech Foundry received a $72,547 Tech Talent Diversity Initiative grant from the state, which will be allocated towards additional training efforts, a new service-learning program and a “digital sandbox” for participants to practice problem-solving skills.
Deputy Director of the Massachusetts Innovation Institute Jason Hoch shared that Tech Foundry increased its recruitment of people of color and people from under resourced socio-economic groups from 45 to 85 percent since 2019.
Canavan also stressed the importance of narrowing the education gap.
“Addressing the achievement gap is something that needs to be a laser focus … That is a goal, if we can identify and double-down on some of the tactics and strategies that we’re using to address achievement gap, that’s very important,” said Canavan.
One important pillar Canavan cited for ensuring a decreased education gap is stressing early literacy. She aspires for every student in Massachusetts to reach grade-level reading and literacy by third grade.
“That needs to be a really important focus,” said Canavan.
Readers can learn more about Tricia Canavan at https://thetechfoundry.org/about-us/staff/tricia-canavan/.