education reform

Parental Engagement in Battle Creek

March 12, 2017

Niaka Dunbar, Battle Creek Public Schools’ family and community engagement coordinator, talks to students and parents during a Verona Elementary School literacy fair. (Photo: Al Lassen/For the Enquirer)

In Battle Creek, Michigan, public schools are working to build relationships with parents and the community at large.Â Niaka Dunbar, a native of Battle Creek, is now working as Battle Creek Public Schools’ family and community engagement coordinator. In an article for the Battle Creek Enquirer, Dunbar explains that when she was training to be a teacher, no one emphasized that her future students come from specific families and communities and that the families and communities are as much a part of the child’s formation as the school. Today, in her role as coordinator, she works to “foster trusting relationships for effective partnerships” to help students succeed by getting the school with the family and the community.

In the year that Dunbar has been working in this position, funded through a grant from theÂ W.K. Kellogg Foundation, her work has already had a positive effect: Â Superintendent Kim Parker-DeVauld reports that now “we have a much stronger focus on both parent and community engagement. We have someone that can organize those opportunities in a way that benefits both the students and the staff in Battle Creek Public Schools and so as a result of having her in that position, we have a lot more opportunities for students to be engaged in the community and for our community to be engaged in our schools.” In addition, Dunbar has helped create family advocate positions to help increase these parental engagement efforts. Regarding her work, Dunbar says:

We want parents to engage in school and what’s happening in the district, but I also want parents to feel empowered enough that wherever they are, they feel like they have something to offer and that they understand that their voice should be heard.

Family and community engagement isn’t a person or a couple of people, it’s something that we all within the district have to work on.

Battle Creek is setting a great example and school districts across the United States should pay attention. By building relationships between the family, the community, and the school, Battle Creek school districts are helping strengthen the support system for students. To read more about Battle Creek’s vision for parental engagement, read this editorial from the Enquirer. To read more about the importance of parental engagement, click here.

National Summit: Summary #EIE15

November 6, 2015

I had a wonderful time attending the 2015 National Summit on Education Reform in Denver Colorado. The theme for the event was Onward and Upward: Operation Student Success. Here are some tweets from the event:

“Every life is worthy and therefore every life is capable of greatness” Dr. @condoleezzarice #EIE15

â€” Ethan Demme (@EthanDemme) October 22, 2015

In time for Halloween @matthewladner is scaring the room with data about future age dependency ratios #EIE15 pic.twitter.com/FaCcuZE8Ny â€” Ethan Demme (@EthanDemme) October 22, 2015

It’s time for ed unions to #trustparents and be partners in choice for kids. #EIE15

â€” Julie Parrish (@hotcouponmama) October 22, 2015

Until you have parents in control, you’re not going to have efficiencies in education: @richardcorcoran at #EIE15 â€” Ron Matus (@RonMatus1) October 22, 2015

First in line for a signed copy of #SmartParents from @Getting_Smart @tvanderark @CarriSchneider #EIE15 pic.twitter.com/puQo9RX0mH

â€” Ethan Demme (@EthanDemme) October 22, 2015

“True self discovery begins where your comfort zone ends.” @AdamBraun #EIE15 â€” ExcelinEd (@ExcelinEd) October 23, 2015

Pennsylvania was well represented at the event with members from the house and senate and we had several great conversations about the future of education reform in Pennsylvania. I’m looking forward to what our ed reform leaders in PA will be able to do over the next few years.

I tagged on an extra day and had the opportunity to climb Mt. Elbert, the highest peak in Colorado. Overall it was a great conference with some excellent speakers with some great ideas that can be implemented in Pennsylvania.

Preview of the 2015 National Summit on Education Reform

October 19, 2015

I am getting ready to attend the 2015 National Summit on Education Reform in Denver Colorado. The theme for this year’s summit is Onward and Upward: Operation Student Success. Here are some of the sessions I am looking forward to attending:

Strategy Session 1Â â€“ Turn and Face the Strain: Problem and Solutions

This session will explore how coming demographic changes – impending retirement of the Baby Boomers and a population boom of school-age children – will lead to challenges in state funding. I reviewed the report on this data a few months ago: click here to read the review.

Strategy Session 4 -Â Communicating Student Data Privacy: Challenges and Opportunities

This session will explore the challenge of student data privacy and provide guidance on forming thoughtful policies. I recently took Foundation for Excellence in Education’s online course on Data Privacy. For an overview of this and two other courses, click here.

Strategy Session 5 -Â 2015: The Year of Education Savings Accounts

“Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) started as an experiment in 2011 to offer educational choice and customization in Arizona. Since then, the program has grown. Florida passed an ESA program in 2013, and this year three more states created programs and lawmakers filed ESA bills in nearly two-dozen states. Nevada, the latest state to create an ESA program, will soon have all 450,000 public school students eligible to participate.” (from the session description)

For an overview of Education Savings Accounts (what they are, how they work), click here. To read about Nevada’s implementation of ESAs, click here.

I will be live-tweeting from the event so be sure to follow me: @ethandemme

GOP Candidates: Education Records and Rhetoric

October 14, 2015

I previously posted and highlighted statements on education (school choice and the role of parents) of GOP presidential candidates. Today, I want to look at the record of the candidates choices for themselves and their children and compare that to their rhetoric.

Jeb Bush: is a proponent for school choice and his Foundation For Excellence In EducationÂ has been an influential advocate for school choice and education reform. Bush attended Andover Academy, an elite private prep school that his dad and brother also attended. However, he opted to spend his undergrad years at the University of Texas rather than an Ivy-League school. Jeb’s oldest son attended an elite private schoolÂ before going to Rice University for his undergrad. Jeb Jr. on the other hand, attended University of Texas like his father. For the Bush family,Â school choice means making use of both public schools / non-elite higher education institutions and the best of the elite private schools. In terms of voting record though, there is no doubt that Jeb walks the talk. Here’s an article detailing his voting record and education reform initiatives.

Ben Carson: is a proponent for school choice. [source] He graduated from Southwestern High School, a public high school in Michigan. His personal story regarding parental engagement in education and the role of his mother is powerful: if you’re not familiar with, you can read it here. He attended Yale for his undergrad. Ben Carson’s son Murray attended one of Baltimore’s elitist college prep schools,Â McDonogh, before attending Yal. [source]. Ben Carson has no voting record to speak of. However, he did create the Carson Young Scholars nonprofit organization whichÂ has aÂ program devoted to increasing reading and awards college scholarship funding.

Chris Christie: is a proponent for school choice and has often struggled to push voucher legislation through the Democrat-controlled legislature. [source] He graduated from Livingston High School (public) and did his undergrad BA at University of Delaware. Christie’sÂ oldest son attended an elite school DelbartonÂ and is now studying at Princeton [source]. Christie has a track record of pushing for school choice such as approving charter schools and pushing for tax credits and voucher programs.

Ted Cruz: is a proponent of school choice, calling it a civil rights issue. [source] He graduated from Second Baptist High School and then did his undergrad at Princeton. Cruz has only recently (as in, this year) gotten into the school choice movement, including sponsoringÂ school-choice friendly legislation. [source]

Carly Fiorina: is a verbal proponent of school choice. She graduated Charles E. Jordan High School (public) after spending time in schools in London and Ghana. She earned her BA from Stanford University.

Jim Gilmore: is a somewhat unenthusiastic proponent of school choice. He graduated fromÂ John Randolph Tucker High School (a magnet school) before doing his undergrad at University of Virginia.

Lindsey Graham: is a proponent of school choice. He graduatedÂ D. W. Daniel High School (public) and was the first person in his family to attend college, he did his undergrad at University of South Carolina. Graham has supported school choice legislation like this as early as the 1990s. [source]

Mike Huckabee: is a proponent of school choice. He graduated from Hope High School (public) and attendedÂ Ouachita Baptist University for his undergrad. Huckabee has been inconsistent in regards to school choice [source],Â and appears to be less committed to it in practice.

Bobby Jindal: is a strong proponent of school choice. He attendedÂ Baton Rouge Magnet High School before doing his undergrad at Brown. Jindal has supported and fought for voucher programsÂ in Louisiana. [source]

John Kasich: is a proponent of school choice. He attended various public schools and did his undergrad at Ohio State. As governor of Ohio Kasich has pushed through several school choice reforms including vouchers and funding for charter schools [source].

Rand Paul: is a proponent of school choice. He attendedÂ Brazoswood High School (public) andÂ spent three years studying at Baylor University (he left before earning a BA.)

George Pataki: is a strong proponent of school choice. He attendedÂ Peekskill High School (public school) before doing his undergrad at Yale. His daughter Allison (a published novelist) attended high school at The Hackley School (an Ivy-feed school for Yale) before her doing her undergrad at Yale.

Marco Rubio: is a strong proponent of school choice [source]. The son of immigrants who never graduated from high school, he attendedÂ South Miami, a public Sr. High SchoolÂ and did undergrad work at Tarkio College and Santa Fe Community College before getting his M.A. from the University of Florida and his J.D. from the University of Miami.

Rick Santorum: is a proponent of school choice. [source] He attended various private and public schools before graduating fromÂ Carmel High School, a private parochial school. He completed his undergraduate degree at Penn State. Santorum’s children have made use of homeschooling as well as charter schools. Given his rhetoric regarding not having government involved in education as well as thoughts on public funding, some saw him as duplicitous for enrolling his own children in a state-paid-for PA charter school even while his resided primarily in Virginia. [source]

Donald Trump: is a vocal proponent of school choice. He attended The Kew-Forest SchoolÂ and New York Military Academy. He did his undergrad years at University of Pennsylvania. His children have attended various prep schools including Choate Rosemary HallÂ and The Hill SchoolÂ and have done their undergrad studies at Georgetown and University of Penn.

Lessons Of Hope – Book Review

September 30, 2015

lessonsofhope

Joel Klein was not a field insider when New York mayor Bloomburg asked him to be Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education. In fact, prior to, he had worked at a high-paying law firm and in the White House under the Clinton administration. Still, Bloomburg could see that Klein was a strategic thinker and moreover, the kind of man who would stick to his guns under pressure and when the criticism was heaviest.

Alongside Bloomburg, Klein ushered in many education reform initiatives. He championed school choice, smaller schools, more accountability, and better standards. It didn’t take for him to learn that the status quo is not easily challenged and deeply entrenched forces such as teacher unions don’t respond well to change.

In Lessons of Hope: How to Fix Our Schools, Klein shares a firsthand account of his experiences as Chancellor. He introduces us to the main characters: the people he worked alongside, the people that opposed his initiatives, and the members of the public whose words changed his life.

There is an urgency in the book. Klein understands firsthand the importance of these reforms, the great need for school choice. At one point in the book, he shares the formative experience of speaking with an African-American father. The man’s daughter was thriving academically, having been admitted to a “good, out-of-district school which accepted students from other communities.” His son, however, was not so lucky: “he attended a neighborhood school with a much worse reputation, where he was not being well educated.” In reflecting on that experience and the heart that father had to see both his children succeed, Klein writes, “to this day, I tear up when I think about that wonderful man.” – pg. 77

Lessons of Hope shines brightest when it focuses in on the power of local communities and the role they play in education reform. Klein writes:

“. . .When it came to public education, New Yorkers, like people everywhere, cared most about their neighborhood schools. They didn’t identify with the system as a whole, which was comprised of more than a thousand schools. The system was as remote to them as any big bureaucracy, but their children and their neighbors’ children were dependent on local teachers, administrators, and staff to keep them safe, teach them what they needed to know, and help them grow into productive citizens. A good local school cast a glow on the surrounding community, becoming a source of pride, social energy, and even economic stability . . .” – pg. 22

As an example of how Klein connects this understanding with specific education reform initiatives, Klein’s team developed an online service giving parents relevant information about their kids and schools. This struck a nerve and hundreds of thousands of parents logged on. Klein writes: “It was exciting: people were getting information about kids and using it to help them improve.” – pg. 201

Lessons of Hope reminds us that we are always learning and therefore, the way we do education needs to grow along with us. Indeed, Klein goes so far as to say that this understanding of learning is central not just to school but also to life.

“Our guiding notion was that every school should be a community of learners. Under this model, students, principals, teachers, support staff, and parents would all act as lifelong students, continually seeking new knowledge and sharing the excitement of learning. In this kind of school, life itself would be defined as a learning process, with every day bringing the possibility of a new skill or idea.” – pg. 192

This one statement summarizes much of Klein’s vision for education. A strong community, excellent leaders, and engaged parents – all committed to lifelong learning – these are tenets that provide the foundation for all the important education reform that is taking place and will continue to take place.