YEO September 2010 Newsletter

Letter from the Director:

Dear Young Elected Officials:

Last month the Schott Foundation for Public Education, on whose board I serve, released its “Yes We Can: 50 States Report on Black Males in Public Education.” The report can best be described as alarming and deeply saddening. The impacts of an under-educated young person affect the quality of life for all people in our community. It is estimated to cost society $30,000 a year to support a high school dropout. It is in our collective interest to ensure that we seriously improve the educational outcomes for all of our children.

We are providing you with a complete copy of the 50 States report with hopes that this information will help to inform your education strategy and outlook. In addition, we are working to organize a conference call in September to review these findings in detail with the Schott Foundation staff and researchers.

Link to the 50 States report>>

Thank you for your interest and advocacy on this issue and many others. Please feel free to contact the YEO Network staff if you have any questions or feedback.

Yours in service,
Andrew D. Gillum
Director, PFAW Youth Leadership Programs & Young Elected Officials Network

Issue of the Month – Education Reform
An Interview with U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan

YEO: What is the most pressing educational issue facing our country?
AD: We need to ensure that every child in America – regardless of race, income, zip code, first language, disability status, or any other factor – receives the world-class education he or she deserves.

YEO: What can be done to address this issue?
AD: Our role in Washington is to support reform by encouraging bold approaches to addressing underperforming schools, closing the achievement gap, strengthening the field of education, reducing the dropout rate and boosting college access and completion. Historically, the U.S. Department of Education’s primary role has been to monitor compliance with federal regulations. I want the department to become an engine of innovation, not a compliance machine. I want the department to provide powerful incentives to states, districts, and nonprofits to innovate--but at the same time leave most of the entrepreneurship for achieving our common goals in local hands.

YEO: What would you say is the primary focus for the administration in the reauthorization of ESEA?
AD: I’ll always give No Child Left Behind (NCLB) credit for helping to expose the achievement gap by requiring reporting of test scores by all students and all sub-groups. It showed us the insidious achievement gap of poor, minority, and special education students. It required that we measure our efforts to improve education by looking at outcomes, rather than inputs, and it helped create a national conversation about student achievement.

On the other hand, NCLB unfairly labeled many schools as failures even when they were making progress. It focused too much on the results of one test on one day, and didn’t account for students’ academic growth in its accountability system. But the biggest problem was that it didn’t encourage high learning standards. By letting each state define “proficiency”, it encouraged states to lower standards.

To make the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) work, we have to create a fair system of accountability that, instead of stigmatizing schools and educators, provides support to improve and rewards them for excellence. Rather than dictating one-size-fits-all solutions, we want to give states and districts more flexibility to improve, while asking them to focus the most intensive interventions on the lowest-performing 5 percent of schools and those with the most persistent achievement gaps.

To read more of YEO Network's interview with Secretary Duncan, click here>>

Special Feature:
"Educating Tomorrow's Leaders"
by Michael Wotorson (Campaign for High School Equity)

Achieving success and satisfaction... Rising to the top... Being in a position to build communities and make our nation strong...

For too many young people of color and Native youth, such dreams are out of reach. Low expectations and high schools that aren’t designed to see every student succeed contribute to disproportionately high dropout rates and poor academic achievement. More than one million students drop out of high school each year and a third graduate without the skills they need to succeed in college and work. If current trends continue, these students may become part of a permanent underclass confined to the political and economic fringes. That isn’t the America you had in mind when you entered public service.

As elected officials, you are well placed to lead your communities toward solutions. Now, states need only achieve their own annual standards. As a result, too many have lowered their standards or given up on students that need extra support. Setting common academic standards offers tremendous potential and will benefit students of color if implemented effectively, fairly, and with the input of their communities.

Click here for more from Michael Wotorson and resources he's supplied>>

YEOs in Action!

The U.S. Department of Education recently convened a group of 35 legislators from across the country, including YEO State Representatives Matt Heinz (Arizona), Matt Lesser (Connecticut), Chris Lyddy (Connecticut), Rahn Mayo (Georgia), Alisha Thomas Morgan (Georgia), and Carl Sciortino (Massachusetts). In June 2010, the group held their first meeting in Washington, DC to discuss the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, several federal competitive grants, and the Department’s new direction. In addition, the legislators were able to ask questions, express any concerns, and receive answers and feedback from top-level appointees, including Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.

These YEOs raised issues such as the need for a workable solution for merit pay for teachers, parental options with public schools, environmental justice issues with the education system, the realities of communities with large transiency populations, and inclusive policies for students who are LGBT. They will continue to be engaged by the Department through regular bi-partisan calls, in order to provide a platform for legislators to have direct access to senior level officials and the Secretary to ask questions and raise concerns.

Special Feature by a YEO:
“Not Your Parents’ Education System, Anymore”
by Georgia State Representative Alisha Thomas Morgan

Imagine today that a child on the other side of the country from you can take classes from a teacher in her own school district as easily as she can take a class from a teacher on the other side of the world. Imagine today there are students who will take half their classes in a language other than the one they speak at home. Imagine that a child, whose zoned school had chronically failed his older siblings, now has the opportunity to attend the school just a few miles away that offers him a curriculum, staff and faculty, and community support that better meet his needs.

These and many are options that are becoming increasingly available to today’s students, providing an opportunity to increase student achievement, offer a more relevant curriculum, and address communities of students who have not been successful in our one-size-fits-all model.

Continue reading>>

YEO Education Sound-Off:
Education in Our Country and in Your Communities

We asked YEOs involved in education reform efforts about some of the most critical issues facing our education system and what they think can be done to address them. Here’s what they had to say:

Q- What do you think are the most critical issues facing our country’s education system as a whole, and what do you think should be done to address them?

“The need for sensible immigration reform and reinvestment in America’s neighborhood schools stand at odds with the promise of education, the great equalizer. The growing gap between the older white electorate and a young and growing black and brown student population have driven our nation’s divestment in education to record lows. Our nation’s promise continues to depend on how well we educate our children. How we invest in them only improves our competitive edge in a global economy by helping us build a stronger tomorrow, an investment in our own future and retirement. Let's reform immigration now and invest in our local schools for a golden future.”
-Commissioner Felipe Agredano-Lozano (California)

“Adequate funding, adequate funding, adequate funding! One cannot address comprehensive public education at the federal level without discussing adequate funding. Continuing to short both No Child Left Behind and IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), the United States Department of Education forces local education agencies and school districts into spending general fund monies on these programs. The President and Congress ought to prioritize public school funding with not just speech, but concrete action.”
-Board of Education Trustee Jerry Kong (California)

Q- What do you think are the most critical issues facing the education system in your community? What are you doing, or what is being done, in your community to address these issues?

“Most critical issue that's generally considered to be out of our control: community-wide culture of educational achievement. The attitudes and beliefs our scholars have about the importance and value of school impacts their motivation -- for better or for worse -- in nearly irreversible ways. Inspiring educational achievement as a leading cultural value is a critical issue. Most critical issue that's largely in our control: effectiveness of teachers. We are not doing enough to recruit and retain effective teachers while quickly and systematically eliminating ineffective teachers. Finding tools to better distinguish between effective and ineffective teachers is a critical issue.”
- School Board Member Airick Leonard West (Missouri)

“As long as there are children who are failing to meet basic education requirements in underperforming areas, closing the achievement gap will always remain the top priority for educators and policymakers. It is no secret that students in poorer districts often lack access to qualified teachers, rigorous curriculums, and a lack of resources. The approach to these inequities must be multi-faceted: Bad teachers must be rooted out, we must encourage innovation and the use of technology in the classroom, and schools should be funded on the basis of need, not politics. And last but not least, policymakers must possess the political courage to confront these issues head-on.”
-School Board Member Roy Paul (New York)

Upcoming Event:

Save the Date!
YEO Policy Academy:
Foreclosure and Neighborhood Stabilization
December 2-5, 2010 in Baltimore, MD

Join us in Baltimore to share policy initiatives and best practices, network and develop and enhance critical skills in order to prevent foreclosures and predatory financial practices, as well as stabilize neighborhoods and build sustainable communities.

YEO Spotlight:
School Board Member Jay Chen
(Hacienda Heights, CA)

"Why I Became an Elected Official"

I decided relatively early in life that I would run for elected office.  Many factors contributed to this, including early mentorship from a school board member that demonstrated to me the power elected office could have in helping young people reach their potential.  I credit this mentorship with helping me get into a good college, and have been inspired to replicate that impact for future generations ever since.

A curious lack of Asian American involvement in politics was also a motivating factor for me to run.  Though I was born in Michigan, I spent formative years in Singapore prior to settling in California.  As a result, the image of Asians as political leaders was never something very foreign to me, while the near absence of Asian faces in U.S. politics was.  I wanted to change that.  National incidences of racial profiling against the Asian American community, such as the campaign finance debacle of 1996, and the wrongful persecution of Wen Ho Lee in 1999, only reinforced in me the need to get involved.

I credit our last President with inspiring me, as well.  That our nation could be so haphazardly spun into an unjustified and debilitating war, and that the entire course of history could have been changed by a few hundred votes in Florida (or one on the Supreme Court), was an incredible wakeup call.  Sitting on the sidelines and complaining about problems was no longer a credible option.  I wanted to become part of the solution, and become a decision maker myself.

Read more about Jay Chen and see his interview on The Daily Show>>

Progressive Policy Corner

In Support of Comprehensive School Climate, Restorative Justice, and Alternatives to Suspension/Expulsion
School Board President Jane Kim
San Francisco, CA

The resolution – In Support of Comprehensive School Climate, Restorative Justice, and Alternatives to Suspension/Expulsion – directs the San Francisco Unified School District to adopt a restorative justice framework and create clear and voluntary alternatives to suspensions and expulsions. Since 2001, suspensions of all students have dramatically increased each school year, in particular for middle school students. Data shows that the current ways of dealing with students’ behavioral issues have not been effective, have disproportionately hurt African American and Latino students, and have been proven to negatively influence students’ learning experience.

The purpose of the new policy is to decrease suspension rates, provide teachers and principals with training and tools to implement alternatives, increase student time in the classroom, and retain students in their schools.
Read more about this policy >>

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Student Mobility
State Representative Carl Sciortino
Medford, MA

With increasing levels of mobility in many communities, school districts face new challenges in educating students. The tasks of orienting a new student to the school and gauging the student's academic strengths and weaknesses take valuable resources away from the school system. This bill creates standards by which to calculate a school district's mobile student population, and adjusts the foundation budget to accommodate the needs of the school district. The bill also directs the Department of Education to create reporting standards for the mobile student population and create a pilot program to provide financial assistance to high-mobility districts.
Read more about this policy >>