It's All About Education: Making the Dream a Reality
Lauri Lee, GoLocalProv Education Expert
It's All About Education: Making the Dream a Reality
Carol Dweck of Stanford University states that a “growth mindset” is one in which people believe that their abilities can be developed through hard work and dedication, that brains and talent are just starting points for success. A person who has this mindset often becomes a lifelong learner, someone who challenges himself and recognizes that achievement will take time and effort. Researcher Shane Lopez writes about hope theory, which shows that hopeful individuals are less likely to give up and are more persistent in finding alternative routes to achieving their dreams; therefore, hope is a quality schools must foster in students. Dr. Pedro Noguera (a Brown University alum and former Providence teacher) has written numerous books on urban education and believes that resilience is a critical component to student success.
The Future Project’s CEO, Andrew Mangino, a former White House speechwriter, believes that helping students to identify their passions and their dreams (as well as mapping out a path to achieve them) is the key to transforming schools into places that inspire greatness in their students. The organization has installed Dream Directors in high schools in New York, New Haven, Newark, and Washington DC; this fall, they have added schools in Detroit and San Francisco. Their goal is to have a Dream Director in every high school (approximately 25,000) in America by 2020. Dream Directors are fully integrated into the life of the school, and they build Dream Teams composed of coaches, students, and teachers who serve as leaders and role models for others in the school. Students are encouraged to start clubs or teams and spearhead projects that often change the culture of the school. Participating schools have reported higher attendance, stronger leadership, collaboration and perseverance, and a more positive and supportive school climate.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTIt’s a great idea and a great campaign. But until The Future Project realizes their goal of having a Dream Director in every high school in America, we can do something similar (if on a smaller scale) in our own schools and communities. We can use the research cited above to help inspire students at all grade levels, not just high school. First, teachers need to take the time to really get to know their students, to connect with them on a personal level so that they can help students identify their passions and then develop goals for the future. Ideally, this should start in elementary school and continue through middle and high school.
Schools must commit to helping students develop a plan for achieving their dreams. In middle and high schools, where students see multiple teachers in a day, each student might need an adviser who will get to know her personally and help her map out a path to success. That adviser should be an advocate and a cheerleader. Do we need to hire more people to make this possible? No – current classroom teachers can also serve as advisers. But we will need to build time into the school schedule for students to meet with their advisers once a week, and we will need to provide training for the teachers so that they can serve as advisers.
These are some of the same things that happen in independent schools, after-school mentoring programs, and places like Boys & Girls Clubs. But if we know that these types of activities and programs help children and teenagers to succeed, why wouldn’t we want to incorporate them into the school system? Why does it fall on a non-profit organization like The Future Project to make our schools places where dreams come true for all students? The innovative ideas are out there – we just need to find a way to make them a reality for everyone.
Lauri Lee is an independent consultant with over twenty years of experience in both public and private education, with learners from infants through adults. With experience in marketing, communications, social media, development, admissions, and technology, she is able to synthesize many of the issues facing our educational system today. She lives in Providence with her family, a big dog, and a small cat. She encourages you to connect with her on Twitter@fridovichlee or to contact her directly at [email protected].
RI Experts on the Biggest Issues Facing Public Education
Sasse
"Provide a state constitutional guarantee that all children will have access to an education that will prepare them to meet high performance standards and be successful adults.
Bridge the gap between the educational achievement of majority and minority students. This will require the implementation of a comprehensive agenda for quality education in Rhode Island’s inner cities."
Sasse
"Revisit school governance and clearly define the roles and responsibilities of the state, school districts , neighborhood schools, and school teachers and school administrators. Develop and implement a system to hold schools responsible for student outcomes."
Sasse
"Build a consensus and buy in of all stakeholders around the education reform initiatives being advanced by the Board of Education."
Metcalfe
"Set high expectations and raise our standards across the state for anyone that contributes to the success of our students. From adopting the Common Core to discussing rigorous teacher evaluations, conversations around creating a culture of high expectations have to be at the center of the work."
Metcalfe
"Expand opportunities and start earlier - we must ensure that all kids have access to a high performing public school of their choice, which includes full-day kindergarten."
Metcalfe
"School facilities - with an aging infrastructure, underutilized buildings and the need to provide fair funding for school facilities for all public school students regardless of the public school they attend, this needs to be a top issue tackled by the RI General Assembly in 2014."
Cano-Morales
"Meet the academic potential of all students but especially with regards to urban schools students -- 3 out of 4 are Latinos in Providence, Central Falls, and Pawtucket."
Cano-Morales
"Connect through specific best practices the academic successes of our students to careers jobs. Investing in schools is economic development as a whole for Rhode Island. "
Cano-Morales
"Increase the access to -- and completion of -- higher education and post- secondary opportunities. Poverty? Struggling families? Education and access to careers and competitive wages is the best antidote."
Duffy
"Providing adequate funding is critical -- and there are going to be pressures on the state budget, which mean stresses to meet the education funding formula. With the predictions of the state's projected loss of revenue with the casinos in MA, education funding could be on the cutting board, and we need to ensure that it's not. Do we need to look at strengthening the language of the constitution to guarantee funding?"
Duffy
"Implementing the common core standards will provide continuity -- and comparison -- between states now. With over 40 states involved, we're embarking a new set of standards here."
Duffy
"Accountability and assessing student performance -- how that it's driven by the common core, we'll be able to compare the best districts in RI against the best districts in say MA. That's the intent of the Common Core is a standardization of how we hold the system accountable."
Cylke
"Issue one is quality. Your quality of education should not be dependent on your zip code. And the reality is, certain cities are distressed, or whose property values are not as high, I know each town has a different capacity to fund education. There's an absolute, clear relationship between the quality of public schools, and economic development of states. There's irrefutable evidence that quality public schools can make states more competitive."
Cylke
"Issue two is equality. In West Warwick and Providence, the per pupil spending is around $16K. In Pawtucket it's $12.9. What's wrong with that picture? If I'm in charge of overseeing that my students are college ready, they need to be adequate funding. A difference of $3000 per pupil? We're talking in the tens of millions of dollars -- more like $25 million in this case. An exemplary school district is Montgomery County, MD -- they have roughly the same number of students, around 145,000 -- there's one funding figure per pupil. There's equitable funding for all kids."
Cylke
"Issue three is Infrastructure. A critical issue is whether the state is going to lift its moratorium in 2014 for renovations for older schools, ore new construction. If that moratorium is not lifted, and those funds are not available, it is critical to us here in Pawtucket. The average of my schools is 66 years, I've got 3 that celebrate 100 years this year. These old schools have good bones, but they need to be maintained. These are assets -- and this is all interrelated with the funding formula."
