Regardless what community we may live in, it behooves us all to pay attention to what happens in our neighborhood schools.
Schools/school districts have their policies - policies with statutory foundations (state/federal laws) - but responsibility also falls to the community-at -large.
As a community we want ours to be socio-economically successful. Successful businesses, well-funded nonprofits, and not-so-bureaucratic governmental agencies (at all levels). In order for that to happen we need a well-trained, well-educated workforce - that means colleges/universities and trade schools need to be within (financial) reach of all of us. In order to be able to compete there must be a solid educational (pre-literacy, PreK-12) foundation for children, including the necessary supports and resources. Supports and resources such as up-to-date, historically accurate and culturally relevant texts and curriculum, state-of-the-art technology, wrap-around services, professional development, and true community engagement.
Community engagement including students/families, staff/educators, neighborhood communities, private business, nonprofit organizations, and all levels governmental agencies.
I'll restate the issue as a question: Do we want an economically successful society? Well of course the answer is a resounding YES!!
How do we make it happen? GET INVOLVED! Everyone in the community, parent or not, educator or not, plays a role in what happens.
Remember, we (adults) are the decision makers, policy writers, service providers, and so forth. Depending on what we do (or don't do), we are taking care of the children (pre-natal to 18yo). Some day the children will the decision makers, policy writers, service providers, etc .. Depending on what they do (or don't do), they will taking care of us.
Who do you want deciding your future? I don't know about you, but I want those decisions, policies, and actions made by people with a well-rounded, solid education/training.
By Hector Perez
Picture 90 educational volunteers: That’s the number of AmeriCorps members the Austin school district is placing at two of its high schools for the next three years.
It’s all part of the School Turnaround AmeriCorps initiative, a new program aimed at placing AmeriCorps members in some of the nation’s lowest performing schools. AISD was one of thirteen school districts that were chosen nationwide.
“The schools served by this program are very specific,” says Elisa Gleeson, Grants Management Specialist with the OneStar Foundation, which administers AmeriCorps Texas. “They had to have the capacity to be able to administer the program, but also had to qualify as low-performance institutions according to the U.S Department of Education.”
In Austin, only Reagan and Travis High School met the criteria.
Each school will be given 15 AmeriCorps members each year for the next three years. The work they perform will not only focus on helping students in math and literacy, but also providing emotional and social support through various individual and group sessions. The primary goal is to improve graduation rates, test scores, and the overall performance of each school.
What happens after the three-year period is uncertain. The future of the program depends on funding, which is currently supplied through a partnership between the U.S. Department of Education and the Corporation for National and Community Service.
“Ideally no one will need the help after three years, but if help was still needed, then both entities would run another application process much like they ran earlier this year to select the school,” Elisa said. “Also, they would need to make sure they have the funds allocated to support the program moving forward.”
This grant is one of 22 other similar programs supported by the OneStar Foundation, currently distributing more than $12.3 million AmeriCorps state grants to organizations across Texas.
No comments:
Post a Comment