Category: Q&As

Don’t Forget the Little Ones: Prioritizing Early Childhood Education in D.C.

2/25/2014

Sadie Ellner

When we hear about education in the news, it is often about attention-grabbing issues such as dropout rates, test scores, and teacher evaluations — leaving little room for discussion of preventive measures, like prekindergarten. Thankfully, attention for early childhood education has been picking up, with mentions in the past two State of the Union speeches and proposed legislation in states such as Michigan and Missouri.

D.C. has long been ahead of the game, with a history of prioritizing early childhood education. Fight For Children’s Sadie Ellner, a former early childhood teacher, shares with us why early childhood classrooms are uniquely important and just as rigorous as any other grade level. She also lets us know what Fight For Children, a nonprofit organization that provides funding and programming for the education of low-income D.C. children, is doing to support and develop early childhood teachers and school leaders.

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Presenting D.C.’s 2014 Teacher of the Year!

1/28/2014

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Credit: Bill Day

It’s probably safe to say that most people know someone with a math phobia. In our increasingly math- and science-driven world, many students (and even teachers and parents!) still struggle to overcome anxieties around basic math skills. With the Common Core State Standards shifting instructional targets and practices, it will be interesting to see how a new approach will affect this all-too-common angst about math. William (Bill) Day, the 2014 D.C. Teacher of the Year, is not only a math teacher, but also a proponent for the Common Core State Standards and a more practical attitude about math education.

The Minnesota native started his teaching career in Maine before coming to D.C., where he has been at Two Rivers Public Charter School for the past three years. With wisdom from nine years of teaching, Bill shares his views on the Common Core and the future of math education and also gives us a sense of what’s to come during his Teacher of the Year tenure.

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Regulation, Litigation…Intimidation? One Lawyer Explains Why Educators Have No Need to Fear Education Law

1/2/2014

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As a social studies teacher, I taught my students how a bill becomes a law and why our government and laws exist to protect them as citizens. Yet conversations around compliance with special education laws, standardized testing policies, or union negotiations only served to heighten my blood pressure. Because I did not fully understand the laws by which I needed to abide, discussing them just added pressure to an already stressful job. However, I wasn’t the only one with these concerns. From my experience, it seems that this lack of understanding and subsequent uneasiness about education law is common throughout primary, secondary, and post-secondary educational institutions.

Michelle Tellock, a product of rural Wisconsin’s public schools as well as Yale Law School, brings her breadth of experiences to Recess to clear up our misconceptions. Now an attorney with the education practice group at Hogan Lovells, LLP in Washington, DC, she shares her insights about how attorneys and the law can help prevent conflicts in schools and institutions, and how lawyers and educators can learn a bit more about each other to improve relationships across the different sectors of education.

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One Advocate’s Dreams of Civil Rights for Undocumented Immigrants

11/20/2013

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Laura Bohorquez

I have had little personal exposure to the plight of undocumented immigrants. The schools where I have worked do not have students who are English-language learners, and most of the families I’ve worked with grew up in the same neighborhoods where they currently live. As a result, I have admittedly missed a very real civil rights issue plaguing our country. My perspective changed when I met Laura Bohorquez and heard her story at The Education Trust’s national conference last month.

Laura was born and raised in Mexico City until age four, when her family migrated to rural Washington state. As a result of her undocumented status, she has faced several legal and financial barriers in her pursuit of an education. In spite of these hurdles, Laura was able to complete college in her home state before moving to Chicago for a master’s degree in higher education administration. But many undocumented students don’t end up like Laura. For that reason, and many others, she has become a passionate advocate for undocumented students. Laura has turned her challenges and successes into a platform from which she hopes to motivate others to create change for the undocumented population. Now in D.C., Laura is a coordinator of the DREAM Educational Empowerment Program (DEEP) at United We Dream, where she helps to create networks of educators who are prepared to help their undocumented students succeed.

What has your family's experience been as undocumented immigrants? What inspired you to become involved as an advocate for yourself and so many other young people?

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B-More Committed: 'Finding the Gift' in Your Work

11/4/2013

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Courtesy of DeRay McKesson

In the last six months, I’ve had the opportunity to interview some insightful people within the District of Columbia’s diverse educational circles. We’ve learned about the inner workings of the policy sector from Zakiya Smith and Chad Aldeman, seen how non-profit organization DC SCORES keeps kids healthy and engaged, and experienced the sights and sounds of practitioners at Jefferson Academy and Eastern Senior High School.

As a Baltimorean, I know that this same spirit and commitment to education reform runs deep in Charm City. DeRay McKesson, who works for Baltimore City Public Schools, encompasses some of the best qualities of reformers in our area. He’s known for his intense work ethic and positive outlook, and he’s deliberately built a career that allows him to give back to his hometown in a big way.

After teaching sixth-grade math in New York City and working for the Harlem Children’s Zone, DeRay returned to his native Baltimore to found a new site for Higher Achievement and serve as a manager for the Baltimore City Teaching Residency (BCTR). From there, DeRay has moved up the district ladder to become the special assistant to the chief human capital officer, helping to oversee all personnel issues for the school system, from labor to licensure, placements to payroll. Here, DeRay shares his career evolution and how his work impacts students and staff districtwide.

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The 'Write' Way to Get Ahead

10/14/2013

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Photo courtesy of Chad Aldeman

These days, internships and mentors are as ubiquitous among college and graduate students as research papers and final exams. Such experiences are expected and collected, but many students are unaware of how to take full advantage of them to advance their careers. Not Chad Aldeman. This “proud Iowan” leveraged his mentors’ knowledge and networks, as well as his internship experiences, to create a launching pad for his career in education policy analysis and writing that led him to the U.S. Department of Education. Now an associate partner at Bellwether Education Partners and popular blogger for Education Sector, Aldeman shares his best advice for young professionals looking to do the same.

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Greenhouses, Gardens, and Baby Grand Pianos: A New State of Affairs in DCPS

9/9/2013

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With over 100 years of history, Eastern Senior High School has long been known as “The Pride of Capitol Hill.” However, between 1998 and 2008, Eastern Senior High went through eleven principals and a period of tumult. The school graduated its last class of seniors in 2011 before launching a massive turnaround plan. After a $77 million renovation to modernize the aging building and the enrollment of one grade per year to facilitate a smoother culture, Eastern Senior High is once again living up to its nickname. That’s thanks to Rachel Skerritt, who came to the District of Columbia in 2010 to lead the re-launch effort. The decision wasn’t an easy one; she had spent her entire professional career as a teacher, principal, and district administrator in Boston Public Schools, historically a high-performing urban district. The opportunity to “build” a school is what drew her, she says, and the results that the Eastern Senior High community has seen so far has been enough to keep her.

Rachel Skerritt, center, sits with students at Eastern Senior High School. (Photo courtesy of Skerritt.)

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Kicking Summer Learning Loss and Childhood Obesity

7/22/2013

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For many kids (and a lot of teachers, too), summer is revered as a long-awaited break from school, but the reality is that work in the education world doesn’t — and shouldn’t — end on the last day of school. Summer learning loss is a well-documented phenomenon where students, often lacking access to summer educational experiences, lose approximately two months worth of math and reading skills between school years. Worse yet, students are losing more than instruction during the summer months; without consistent meals and physical activity that the school year typically brings, the National Summer Learning Association points out that many students gain weight over the summer as well.

DC SCORES is a unique enrichment program that combines poetry, soccer, and service-learning to fight both summer learning loss and childhood obesity. Amy Nakamoto became executive director of DC SCORES in 2006 and has since received numerous honors from organizations such as the Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) for her work with D.C. youth. D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray also appointed Amy to the district’s Healthy Youth and Schools Commission. DC SCORES now serves students in more than 40 DC schools.

Before joining DC SCORES, Amy was a soccer coach at Bryn Mawr College. The Falls Church, Va., native previously played soccer at North Carolina State University.

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’Make It Hard To Not Have You In The Room’

6/25/2013

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Many 20-somethings (myself included) may find it challenging to carve a clear career path in a field as broad as education. With so many types of organizations tackling a range of critical issues, the breadth of choices for jobs and specialties can be overwhelming. Add to that the seemingly endless pool of like-minded, talented colleagues, and it becomes an even more daunting task to set oneself apart. Not for Zakiya Smith, who was named to the Forbes list “30 Under 30 in Education” just last year.

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D.C. Teacher Motivates Students to 'Rock That CAS'

5/21/2013

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These days, it is far too infrequent that we hear uplifting and motivating stories in the news. Education news, especially the topic of standardized assessments, has become increasingly political and less focused on the great things our teachers and students are accomplishing. So imagine my happy reaction when I saw this video on the Washington Post website, featuring a seventh-grade class rapping about their confidence and readiness for the D.C. Comprehensive Assessment System (DC-CAS) to the tune of Macklemore’s “Thrift Shop.” Excited to see someone pushing past the politics and motivating students to celebrate their knowledge and achievement, I knew I had some questions for the teacher behind this creation, Greg Dohmann.

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about

YEP-DC is a nonpartisan group of education professionals who work in research, policy, and practice – and even outside of education. The views expressed here are only those of the attributed author, not YEP-DC. This blog aims to provide a forum for our group’s varied opinions. It also serves as an opportunity for many more professionals in DC and beyond to participate in the ongoing education conversation. We hope you chime in, but we ask that you do so in a considerate, respectful manner. We reserve the right to modify or delete any content or comments. For any more information or for an opportunity to blog, contact us via one of the methods below.

Bloggers

MONICA GRAY is co-founder & president of DreamWakers, an edtech nonprofit. She writes on education innovation and poverty.

LYDIA HALL is a legislative aide in the U.S. House of Representatives, where she works on education, civil rights, and other issues. Lydia is interested in helping to bridge the gap between Capitol Hill and the classroom.

MOSES PALACIOS is an advocate for student rights and works as a Research Manager for the Council of the Great City Schools (CGCS) - a coalition of urban school districts across the nation. He writes on issues regarding the children of immigrants and students learning English as a second language. His views are his own and not representative of CGCS.

PATRICIA RUANE is a
research associate at an education nonprofit. She is an editor of Recess.

LESLIE WELSH is a high school social studies teacher in DC. She is an editor of Recess.

Don’t Forget the Little Ones: Prioritizing Early Childhood Education in D.C.

Presenting D.C.’s 2014 Teacher of the Year!

Regulation, Litigation…Intimidation? One Lawyer Explains Why Educators Have No Need to Fear Education Law

One Advocate’s Dreams of Civil Rights for Undocumented Immigrants

B-More Committed: 'Finding the Gift' in Your Work

The 'Write' Way to Get Ahead

Greenhouses, Gardens, and Baby Grand Pianos: A New State of Affairs in DCPS

Kicking Summer Learning Loss and Childhood Obesity

’Make It Hard To Not Have You In The Room’

D.C. Teacher Motivates Students to 'Rock That CAS'

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