Complaining about public transportation is almost a national pastime. While not quite cocktail party chatter, transit often comes up in conversations “around the water cooler” and invariably the discussion descends into who has had the worst experience. And also invariably the conversations end with at least one “why don’t they just…” Unfortunately, water cooler conversations […]
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A garden in every school
Monday, September 27, 2010Elementary School children gather around a table in their Food Education class. The teacher brings out a pomegranate, which she cuts in half and opens to the waiting eyes of the children, one of whom lets out a delighted “ooooooh. It looks like jewels!!” Kwan, age 10, picks up a shovel as community members gather […]
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School reform from the inside out
Monday, September 13, 2010On August 24, the same date that Maryland was awarded 250 million dollars in Race to the Top funds to support bold education reform across the state, the Fordham Institute published a report analyzing America’s Best (and Worst) Cities for School Reform. Surprisingly, Baltimore received a “C” and was ranked 17th out of the 26 […]
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Investing in education innovation
Tuesday, September 07, 2010Two decades ago, a young Princeton University undergraduate student proposed an “audacious idea” as part of her thesis: to create a grassroots organization devoted to education reform by recruiting the best and brightest college students to teach in America’s most challenged classrooms. Today, Wendy Kopp is recognized by Time Magazine as one the world’s most […]
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Giving students time to make friends and socialize during their 9th grade transition would encourage more students to attend school
Monday, July 26, 2010We have an attendance problem in Baltimore. For the past three school years, over 40% percent of Baltimore City public high school students have missed a month or more of school making them chronically absent1 and last school year 49% of 9th graders missed at least a month of school.2 Imagine what would happen if […]
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A treasure map of Baltimore’s opportunities for youth
Monday, July 19, 2010Research tells us that engaging out of school time learning opportunities are a necessary part of a well-rounded childhood. Children spend only a fraction of their hours in school and need nourishing, challenging, and fun activities to fill in the balance. My audacious idea is to map all of the opportunities that currently exist for […]
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What are youth worth to the state: the creation of a generational glass ceiling
Tuesday, July 06, 2010Since the beginning of time many groups have overcome situations where their advancement within the hierarchy of society was undermined. From women to racial groups, many have seemingly broken the “glass ceiling” looming over their heads. Yet I have a hard time believing teenagers facing the prospect of jail and prison as the only viable […]
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Education goes 3D: the power of play
Monday, June 28, 2010What makes a classroom different than a children’s museum? In many kindergartens today, children sit passively at their desk while teachers deliver the latest scripted lessons on vocabulary, spelling and addition—lessons sometimes dotted with classes in science and history. In children’s museums, these same students can be seen engineering bridges with tinkertoys, testing the force […]
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Chicken Masala with a side of mentoring
Monday, June 14, 2010In Maryland more than 207,000 children are at risk for hunger. The same number of young people are unsupervised during the after-school hours. The child who goes home to an empty house is likely to be the same child who may not have access to food between the end of the school day and the […]
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Engaging kids through theater
Monday, June 07, 2010Let’s give every student the chance to write and produce a play. This can happen in the language arts classroom or as part of an after-school program. The important part is that students are in charge, from brainstorming to production night. Students crave opportunities to express themselves, and theater offers a constructive outlet for the […]
