Open Society Institute – Baltimore
Open Society Institute (OSI) – Baltimore : Audacious Thinking For Lasting Change
This week we commemorate the birthday and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. One of my first childhood memories is of sitting in the kitchen of my grandparents’ west Baltimore home watching my family react to the breaking news of Dr. King’s assassination. I was only 3-years-old, but their reaction, and the fires, which destroyed blocks not far from our home, made me certain that something had gone terribly wrong.
Imagine if the 3 PM school dismissal bell wasn’t a call for mass exodus. Imagine if students remained in school well into the evening—not for an afterschool program or detention—but as part of an engaging, integrated day of math, African dance, science, photography, English, civic leadership, and even Brazilian martial arts.
Inner city middle school youth from the poorest neighborhoods in Maryland—kids who once couldn’t swim—are now rowing in high-tech racing shells on the Middle Branch Basin as an avenue to college scholarships
I hope you’ve heard the good news about our Baltimore City Schools. It’s really something to celebrate. According to the most recent release of high school performance data by the Maryland State Department of Education, Baltimore City public schools have again increased their graduation rates. But it is the dramatic gains of African American boys […]
In times of economic struggle there is an opportunity for improved coordination of child serving agencies to work smarter and reach further. I am troubled by reduced budgets and yet optimistic in the spirit of cross system collaboration and partnership, with the possibilities of better service, quality care, and improved outcomes for youth and families. I do believe we can do more, with less…
This year, we were invited by the Open Society Foundations to organize a local news experiment called NewsTrust Baltimore. The goal of this six-month pilot was to help Baltimore residents find and share good journalism about their community—and to teach college and high school students how to separate fact from fiction online. From February to […]
This week, alarm clocks will sound off throughout Baltimore city signaling parents, students and teachers to awaken for the first week of school. Some will bounce right out of bed eager to start the day while others will hit the snooze button hoping for an extra five minutes of sleep. Why should there be a […]
The U.S. faces a critical shortage of skilled software developers. Employers cannot find enough talented practitioners despite offering high salaries and generous benefits. I believe this is due to the outmoded, off-putting way we expose students to computer programming techniques, and I propose that Baltimore become the world leader for a new educational approach. Baltimore […]
Whether you live in Baltimore or across the country in Seattle, you probably believe that every child deserves a high-quality education. But what does that mean? What does that look like? How do we know whether that is happening? As it turns out, these simple questions are quite difficult to answer. A big part of […]
I never had illusions of becoming a rocket scientist, but as a child I loved classroom experiments that brought topics in science alive. What happened to two lima beans, planted separately, one placed in a dark closet and one on the windowsill? Or why does mixing baking soda and vinegar form that science fair staple, […]
OSI-Baltimore has permanently closed. It has been our honor and privilege to partner with and serve the Baltimore community for the past 25 years.
This website is available for historical purposes. It is no longer being updated.