Education Solutions Through Community Empowerment..

[Policy...Man]

The following are excerpts from a position paper, on the state of education in the city of Newark, written by myself and a life long friend who teaches in the city. The uniqueness of the piece was that he is a Charter Public School Teacher and I, a Traditional Public School Teacher, yet we have the same desired result for "All Of Newark's School Children..

Did you know that the word “EDUCATION” does not represent itself as a fundamental right in the United States Constitution? The power is delineated to the states through what are known as “education clauses”, however the United States Constitution does not guarantee the right to attain an education to every citizen. Hence politicians always say that they would advocate for Universal Access to quality education, or that they would make quality education affordable, but they never say that they would change the language of the constitution to make education a fundamental right of all who desire it in this country.

Nelson Mandela once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”- If this is to be true why has Newark suffered so much in the past 40 years with the decay of its’ educational system? Did not our leaders believe in the system of education and its inherent rewards, seeing as though it was used properly to better the lives of Newarkers?

This is Newark, the “NEW ARK”, if you will. Our very existence is divinely inspired and significant to the resourcefulness of humanity. Just think all roads lead to Newark, NJ. All political roads, all economic roads, all transportation roads and yes, all educational roads lead to Newark. Tell me any other town in New Jersey that’s a college town like Newark.

With such being the case, why has Newark failed at capitalizing on the strategic location of its waterways, ports, and roadways to help with the educational advancement of its children? There are almost 100 high schools, elementary, alternative and charter schools in the city of Newark. However, we have one of the largest high school dropout and illiteracy rates in the state. Newark is home to some of the world’s largest corporations IDT, Prudential, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Jersey, as well as a host of research and strategic planning institutions that make Newark a destination city. So why is it that our children still suffer from poor education and 3rd world living conditions in some parts of our city?

Perhaps it is because Newark has fallen victim to the politics of education as oppose to the prosperity of education. Newark has been inundated with cronyism and nepotism when it comes to the educational prosperity of its school district.

[Policy...Man]

For a moment, let us focus on the students. Newark school children would best be served by both a public and private partnership that exhausted all means of creativity, which would enable Newark students to compete on a Global Scale. There needs to beexpressed community involvement and access to information as it relates to the institutional success of all Newark School Children. There should be established rights of passages as children seek to entire into the next phase of their educational advancement as such an implementation would create a sense of ownership for both students, teachers, administrators and parents which should make up the educational community as a whole.

All educational facets should be examined. I support traditional public education at its finest; however I am not opposed to community involvement in the process of educating its own. Charter Schools, vouchers, and school choice should all be means at the disposal of residents who seek to attain the best education for their children. However, I do not believe it to be the end all as it pertains to the revolution of education and the function of it. There needs to be strict community participation and involvement when it comes to bettering the quality of educational life for its inhabitants. It is my belief that true education comes with proper information dissemination and accurate statistical data that pinpoints our weaknesses in academia, and provides a clear-cut blueprint as to how we are to address these issues as a community and a society.

In all of these school models there needs to be an ethos of cooperation, community participation and involvement. No school format should trumpet the notion that the administration and staff know what's best and simultaneously, explicitly or implicitly discourage parental participation. At the same time, no school should allow parents and/or guardians to leave their children at the door with the presumption that the administration and teachers can cultivate active and successful learners without home support.

[Policy...Man]

It is my belief that Newark's educational community will be well served by a review of performance indicators to date in plain language so that the students, parents, teachers, and administrators have a more clear understanding of our achievements, our goals and objectives, as well as plausible programs and strategies that should improve our future achievement. We can no longer be a city whose educational successes rest on the few that do well as we brush over the many that have been done a disservice.

There needs to be an established educational liaison between both the municipality and school district that is solely responsible for the implementation of strategic formulas that help enhance the academic opportunities for all of Newark’s Children. Not an entity created that is predisposed to the political ramifications of someone’s stance on the state and direction of Public Education in Newark. The substratum of such a policy remains grounded in the notion that it is the people who ultimately decide what is best for them and the children they raise.

There needs to be a global focus on education in our city. Our students need to be afforded the opportunity to see and experience more. Through public and private partnerships Newark School Children should be exposed to more opportunities to travel and study abroad, regardless of age and grade level. Yes, there needs to be a certain level of maturity and responsibility for every Newark School student who has been deemed worthy of such an experience. However, the experience is one that should be guaranteed for in life we are a sum total of our experiences and it is our duty to ensure that the youth of our society are afforded the very best our society has to offer.

[Policy...Man]

Also in addressing our city’s achievement gap there must be hands on 21st Century Technology Based Instruction that helps and facilitates differentiated instruction, student centered learning as well as learning techniques that reinforces student engaged responsibility for their learning.

We have to incorporate the aforementioned measures to bring creativity back into the classroom. This will return wholehearted teacher morale to our learning institutions, which will in turn assist in better-standardized test results from our educators. Seeing as we are leaning towards a knowledge-based global workforce we need to redefine how we implement policy and instruction that keeps us on par with our global counter-parts.

In assuming such a method can work, just as we expect students to adapt and rise to the new 21st Century Technology Based Instruction, we must demand educational workforces that come equip with and will provide adequate professional development to help faculty and administrators meet the needs of such an objective.

There needs to be a “move beyond” the traditional classroom. When I teach I instruct my students that “the world is our classroom and with the world as your classroom all your dreams are within your grasp.” We need to transform how our communities look at and value education as it relates to their growth and development. We should have students engaged in the communities their learning institutions are anchored in. Local stores and businesses should be used to further student’s knowledge and social understanding. A visit to the grocery store during a class’ academic day can be used to facilitate a math, science or social studies lesson or all three for that matter. A trip to one of our local colleges or universities to coordinate a lesson with a college level Science or Engineering class may inspire the next George Washington Carver or Thomas Edison because students will see this beyond their traditional classroom. With educators and community partners working together the possibilities are endless.

[Policy...Man]

Theory of how to truly empower our community in the debate on the change of education in the city of Newark. Please provide whatever insight and criticism, no matter how critical or constructive. The submission was 15 pages in length, but the aforementioned was an attempt to spark debate.

Respect!!