14 Who Are Revolutionizing Education

I recently came across a slightly old, but hardly dated article in Forbes that highlighted 14 “Revolutionary Educators,” key thought leaders who have taken on the achievement gap between young minority children and their white peers.

While the traditional education system has struggled to find a solution to the unacceptable disparity in educational attainment across economic and racial lines in this country, these individuals, working both inside and outside of the system, are at least attempting to attack this problem head on, some with promising results, others arguably still just with promises.

The 14 featured educators include:

Geoffrey Canada, Founder of the Harlem Children’s Zone: The HCZ Is a highly visible program in Central Harlem, NY, designed to eliminate the racial achievement disparity. The program features comprehensive services, from prenatal care to charter schools to family counseling. While highly lauded by the Obama administration, there is not universal agreement as to features of this initiative that are impacting the results. However, there is no doubt that Canada and the HCZ have had a significant impact on the debate about raising expectations and performance of our nation’s vulnerable children.

Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin, Co-Founders of the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP): Founded in 1994, KIPP is currently in  nearly 100 locations in nearly 20 states, serving over 20,000 children. KIPP schools are public charter school programs, primarily serving minority children from low income backgrounds. Over 90 percent of KIPP middle school children have gone to college preparatory high schools, with over 85 percent of KIPP alums going on to college. Keys to KIPP success include high expectations, longer school days and years, and a “relentless” focus on results.

Deborah Bial, Founder of the Posse Foundation: This innovate organization that was founded in 1989, identifies public high school students with academic and leadership potential who may be overlooked by traditional college selection processes. Posse partners with a network of college and universities to provide scholarships to selected students in groups of 10 to ensure a supportive, multicultural environment throughout their college experience.

John Schnur, Founder of New Leaders for New Schools (NLNS): Nearly a decade old, NLNS provides an alternative process for committed leaders from diverse, non-traditional backgrounds to achieve certification to become urban school principals and to support improved teacher effectiveness and student achievement. 

Roy Romer, Bob Schwartz, Mike Smith, and Marc Tucker, Founders, Standards Based Reform Movement: Coming from diverse backgrounds, political, academic, and research based, these four individuals have driven the mantra of educational accountability and high standards for all students for over a decade.

Wendy Kopp, Founder, Teach for America: Arguably the single most influential program in educational reform today, TFA has tackled the problem of getting America’s best and brightest college graduates to commit to serving as teachers in our worst performing schools in low income communities. As of this year, TFA has more than 20,000 alums, supporting nearly half a million children annually. In addition to providing direct service, TFA alums have gone on to be visible educational leaders throughout the nation.

Michelle Rhee, Washington D.C. School Chancellor: As Chancellor of the DC Schools, one of the worst in the nation, Michelle Rhee has taken on the teachers unions and educational bureaucracy, closing underperforming schools and firing “poor teachers.” As recently as last week, Chancellor Rhee re-sparked the controversy, firing over 200 teachers for poor performance.

Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education: Over the past 18 months we have been following many of the ground breaking educational initiatives of the Obama Administration led by Secretary Duncan including the highly visible Race to the Top. Only time will tell what his legacy will be, and whether or not he can make the systemic changes he maintains are necessary for true educational reform, but there is no doubt that education has moved to the center of the policy arena despite the dominant focus on health care, financial reform, and the broader economy.

Lynn and Doug Fuchs, Researchers, National Center for Response to Intervention: Probably not as well known as the other educators in this list, Lynn and Doug Fuchs have taken on the challenge of providing better diagnosis, support, and outcomes for children with learning disabilities and diagnosed special needs in more mainstreamed environments.

The common thread throughout the efforts of these influential educators is their belief that all children deserve a chance to succeed in life, and that we can make a meaningful difference in their lives if we do not write them off because of their economic, racial, or even intellectual status.

Our current educational system is failing far too many children.  Whether you agree or disagree with their approach, their results, or their politics, one can still be inspired by their firm conviction that every child can have a better future.

Serving the iGeneration with Online Learning

Periodically, I welcome a guest to join me on my blog. Dr. Caprice Young, President and CEO, KC Distance Learning, has authored the following article on online learning.

We recently conducted a national survey of 500 students, aged 13-17, about their attitudes toward school and learning. Born in the mid 1990s, they are the “iGeneration,” a whole new breed of students who have never known a world without the Internet and on-demand access to content, just like Generation X never knew a world without a TV or telephone.

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Not so surprisingly, these students told us that classroom boredom (42 percent) and distractions from other classmates (46%) are the top challenges they face daily at school. Ninety percent revealed that while technology tools are available to them in the classroom, they are limited to basic functions like online research, PowerPoint or Excel.  

The iGeneration has grown up in a world of customization and immediate feedback, which is why we need to re-wire our educational approach of stand-and-deliver learning and engage these students. Ninety percent in our survey said that if they were in charge of their school, they would offer more electives and online classes and be able to choose the time of the day they go to school.

The message from today’s students is clear. It’s time for individualized education on demand.

This year, more than 1 million middle and high school students in the U.S. are enrolled in online classes, and the use of online learning tools, whether inside or outside of the classroom, is inevitable and growing. More and more traditional brick-and-mortar schools are offering blended learning programs that combine classroom instruction or lab work with online curriculum.

Some schools have started, for example, a math lab, where their teacher serves as the proctor and 30 kids are in the lab, each taking the math class that is appropriate for their level. One student is taking pre-algebra, another trigonometry, and all of them can really focus on individualized learning. At the same time, online learners get the attention and immediate feedback they need by communicating in real-time with their teachers through IM, chat, email phone calls and real one-on-one support.

Online learning now is becoming more mainstream.  It continues to serve students who simply cannot participate in their local school programs for a variety of reasons.  Many live in rural areas and cannot reasonably travel great lengths to get to school, other students are home taking care of sick parents or siblings, and some are teenagers who have professional careers as athletes or actors. 

However, as Generation X teachers become decision makers in schools, they want to employ the technology they used in college to give their students an edge. We work in 1,800 organizations nationwide led by these innovative educators to provide online learning through public, private and charter schools. We are finding that online learning students consistently have higher average SAT and ACT scores than traditional, non-online learning schools.

It’s an exciting time to be a part of an education improvement movement and a generational shift that cannot be stopped.  The iGeneration is challenging the current system and we need to listen. Personally, I’m looking forward to really serving this next generation well.

About Dr. Caprice Young
Dr. Caprice Young is the President and CEO of KC Distance Learning, Inc. and was formerly Vice President of Business Development and Alliances of Knowledge Universe®. Dr Young is at the forefront of the online learning movement and a true “education innovator” who is helping to drive access to flexible, high quality education for students of all levels and needs, as well as improving student and school achievement. In her current role, Dr. Young oversees the three lines of business of KC Distance Learning, Inc., including the Aventa Learning^TM brand, the iQ Academy® brand and the Keystone Schools brand, enriching the lives of more than 260,000 students through high quality online education programs.

The Power and Potential of Parental Engagement

51 delegates, 16 speakers and countless discussions, efforts and hopes.  

The inaugural Mom Congress kicked off on Monday, May 3rd in Washington D.C. with a strong sense of both individual and collective empowerment. As the lead sponsor of the event and on behalf of KinderCare Learning Centers, I was moved by the power and potential that every mom brought with her to advocate for change and improvement in education for their children.  

Me with Greg Schumann, Vice President and Group Publisher, The Parenting Group, Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education, Susan Kane, Editor-in-Chief, Parenting Magazine, and Nina Rees, Senior Vice President for Strategic Initiatives, Knowledge Universe

Each mom offered a voice that is loud and clear and is not asking, but demanding a better school system, a better environment in which to learn, a better lunch program to grow healthy minds and bodies – for their child and every child. 

I met dedicated and driven women such as Emily Rempe, representing Ohio, who so strongly believes that “the school systems are only as strong as the parents who are engaged in each child’s life,” that she created a parent-friendly website offering access to early childhood educators, articles and simple activities that enhance a child’s age and developmental stage. 

Another delegate, Michelle Kelly from Georgia, is a school council member and has been rallying to reduce overcrowding in three of her neighboring elementary schools, resulting in increased enrollment at elementary schools that were under student capacity. 

Stacey Kannenberg from Wisconsin struggled with finding a book to help her children get ready for kindergarten, and so she created and self-published her own series of books now used in more than 400 school districts nationwide. 

Pennsylvania’s Melissa Bilash is one of 78 federally-trained child advocates in the country, fighting for the best educational resources for gifted children and children with disabilities.

I invite you to meet the rest of the amazing Mom Congress delegates here:  http://www.parenting.com/gallery/Mom/Meet-the-51-Mom-Congress-Delegates

As Secretary of Education Arne Duncan addressed the Mom Congress, he reaffirmed that change starts with parents’ commitment and involvement in their children’s education.  As a child’s first and more important teacher, parents have enormous influence in their child’s educational success.  

And while we spent time focusing on the “Mom” Congress, let’s not forget the dads, aunts, uncles and grandparents who are also advocating for better education for our children and who are also powerful agents of change.  Together, this collective movement of engagement and involvement can yield benefits not just in one community, but every community across the country.

I am eager and hopeful to see the Mom Congress delegates take their learnings and lesson plans back to their hometowns so that their hopes turn into actions and their actions into results.  And I was honored and thrilled to have spent time with these passionate, forceful, caring, and committed women.