Education policy experts said during a panel discussion Thursday at the Harvard Graduate School of Education that the cradle-to-career pathway, a comprehensive program that supports the education of students at every stage of life, is on the national education agenda. He said that this is the key to dealing with
Four education policy experts participated in the panel discussion. Russell W. Booker, his CEO of the Spartanburg Academic Movement. Cecilia Gutierrez, Managing Director and Portfolio Lead, Blue Meridian Partners; Kwame Owusu-Kesse '06, CEO of Harlem Children's Zone. Sondra Samuels, President and CEO of Northside Achievement Zone;
It was moderated by Paul Reville, professor of practice at HGSE and founding director of EdRedesign, an organization that supports workplace-based partnerships from cradle to career.
Community-based partnerships, programs that provide students with a local support network, improve on what Reville calls the “factory model” of “teaching to the average person” by providing students with a personalized education. I'm trying.
“There's no such thing as 'average,'” Reville says.
Sondra said one of the benefits of the place-based model is that it allows you to target places that have historically been underserved for children.
“We're failing them,” Sondra said of children who have been ignored in education. “That includes myself, and that includes you. But any obstacle that gets in your way becomes a path. If we are the problem, we are also the solution. So to me There is a lot of hope.”
Owusu-Kesse, who grew up in a single-parent household plagued by domestic violence, spoke about how the opportunity to receive a quality education changed her life. After receiving a scholarship early in his life, Owusu-Kesse graduated from Harvard University with a degree in economics.
“Education changed the trajectory of my life,” Owusu-Kesse said. “There's something special about being surrounded by adults who believe in your potential.”
Gutierrez similarly shared how she realized the importance of education early in life.
“Since I was 7 years old, I knew I was the greatest hope for my community and my family,” said Gutierrez, one of four children of a single Dominican immigrant mother. Ta.
Gutierrez and her sister both earned undergraduate and master's degrees, but Gutierrez's brother did not graduate high school.
“I've always wanted to know how we can take luck out of the equation,” she said.
Gutierrez said his experience in education led him to dedicate his life to securing funding for education reform.
“All of us in the social sector are chasing the same money,” Gutierrez said. “We need to change our mindset of scarcity to a mindset of abundance.”
She said she joined Blue Meridian Partners, a philanthropic model that aims to aggregate capital and invest in solutions at scale to ensure continued support for transformational projects.
Owusu-Kesse said policymakers from other countries come to him for advice on how to reform their local education systems, and the solutions he has pursued in the United States can be replicated globally. he added.
“We're not doing marketing, so why are you visiting us?” Owusu-Kesse recalled asking. “Each of them is saying, 'We have minorities, and we're trying to find a way to bring collective resources to them so they can thrive.'”
“So this is not just an American story, it's an international story,” he added.
—Staff writer Anna R. Gamburd can be reached at anna.gamburd@thecrimson.com.