Partnering for Academic Achievment

Welcome

A September article from Education Week describes and interesting initiative. “The Covenant between Minneapolis Public Schools and The African American Mobilization for Education” represents a grassroots effort to close the academic achievement gap. Local community groups, parents, and school board all agreed to improve communication, accountability, and practice in addressing the needs of African American students. As a result 3 model school sites will receive additional resources and specialized training to target improved academic achievement for African American students. An “African American Family Involvement Center” will be established to provide community based training and activities for families.  A joint task force made up of school officials, parents, and community leaders will monitor progress.

An interesting element to the “Covenant” is the explicit acknowledgement that the “failures” in educating African American students was a “shared responsibility.” Another interesting element is that they purposely looked at the issue from a parent’s perspective.

I am eager to see some results from this initiative. As someone with multiple lenses on the field of education, I feel this acknowledgement is long overdue. Also long overdue are the resources, programming and accountability needed to effectively address the achievement gap. This could be a win/win situation for the students who participate in this initiative.

• Students benefit when parents, school officials, and community programs are all on the same page, are working together, and held accountable.  No mixed messages and/or finger pointing.
• School districts and schools use their resources and training to deliver culturally responsive instruction that increases student engagement and achievement.
•  Community organization use their resources and training to provide appropriate services that support families and student learning.
• Parents receive support in having healthy/safe activities for their children and learning the best ways to support student learning.

It should be noted that this initiative is not an automatic success. It is a covenant rather than a contract, and could disappear quickly if funding dries up or a change in district leadership. The strength of the initiative is highly correlated with the commitment of the people involved.

That said, it does make me think of how I could create and encourage stronger partnerships as a parent, educator, and community member. It also makes me think of the implications of this at the education policy level as Secretary Duncan and President Obama figure out how to disperse stimulus funding.