Education – Page 4

Make Head Start A Full Day Program

Problem

The average cost for quality Pre-K programming is $14,000 annually in Montgomery County, while a family of 2 at the federal poverty line makes $16,000. Head Start Pre-K programs are available for families up to 100% of the federal poverty line, but federal funding only provides a 2.5-hour half day program. A 2.5 hour program is just not enough to meet the children’s needs or the family needs. Our Title 1 schools leverage their dollars to create full day programs, but not all Head Start-eligible children attend a Title 1 school. There were 14 schools who did not have a full day program, leaving the students further behind their wealthy peers.

Solution

We expanded Head Start Pre-K for poor families from a 2.5 hour program to a 7 hour full day program to maximize the early care and education that our children and their families need to be more successful. The key innovation is for the local government to take ownership of expanding Head Start rather than relying on Federal and State funds, which will not come soon enough. Through a partnership with the Community Action Agency and the Public School System, we were able to come to identify sufficient school facilities and teachers, and an endless supply of energy from the implementation team for full day programming. The school system was able to generate the budget requirement for funding.

Equitable Funding for All Kids

Problem

Unfortunately, in Colorado and across the nation, students are prioritized differently based on the type of school they attend, not the needs of the student.

Solution

I wrote and passed landmark legislation to create transparency around how we fund our schools locally, and ensuring that students are not treated differently just because of the type of schools they attend. My legislation also gives school boards the flexibility they need to ensure that historically disadvantaged student populations can and should receive more funding, but that they should not be treated differently because of their choice of school.

Creating Empowerment School Zones

Problem

While Massachusetts consistently ranks first in education when compared to the rest of the country, there are still many schools and school districts that have fallen behind and are in need of improvement. As legislators, it is our job to find methods and models of education that provide standards and guidelines to our schools, teachers and administrators while also creating enough flexibility in schools and allowing educators to make necessary changes that will provide a better learning environment for our students.

Solution

My legislation would allow for statewide expansion of the Springfield Empowerment School Zone model – a partnership between the state, school officials and the teachers’ union in which select schools in a district operate autonomously, under control of an independent board of directors, gaining flexibility in the following areas: curriculum, budget, school schedule and calendar, staffing, professional development and school district policies and procedures. The Empowerment Zone model enabled eight middle schools in Springfield to build on current systems and preserve local talent, while simultaneously bringing in new talent and making improvements elsewhere. As Massachusetts determines the best path forward to improve struggling schools and close the achievement gap, the Empowerment Zone model has emerged as key strategy, hinging on school level autonomy and accountability, along with a focus on an explicit inclusion of local voices.

Early Childhood Suspension Ban

Problem

Currently, very young students in prekindergarten through second grade are placed in out-of-school suspension for minor, disruptive behavior. When they are removed from the classroom, they fall behind their peers. In the 2013-2014 school year, 33,753 Texas children in prekindergarten through second grade received out-of school suspensions. 2,513 of these suspensions were issued to pre-k students. Suspending young children has proven to be harmful and ineffective. Young children who are expelled or suspended from school are about ten times more likely to drop out of high school, face incarceration, and repeat grades. Additionally, African American children, boys, and students with special needs are suspended at disproportionately high rates.

Solution

My House Bill 674, now law in Texas, prohibits schools from placing students in prekindergarten through second grade in out-of-school suspension and encourages schools to use alternative discipline methods that keep students in school. This reduces the stigmatizing effects that sending students home for disruptive behavior, even at that young of an age, creates, which studies have shown last through the completion of elementary school, middle school, and beyond. Additionally, the new law encourages districts to utilize alternative discipline methods that focus on positive behavior strategies and keep kids in school.

ACCESS (Affordable College & Career Education Starts with Saving)

Problem

In many cities across the country, the zip code you’re born in is the most predictive factor in the health, wealth, and life outcomes you can expect. This uneven playing field can manifests in your ability to attend college and lifetime earnings. Lack of access to post-secondary training decreases the likelihood of attaining a good-paying job and supporting a family. Even after receive advanced training, the debt incurred may keep prosperity out of reach. Young people from lower-income families have an especially difficult time saving for college, because the financial status of the family may not lend itself to supporting their education. The price of admission reinforces the barriers that young people face in exiting poverty.

Solution

Columbus is piloting ACCESS, a program to address financial barriers that keep lower-income youth from achieving a post-secondary education. Through the Recreation and Parks Department’s Applications for Purpose, Pride, and Success (APPS) program, youth ages 14-24 receive a job along with leadership and professional development, financial education, and mentoring. Through the pilot eligible youth will also have access to an Individual Development Account (IDA) where up to $500 in savings will be matched 8:1 with a combination of City, private, and federal dollars, for a total of $4,500. Participants can use the funds for any eligible educational expense, including earning a certificate, to seek a four-year degree, or learn a trade.

Alabama School of Cyber Technology & Engineering

Problem

With so many technological advances, the needs of the workforce are constantly changing. It is imperative that our student’s education caters to those needs and students have the skills to thrive outside of the classroom. Many companies have to look outside of the state to fill high-level jobs in the field of engineering and cyber technology because that has not been the focus of the curriculum in Alabama. If we want to develop a workforce skilled at creating new technology with strong cyber networks that can’t be comprised, we must teach those skills and invest in the next generation of innovators from an early age.

Solution

Alabama will open a new technology- driven magnet school, the Alabama School of Cyber Technology & Engineering, for gifted students grade 7-12 from all across the state to develop a young workforce skilled at creating innovative technology with strong cyber networks that can’t be compromised. The school will also assist teachers, administrators, & superintendents across the state in replicating the curriculum in schools all across the state so that all students will develop the skills that are in high demand to be competitive in the current workforce.

Access College Early Promise Program

Problem

The ACE Promise program solves two problems: one, the lack of skilled workers in in-demand occupations like nursing and two, the need to create opportunities for students to pursue, pay for, and complete a career track higher education program.

Solution

The ACE Promise program builds on an existing program, the Access College Early program, which funds low-income high school student enrollment in dual credit courses. The ACE Promise program would provide community college scholarships to students pursuing certificates, diplomas, or associates degrees in the career field they began in high school.

Dual-credit has had a proven impact on college-going rates for low-income students: 81 percent of students go on to college, vs. 53 percent of low-income students who do not participate.

These “middle-skill” careers account for 56 percent of Nebraska’s labor market, representing true job opportunities for students.

1000 Kids Coding

Problem

Across the country and in New Castle County, there is a mismatch between available jobs and people skilled to perform them. One key gap is in the technology area, where the jobs of tomorrow across many industries will increasingly rely on software development skills, and where there exists a shortage of qualified developers.

In schools serving low-income students in New Castle County, there is little intensive technology education, creating an income-based gap in educational –and career– opportunities. Leaders in county government created the vision for 1000 Kids Coding to help fill that gap by providing hands-on technology education programs in middle and high schools and other settings to prepare county youth for the jobs of tomorrow.

Solution

1000 Kids Coding will engage students in intensive coding education, including designing websites for actual clients. Working with partners who are experts in teaching and mentoring students in coding skills and client engagement, students will learn underlying coding languages and apply them by designing real websites for actual clients. We piloted this concept this summer as part of the county’s Summer Youth Employment Program.

The firm Code Differently engaged 23 students from low-income families in a “Development Shop” or “Dev Shop” environment, and the students got paid to work in teams to design websites for clients, using HTML, CSS and JavaScript. The students made amazing progress in the 9-weeks, in both coding and soft skills.

#FixOurSchools: Creating 21st Century Learning Environments

Problem

Every child deserves to attend a school that is warm, safe, dry and equipped for 21st century learning, but aging public school buildings are holding students back. An audit found over 50,000 deficiencies across 306 schools. These deficiencies, which would cost $2.2 billion to repair, range from threats to health and safety, to programmatic deficiencies such as a lack of adequate science labs that speak directly to the ability of the state to prepare students to be successful in the modern economy. Prior to our intervention, the total needs of RI’s school buildings was projected to grow to $2.9 over ten years, , meaning that the cost of repairing schools would have increased an average of $70 million per year in the absence of new action.

Solution

We addressed three challenges: 1. current investment was insufficient to keep up with building deterioration; 2. most of the existing state budget allocation was used for municipal debt service on completed projects, meaning the state was subsidizing borrowing costs of lower-rated communities; and 3. standards failed to ensure building upkeep. The solution invests more resources, more efficiently, with new guardrails including stronger maintenance requirements. The state will provide $500 million in matching grants to school districts, to incentivize improvements and reduce municipal borrowing costs. The state will offer districts extra matching funding for projects affecting student outcomes (i.e. STEAM, safety, early childhood education).

Statewide Imagination Library Partnership

Problem

85% of detainees in juvenile detention facilities are functionally illiterate. This is not a coincidence. Children who show up to kindergarten with no prior exposure to books—an outcome far too frequent in our society—do not have the neurological infrastructure to learn. Given the crucial years of early brain development, they may never have the capacity to realize their true potential. Lack of quality early childhood education leads to a host of societal problems, including increasing the likelihood of committing any crime, committing a violent crime, using drugs, becoming a teen parent, relying on government assistance, while quality early childhood education substantially increases the chances for a host of societal goods, including graduating from high school, going to college, owning a home, and having a productive career. Lack of affordable, quality, early childhood education programs is a real problem in our society.

Solution

Investing in the neurological, social, and emotional development of our children is the smartest investment we can make. This program provides every child in the state with a total of 60 books over the first five years of their lives, sending one age appropriate book per month for $1.10/book through a partnership with Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, who has negotiated rates with Penguin Press and the USPS, and who has an early childhood panel of experts who select the books. The program works best when the state provides 50% of the funding for the entire state, and a non-profit organization in each county raises a matching 50% of the funds for the eligible children in that county. For Arkansas, the total cost of the program would be roughly $3 million, with the state’s share being $1.5 million.

Make Head Start A Full Day Program

Problem

Solution

Equitable Funding for All Kids

Problem

Solution

Creating Empowerment School Zones

Problem

Solution

Early Childhood Suspension Ban

Problem

Solution

ACCESS (Affordable College & Career Education Starts with Saving)

Problem

Solution

Alabama School of Cyber Technology & Engineering

Problem

Solution

Access College Early Promise Program

Problem

Solution

1000 Kids Coding

Problem

Solution

#FixOurSchools: Creating 21st Century Learning Environments

Problem

Solution

Statewide Imagination Library Partnership

Problem

Solution

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