Harvard's Mark Warren is a  guest blogger in the Washington Post's Political Bookworm and reports on his project studying education reform through community action. He comes to the surprising (?) conclusion that community organizing works like a Match on Dry Grass. Very cool.

 Among the many strategies for improving America’s schools, Mark R. Warren offers a promising approach: community organizing, particularly in public schools in low-income neighborhoods.

In a new book, “A Match on Dry Grass: Community Organizing as a Catalyst for School Reform,” Warren, an associate professor of education at Harvard, serves as lead author in a series of case studies in New York, Los Angeles, Denver and elsewhere in which parents and students became participants in reform. Here, he describes the efforts of community organizing in education in Chicago.

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Following community organizing principles, the association approached these parents as potential leaders. With participation from local school principals, the association brought Latina mothers together as a group in a “parent mentor” program where they could learn how to become involved in schools in a supportive environment and build their knowledge and confidence.

The program placed these parent mentors in classrooms two hours a day, where they helped teachers by preparing materials, giving students individual attention, and organizing classroom activities.

At first, teachers were skeptical and worried that parent mentors would be “spying” on them. But the mentors showed they could provide real help and they built relationships with the teachers; today, there are not enough mentors for all the teachers who want one.

With the support of the association, the parents became mentors for other parents, helping them to get involved as well. Over the past 15 years, parent mentors have spearheaded efforts to open community learning centers and libraries, and launched a tutoring project and a home visitation program, among other initiatives.

So.... organizing works!!

What a great headline and story in the Globe story by Jessica Bartlett

Braintree investing in schools New facilities, more teachers, and now higher MCAS scores

In part...........

The progress was conspicuously on display last month at Braintree High School, where the athletic fields, their artificial turf still smelling new, were dedicated durig a well-attended ceremony.

Just a few days later, Governor Deval Patrick visited East Middle School, which was named one of the state’s “Commendation Schools’’ for improved MCAS scores.

Such improvements inside and outside the classroom are occurring even in a tough budgetary climate, as Braintree implements an investment strategy that emphasizes spending on teachers and supplements local revenue with state funding for facilities.

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Some local officials see a strong correlation between Braintree’s capital spending on the schools and increased student performance.

“I think it’s been a priority for the mayor, the Town Council, and the School Committee,’’ Town Councilor Charles Ryan said. “I think when you have students learning in a better atmosphere, when you’re fixing the schools and repairing the schools, it would lead to better performance.’’

High praise for access and transparency around redistricting and, in my humble opinion, not enough  media coverage about the legislature doing something the right way.  One great article in the Globe by Bob Salsberg  in part.

Never in the history of the Commonwealth have minorities been empowered to elect candidates of their choice as they (will be) when we pass this bill," said Rep. Michael Moran, D-Boston, co-chair of the 24-member committee which drew up the proposed maps.

 

Sen. Stanley Rosenberg, the Senate chair of the redistricting committee, said the new map creates the first minority-majority Senate district in Hampden County, in western Massachusetts.

 

Despite all of the changes, Rosenberg, an Amherst Democrat, said the redistricting plan also sought to maintain as much continuity as possible.

 

"In general, you will find that at least 92 percent of the population of Massachusetts continues to live in the district that they have been living in for the last 10 years," he said.

 

 

 

 

They differ on where to place the blame I think, and a thoughtful article by  Kate Zernike in the New York Times did a great job of documenting my simple observations. (Always a good idea.)

She says Its more than a simple culture war, "young versus old, left versus right, communal food tables versus “Don’t Tread on Me” flags."  Here is her main point, but you should read the whole thing.

In fact, the two movements do share key traits. They emerged out of nowhere but quickly became potent political forces, driven by anxiety about the economy, a belief that big institutions favor the reckless over the hard-working, grievances that are inchoate and even contradictory, and an insistence that they are “leaderless.” “End the Fed” signs — and even some of those yellow Gadsden flags — have found a place at Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street protests alike.

Where they differ is in where they place the blame. While Occupy forces find fault in the banks and super-rich, the Tea Party movement blames the government for the economic calamity brought on by the mortgage crisis, and sees the wealthy as job creators who will lift the country out of its economic malaise. To them, the solution is less regulation of banks, not more.

Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey declared Monday, “If you told the Occupy Wall Street people and the Tea Party people that they are the same, they would hit you.”

Thanks for the warning Governor. I don't want to get hit!