LA Students Drive Home the Message of Success in Education at Law School Conference

The speech by Raj Vinnakota and the panel discussion from this conference can be viewed by clicking here.

Raj Vinnakota and Rafe Esquith have some real differences in how they approach educating children who come from backgrounds that are connected with low success rates in education. Each has taken decidedly different paths to becoming a nationally prominent figure in pushing for greater success for such children. Vinnakota is involved in national reform efforts. Esquith is a teacher whose message focuses on the great things that can happen between teachers and students.

But the two certainly share one major belief: It can be done. Children growing up amid poverty or in homes where the circumstances are not conducive to success in school can become big successes.  Teachers and schools can lead them there. And it can happen a lot more frequently than it has been happening across the nation.

If there was a key take-away from “High Success with High-Need Kids,” a conference Tuesday at Marquette Law School’s Eckstein Hall, it was that Vinnakota and Esquith, as well as four leaders in  Milwaukee education, differed on styles of education, attitudes toward testing or teacher unions, and a variety other issues. But they each had a charge to the 230 people who attended: Get involved, get energized, and keep pursuing better outcomes for the children of the Milwaukee metropolitan area.

“This is not how it has to be,” said Heidi Ramirez, who became chief academic officer of Milwaukee Public Schools on July 1. “There other high poverty, big city districts that are way out-performing Milwaukee.” During a panel discussion with other local educators, Ramirez outlined some of the efforts that MPS is pursuing under new Superintendent Gregory Thornton that she hopes will bring better results, including a citywide literacy plan and different strategies on working with teachers to make what they do in classrooms more effective.

Vinnakota gave the keynote speech about how the SEED School, a boarding school for low-income children in Washington, D.C., was launched. He was co-founder and is now CEO of that school and a second one in Baltimore and he is a leader in efforts to create such schools elsewhere, including Milwaukee.  He also gave his perspective on national education trends and what is being learned about what it takes for high-need kids to succeed.

Vinnakota, who grew up in Glendale, appeared as part of a week-long visit to Marquette as social entrepreneur in residence.

“Too many people have written off too many children,” Vinnakota said.  He said that with sufficient resources and good use of those resources, any child can become a college graduate. “We know how to do it, he said. “Are we willing to put our money where our mouth is?”

Esquith is a former National Teacher of the Year, author of three books, including Teach Like Your Hair’s on Fire, and winner of many awards.  But he continues as a fifth-grade teacher at Hobart Elementary School, which serves low-income children in Los Angeles, and year after year leads his students to  amazing accomplishments.

You didn’t need to do anything more to convince the audience at Eckstein Hall of that than to watch the Hobart Shaekespeareans, as the nine students who came with him are called. They performed excerpts from two Shakespeare plays, two contemporary songs, and other Shakespeare-related material. The electrifying work of the fifth-graders brought a prolonged standing ovation from the audience  — and carried with it an unspoken challenge that, if Esquith can lead kids to such accomplishments year after year, other teachers should aim higher too.

Esquith urged the teachers in the audience to teach with passion and dedication, to not be afraid of making mistakes but to learn from those mistakes, and to never lose faith that what they are doing may be touching the lives of kids, even if the results won’t be seen for years. He also described how he creates a culture among his students in which they behave with grace, composure, and considerateness just because they think it is the right thing to do. And, while he criticizes the test-driven orientation of many schools, his students regularly do well on standardized tests and go on to success in college in large numbers.

In the panel discussion, Marcia Spector, CEO of Seeds of Health, described the history of the five schools in Milwaukee that she leads, each of them known for success and for a climate that offers structure and warmth to students, many of them from troubled backgrounds. She said all of the schools use “a relationship-based model” in which meaningful connections between teachers, students, families and the community are built.

Clavon Byrd, principal of Starms Discovery Center and two related Starms schools near N. 27th St. and W. North Ave., said the emphasis in his schools is on finding ways for each child to succeed and to realize he or she has strengths. He urged school leaders and teachers to make sure students are their real focus. “Way too often, adult issues dominate schools,” Byrd said. “We need to put the lens on students and student learning.”

Robb Rauh, principal of the highly-successful Milwaukee College Prep school on  N. 36th St., north of North Ave., gave three key factors that underlie the school’s accomplishments:

  • A strong sense of mission that everyone working in the school is responsible for doing all they can to bring students to success. “Students don’t fail,” he said. “Teachers do. It is up to us as educators to educate every child who comes in the door.”
  • Great teachers. The school puts extensive effort into finding them and helping them  continually improve their work.
  • And a strong program that gives teachers the structure and tools to succeed.

“We need to be the Superman we’re waiting for,” Rauh said, urging everyone to get involved in some way in promoting educational success.

I should disclose that I helped organize the event and moderated the panel discussion. Those of us involved in the conference had underlying goals: To spark more energy in pursuing success for children from backgrounds where success is not common and to spread the ideas of people with records of such success.

The grown-ups who took part did good jobs of spreading those messages, I think. But no one drove home the point of what such children are capable of more powerfully than the nine Los Angeles children who enthralled the audience.

This Post Has One Comment

  1. Kris Strnad

    The conference was great to inspire teachers. However I heard nothing on how parents fit into the equation.

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