September 27, 2018

Shape Our Work for MN Students. Join Community Allies.

By Daniel Sellers

You are our ally. We want your help to inform our work for Minnesota students.

At EdAllies, we work to remove barriers that our allies (educators, parents, students, and stakeholders) identify as they seek to make schools more equitable across lines of race, ethnicity, home language, and ability. To do this work effectively, we can’t simply listen to you when you identify a problem—we also need to work with you in crafting solutions, strategizing, and advocating. One way we do that is through our Community Allies program, where get direct feedback from you on specific issues.

Sign up here to help shape our work.

This year, we have three emerging issue areas where we need feedback, insight, direction, and support. On each issue, we’ll host three meetings between October 2018 and May 2019. At each meeting, you’ll have the chance to learn more about the issue, hear the latest policy developments, participate in strategic discussions, and give concrete feedback on how EdAllies can be more effective. Then, next summer, we’ll host a convening for members from all three groups to reflect on our progress, discuss lessons learned, and identify next steps for EdAllies.

Who should attend?

Whether you’re a parent or student, an educator, advocate, or interested community member, if you’re passionate about education policy and want to support EdAllies’ work, we want you at the table. We hope you’ll join us—here’s how:

  1. First, check out the issue areas and dates below for the first meeting of each group.
  2. Click here to register for the issue(s) that most resonate with you! We’ll then follow up with more details.

If you’re interested in a topic but can’t make the first meeting, you can still register v.w and simply plan to attend future meetings. We’ll reach out to catch you up on any meetings you might miss.

School Performance Transparency

Tuesday, Oct. 16, 6:00-7:30 p.m.

Families want clear information about how their local schools are doing. Whether they want to celebrate their school’s successes, know when their school needs more support, or explore the best options for their kids, they need a straightforward way to make sense of school outcomes. This year, Minnesota launched the new North Star school accountability system to evaluate school performance and identify schools in need of improvement. But the system falls short when it comes to giving families and communities a clear picture of how their local schools are doing. Join us to discuss different strategies for getting better information to families, such as clear school performance ratings, a better data dashboard, stronger measures of school quality and student success, and deeper community engagement at struggling schools.

Choice & Quality

Tuesday, Oct. 30, 6:00-7:30 p.m.

All parents should have high-quality school options and the power to choose the right school for their child. But currently, not all families have access to the same range of options. What’s more, we don’t effectively monitor and report on quality among schools of choice. EdAllies advocates for policies that advance quality in the charter sector, and for policies that ensure our most underserved students have access to rigorous, engaging, and culturally relevant options. We need parents, advocates, and educators who are committed to parent choice, but also committed to transparency and quality, to help guide this work. Sign up here.

Strengthening the Educator Pipeline

Wednesday, Nov. 28, 6:00-7:30 p.m.

We need a great teacher leading every Minnesota classroom, and great principals behind them driving excellence. That’s why EdAllies has worked for years on issues like streamlining teacher licensure for experienced educators, innovating teacher preparation programs, recruiting and retaining educators of color, and making sure schools can retain high-quality educators. In the coming year, we will continue to track and defend the state’s new tiered licensure system, support new and effective alternative certification programs, and move the needle on teacher diversity and principal quality. Click here to join us.

I hope to see you at one or more of these meetings! You can RSVP here, and if you have questions ahead of time, please reach out.

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