Our Superheroes know that the key to a strong Alliance begins with education. Here the the homebase, our heroes have been working hard to fight against educational achievement gaps by focusing their powers of innovation on the local schools. And they seem to be winning this battle.
Indeed, San Jose has been nationally recognized as a leader in early education, and has been dubbed a Community Solutions Pacesetter. Their campaign focuses on grade-level reading by the end of 3rd grade (a predictor of academic success in high school). One of their key strategies in this battle is the Early Learning Master Plan, which seeks to close the achievement gap in Santa Clara County within the next 10 years. Another key strategy in San Jose’s success is the Smart Start Initiative which increases the quality and access to early education. To continue their battle, Santa Clara County is working on bringing an Educare center, leading to higher quality early learning. The county is also planning a strategic offensive move by implementing transitional kindergarten programs, offering a strong foundation for academic success to future Superheroes.
As one of 124 cities involved in the Campaign for Grade-Level reading, San Jose will meet with national experts and policy-makers to expand successful programs, and help the nation win the fight for educational success.
In addition to protecting early learners and preparing them for academic success, a Silicon Valley resident is also attacking parts of the educational system that just aren’t working.
Students Matter, a nonprofit founded by silicon valley entrepreneur, David Welch, has filed a high-stakes lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court challenging teacher protection laws and the tenure, dismissal and layoff system that keeps ineffective teachers in the school system. The lawsuit points out 5 outdated statutes that make it impossible for administrators to make decisions in the students’ best interest. The protection of ineffective teachers creates inequality among students, most especially low-income students. Due to these laws, the process of dismissing an ineffective teacher is so difficult and expensive, that most districts work around it by paying teachers to retire or moving them from school to school.
Turning their focus outward, our Super Heroes are also leading a path to educational empowerment for all.
Super Hero Andrew Ng, a computer science professor at Stanford, and Super Hero Daphne Koller are launching a company called Coursera that will bring courses from prestigious universities to students around the world, online, for free! In his first class, tens of thousands of students signed up and thousands passed this Stanford course. Princeton, University of Pennsylvania and University of Michigan are also signing up to fight for educational equality, and the company has capitalists investing over $15 million. Koller believes that by bringing high-quality education to millions of people who otherwise could not afford it, they can change people’s lives.
EDUCATIONAL EMPOWERMENT
How to Complete Your Mission:
- LEARN – Interview a family you know (youth and guardians) regarding education. How have the education levels and educational quality in your town affected them? What choices have been made because of it? What options have or have not been available? How is the school district or community college near you working to help everyone succeed? What programs do they offer?
- ACT – What can you do about it? Using your own self-described super power, work with friends, family, neighbors, or other Superheroes to empower one youth, or one community, with better access to education or a higher quality of educational richness. Show us how you fought for educational equality with a photo and a recounting of your heroic deed.
- IMAGINE – Unleash your creativity and battle the over-sized classrooms!! If you could change one aspect of our educational system, what would it be? But be warned, throwing money at a problem might just fuel the fires… choose your creative weapons wisely, and use them as strategically as a scalpel.
- Ask A Mentor for Help
- See how our Round 1 Superheroes fought for educational empowerment!
