Remarks by Raffaella Borasi, Dean of the Warner School of Education

Presidential Symposium on K-12 Education

February 5, 2014

Remarks by Raffaella Borasi, Dean of the Warner School of Education

Learning from Success Panel

Introduction of Panel

When hearing of the great problems facing urban education, it is easy to despair that we would never find a solution, and feel helpless. Or, we may react in the opposite way and jump to action – any action – in the belief that any change is better than the status quo. Either reaction ignores that over the years there have been multiple efforts at solutions, some successful and some not. We should learn from all these efforts before making decisions about what to do to improve Rochester students’ learning opportunities and outcomes – as our resources are limited, and any failed initiative takes resources away from potentially more successful ones.

This is indeed the intent of this session, and we will achieve this goal in two complementary ways.First, we have invited Professor Kara Finnigan, a researcher at the University of Rochester, to provide us with an overview of what we know from research about complementary approaches to improve urban K-12 education. This will enable us to benefit from reform efforts that have occurred across the country.After this presentation, we will turn our attention to some successful reform efforts that have taken place right here in Rochester. Each of the presenters has been asked not only to identify the outcomes of their program, so we can see that urban students can indeed succeed, but also to identify what factors contributed to those outcomes – so we can hopefully better understand what it would take to try to replicate their solutions.

While I will introduce each speaker before his/her turn, let me mention here that they were selected to illustrate different types of solutions we think this community should consider moving forward – as complementary approaches, rather mutually exclusive. They include:

• Creating alternative school choices for urban students through charter schools;
• Reform efforts within an urban school district – which are critical given that more than 90% of Rochester children are served by RCSD;
• Efforts at supplementing the learning opportunities offered to urban students during the school day through summer and after-school programs; and
• Initiatives aimed at addressing non-academic factors that can greatly affect students’ learning outcomes – such as poverty, housing, personal safety, health, etc.

There are many more successful stories in this community that we would have liked to bring to your attention, but given the time constraints we were able to showcase only one or two examples within each of these categories.

We expect that many of you in the audience will have questions for our speakers, as well as comments about the implications of what we heard for Revitalizing K-12 Education in Rochester. To facilitate this dialogue given the large number of participants, as you listen to the presentations we ask you to write down your questions or comments on the index cards posted in each of the pews. At the end of this session, we will collect all your cards and look through them to synthesize similar questions and sequence them to make the most productive use of our limited time for the panel discussion.

Introduction to research overview (Kara Finnigan):

And now it is my pleasure to introduce to you Professor Kara Finnigan, a colleague at the UR Warner School of Education, who is a national expert on urban education policy. Kara’s work has focused on accountability, district reform, and choice (including studies of charter schools and inter-district choice). She is currently involved in a study of urban districts across the country (including Rochester, San Diego, Chicago, and other cities)as part of a national effort to create stronger connections between research, policy, and practice. Kara will provide us with some highlights about what research can tell us about complementary approaches to improving urban education.

Introduction to charter schoolsillustrations (Jeff Halsdorfer & Anna Hall):

Policy research has confirmed that charter schools have the potential to provide high quality education to urban students, and yet many charter schools have closed as they failed to deliver the promised outcomes. Our town has also had both positive and negative experiences with charter schools. It is especially important, then, to hear from some of the successful local charter schools what has contributed to their success and “lessons learned” they could share.Since charter schools can be quite different from each other, we will hear from the leaders of two of the oldest local charter schools, both of which have a remarkable record of student achievement - the Eugenio Maria De Hostos bilingual charter school, and Rochester-Prep, an affiliate of the Uncommon Schools.

We will start with Jeff Halsdorfer, principal of De Hostos, and then hear from Anna Hall, Chief Operating Officer of Uncommon Schools in Rochester and Troy, who will present to us about Rochester Prep as another example of successful charter school in Rochester.

Introduction to school reforms within RCSD illustration (Caterina Leone-Mannino and T’Hani Pantoja):

Charter school results can be remarkable and encouraging, and show us what urban children CAN do. Yet it is also important to keep in mind that over 90%of Rochester children (more than 30,000) continue to be served by the Rochester City School District – so successful reform efforts within RCSD will have the greatest impact for our local youth. When we asked Superintendent Vargas to identify a reform effort that he considered especially impactful, he pointed to the increase in instructional time that was realized under his leadership.

We have here today Caterina Leone-Mannino, Director of Extended Learning and Intervention in the Rochester City School District, to provide us with some background on this initiative.She will be followed by T’Hani Pantoja, principal of Charles Carroll School No.46, who will share with us what this increase in instructional time has meant for her school, and how her students have benefited from it.

Introduction to extended learning illustration (Conger Gabel):

Students at risk may need more support beyond what can occur during the school day – whether they are in the RCSD or a charter school. Summer and after-school programs can provide what is sometimes referred to as “extended learning” opportunities, and thus may be critical to filling gaps and leveling the playing field for disadvantaged students. These kinds of programs may be of special interest to many of the people in the audience today, as they represent a vehicle through which a variety of community organizations can make a concrete contributionto the solution of K-12 urban education.

To illustrate the potential of this kind of intervention in our community, we turn to Conger Gabel, CEO of the Greater Rochester Summer Learning Association, a not-for-profit organization also known as SummerLEAP. Over the past five years, Conger has been instrumental in galvanizing the interest and resources of various local colleges and independent schools to start a series of summer programs that served over 500 students last summer – with a target of serving 1,000 students by 2016.

Introduction to “surround care” illustration (Augustin Melendez):

As we consider solutions to the problem of K-12 urban education, it is important to recognize that significant and sustainable change will require interventions that affect not only what goes on in school, but also those non-academic factors affecting urban students’ success – such as poverty, housing, personal safety, health, etc. This is another area where the community can play a most impactful role, by deploying existing resources and specialized expertise to complement the efforts of education professionals.

This is an area of immense and diverse possibilities, so it was particularly difficult to select one representative illustration.With this caveat in mind, we believe we can all learn a lot from the Hillside Work-Scholarship Connection program initiated by Wegmans as an exemplar of this kind of initiative. We have here today Augustin Melendez, President of the program, to tell us about the nature and results of this program, and how it is continuing to grow.

Closing Remarks

We designed this event in the hope of achieving three main goals:

• First, to gain a better understanding of the complexity of the problem of urban education.
• Second, to recognize the possibility of success, as demonstrated by examples within our own community, and to use these examples to identify a few promising solution approaches
• And third, to mobilize various constituencies in our community to take action to improve the current situation.

Let me start by thanking the presenters for doing a great job to help us accomplish the first two goals.

Now it is up to each of us to draw implications about what WE can do. Here are my own “takeaways” and commitments, as dean of a research school of education in this community. First, I come out of this symposium with a clear sense of hope. Despite the dire situation, despite the magnitude and complexity of the problems, the results from De Hostos and Rochester Prep show us that urban students CAN succeed academically. Indeed, these results are not unique, as similar successes have been also documented in other charter schools such as U-Prep, city schools such as World of Inquiry and School of the Arts, and yet different types of schools such as the Nativity School.

Yet achieving a similar success will require willingness to make major changes, as all these schools have done; this will involve:

• A clear vision of what is really important for students to learn to succeed in today’s society, and curricula and assessments that align with those priorities.
• Using teaching approaches that are consistent with how people learn best and capitalize on the many strengths that urban students and their families can bring to the table.
• Having dedicated teachers who can use these approaches competently, and believe in their students’ capacity to succeed.
• Having capable school leaders who can effectively lead change.
• Being open to and making good use of interventions that can complement what goes on in schools, whether it is afterschool or summer programs, or other initiatives that can address non-academic factors that can negatively affect students’ learning and success.
• And, more generally engage WITH parents and community in finding solutions.

The last two points in particular show the need for the concerted efforts of the entire community – not just teachers and school leaders, or even schools of education – to effect lasting change. Indeed, examples like summerLEAP and the Hillside Work Scholarship Connection suggest that there are things that community partners can do best and can provide great value to complement to the work done by schools. At the same time, we should recognize and respect that there are decisions and interventions that require specialized knowledge and skills, and thus should remain the purview of professional educators.

This leads me to highlight the importance of having well-prepared and dedicated professionals working as counselors, administrators, and most importantly, teachers in all urban schools – an element that was emphasized by several of the presenters. I find it especially worrisome that at a time when we most need high quality educators, the number of youth interested in becoming teachers and counselors is declining across the nation. This is due not only to difficult working conditions, but also to the perceived lack of respect for the education profession, and a general despair about the future of urban education, that makes youth doubt their ability to make a difference. We must change this negative public discourse and attitudes – and I encourage all of us to start doing this immediately, building on the information shared in this symposium.

Another major “take-away” for me is the confirmation of the value of pursuing ALL the different solutions we discussed today in combination, rather than considering them as mutually exclusive – as mentioned by several of the speakers.As resources are limited, you could - and should - question where your help can be best used. However, the answer is not to be found in which of these approaches is “better”. Rather, you should consider: first, the quality of the specific initiative you are considering investing in – as not all charter schools, school reforms, summer programs, or surround care services, are equally “good”; and second, what are the core competencies and resource that you or your organization can offer, and where they could be best utilized.

These are indeed important decisions that we need to make everyday at the Warner School of Education. Improving the learning opportunities and outcomes of K-12 students in the Rochester area is an integral part of our mission, and I would like to take this opportunity to restate this commitment publicly. As the same time, we cannot do everything, nor do it equally well.

To make sure we use our limited resources to achieve the greatest impact, we have identified the following priorities:

• First of all, we want to capitalize on our faculty expertise to offer the best possible programs to prepare high quality teachers, counselors and administrators to work effectively with urban students. And to attract quality individuals to these programs, we need to secure funding for scholarship from a variety of sources so as to make these programs accessible to all.
• We also want to utilize the same faculty expertise to offer professional development and other services that can help improve the current workforce through. In fact, we have created a special branch of our school, the Center for Professional Development and Education Reform with this specific mission.
• We have also committed to providing a few “extended learning” opportunities to Rochester children – such as the Horizons summer program, the ScienceSTARS afterschool program for girls, and individualized reading support to students in School 36. Each of these initiatives build on our faculty research to design innovative interventions, and involve student teachers so as to better prepare them as urban teachers and thus “multiply the effect”.
• And, aware of what are our core competencies and limitations, we have partnered overtime with various local schools and other organizations in specific projects, each time making sure we take advantage of the partners’ complementary expertise in the pursuit of shared goals.

And now I encourage each of you, whether you are a professional educator or a community member, to do a similar analysis of how you and/or your organization can best contribute to revitalizing K-12 education in Rochester. Let me also offer my services, and those of colleagues at the Warner School, to help you identify what relevant expertise and resources you can offer, and to help you connect with specific schools and/or projects you could partner with.

You can find my contact information on the event website – which we invite you to visit after this event as we are planning to post additional documents from the symposium.

*Please note that some of the introductions and remarks were shortened to get the program back on schedule. They are provided in their entirely here to provide more complete information.

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