Excerpts from Sen. Barack Obama's Speech to the NAACP

The selected excerpts track closely with the focus and philosophy of this site. However, Sen. Obama makes the points with such passion and precision. Now, Barack in his own words:


" ...the fight for social justice and economic justice begins in the classroom."



"But I'm not going to stop talking about it (personal responsibility). Because I believe that in the end, it doesn't matter how much money we invest in our communities, or how many 10-point plans we propose, or how many government programs we launch-none of it will make any difference if we don't seize more responsibility in our own lives."



"I know that Thurgood Marshall did not argue Brown versus Board of Education so that some of us could stop doing our jobs as parents. And I know that nine little children did not walk through a schoolhouse door in Little Rock so that we could stand by and let our children drop out of school and turn to gangs for the support they are no getting elsewhere.


"...we have to do more in our own lives, our own families, and our own communities. That starts with providing the guidance our children need, turning off the TV, and putting away the video games; attending those parent-teacher conferences, helping our children with their homework, and setting a good example."


"It starts with teaching our daughters to never allow images on television to tell them what they are worth; and teaching our sons to treat women with respect, and to realize that responsibility does not end at conception; that what makes them men is not the ability to have a child but the courage to raise one."

Our thanks to Sen. Obama for framing this issue so clearly.

The Achievement Gap Initiative (Harvard University)

The Achievement Gap Initiative has as its mission in part "...to help raise the achievement of all children..." with some particular emphasis on those traditionally lagging their peers. I like this site and the awesome array of information provided. It is a must reference point for any serious education advocate. This initiative is led by Mr. Ron Ferguson.

Please visit this site at http://www.agi.harvard.edu/ for more information.

Louisiana House Should Pass LA4 Bill

The Louisiana Senate has passed SB286 and it is now in the hands of the House. This bill provides for the implementation of universal early childhood education in this state. Although this bill takes a phased in approach, it does nevertheless clearly point the state in the right direction.

The value of early childhood education and in particular the LA4 program is well documented.

This type of training should be made available to all students in our state without a needs based test. That is the direction we are headed and we concur with this movement.

So please get involved. You can go to http://www.legis.state.la.us and make your voice heard. There you can identify your local representative and send a quick email asking for their support.

Also, you may wish to see today's edition of The Times. Dr. Phillip Rozeman writes an excellent piece on this program

Thank you for your support.

Grade Retention and Accountability

I make no secret of the fact that I am not a fan of high stakes testing. The pass/fail nature of these tests is simply unfair and wrong in my view.

However, there seems to be another side of this question that bears closer examination. Is grade retention itself an effective strategy for improving student achievement.

Enter the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) with some interesting observations. In a position statement on this subject, the association states "...that as many as 15% of American students are held back each year, and 30% -50% of students in the US are retained at least once before ninth grade. Furthermore, the highest retention rates are found among poor, minority, inner-city youth."

Now I am no supporter of a simple policy of so called "social promotion" either. In fact, the association points out that "...neither grade retention nor social promotion is an effective strategy for improving educational success."

NASP argues in favor of what it calls "promotion plus" specific interventions that focus on student needs. I particularly like the very first thing on its list which is to "encourage parents' involvement in their children's schools and education through frequent contact with teachers, supervision of homework, etc..

Other suggestions include:

-offer extended year, extended day, and summer school programs that focus on facilitating the development of academic skills
-establish full-service schools to provide a community-based vehicle for the organization and delivery of educational, social and health services to meet the diverse needs of at-risk students
-Implement effective school-based mental health programs

NASP says "a recent systematic review of research exploring dropping out of high school indicates that grade retention is one of the most powerful predictors of high school dropout."

With local and national emphasis on understanding and reducing what is called a dropout crisis, it is clear to me that automatic grade retention policies are part of the problem and not the solution. They should be stopped immediately in favor of more innovative approaches. Start with a detailed study of NASP recommendations.

Improving the Lives of Children

Today we highlight the efforts of one of my heroes and his lovely wife. I speak of General Colin Powell and, his wife, Mrs. Alma Powell. General and Mrs Powell have launched a nationwide effort to contain and reverse the high school drop out crisis that we face as a country. In particular, they focus on the at risk child which more often than not tends to be black and/or Latino.

Mrs. Alma Powell, chair of America's Promise Alliance, recently launched its 15 in 5 initiative.
This effort has at its core the goal of reaching 15 million young people (particularly those most as risk) in the next five years by exposing them to the five promises.

The five promises that have most been correlated with future success are:

• Caring adults
• Safe places and constructive use of time
• Healthy start and development
• Effective education for marketable skills and lifelong learning
• Opportunities to make a difference through helping others.

This effort, together with its overarching message, is one our site is proud to showcase. It promotes the right values and focus. We concur with the promises and encourage you to join us and the 15 in 5 campaign.

We have created a link to the 15 in 5 Web site for your easy use. It is a great site. A powerful resource for anyone interested in kids and their education. I look forward to making it one of my first daily reading sources.

Thank you General and Mrs Colin Powell. You are an awesome team and an inspiration to me and I suspect many, many others.

Best Practices 2007- 2008 School Year

"What we do well here is teaching middle-class predominately white children whose parents push them," he said of Caddo Parish's school system. "The thing we don't do well is teaching the kids of color whose parents may be poor or who have other risk factors."

The above quote is taken from a January 29, 2008 editorial from The Times. The central focus of the piece was our local dropout problem. The quote is from Dr. Terry Cash, of the National Dropout Prevention Center at Clemson University in South Carolina.

I have been corresponding with 21 local leaders since January, 2006 regarding the Learn to Learn initiative.

I am now inviting those leaders or other interested parties to post to this entry, as a comment, things they are doing to promote academic excellence and to reduce the unacceptable dropout rates in the black community.

By sharing in this format, we can catalog opportunities for overall community improvement, and achieve a wide distribution. Please post contact information with strategies in the event others may want more details.

Thanks for your participation.

Financial Aid

As the cost of a college education continues to rise, it becomes critical for students and parents to access as much information as possible regarding potential aid. The Louisiana Office of Student Financial Assistance (LOSFA) is a great resource. There you can find solid information about financial strategies for college.

The Tuition Opportunity Program for Students (TOPS) is one such possibility for completing college in Louisiana. However, you must know and understand the requirements to properly prepare for the chance to compete. Again, detailed information on this program is provided at the LOSFA site.

LOSFA can be accessed at http://www.osfa.state.la.us. See the link from this site and be sure to share this information with a friend. Good luck.