School Board Election Results – reason for optimism

Precinct by precinct results below show an extremely strong showing for Mearns.  She defeated the incumbent school board president in 27 of 28 precincts and districtwide by a margin of 23 points.   This is reason for optimism – the voters of Shaker Heights are paying attention and overwhelmingly supported a candidate who promises to address the achievement gap. 

—————————————————————————————————————

PRECINCT	BLISS		FEELING		MEARNS		SUTHERLAND
CLEV 4-Q	184	38%	124	26%	277	58%	228	48%
CLEV 4-R	127	41%	93	30%	139	45%	118	38%
CLEV 4-S	130	41%	123	39%	134	42%	132	42%
CLEV 6-T	7	24%	8	28%	8	28%	11	38%
SHAKER  A	99	50%	81	41%	100	51%	84	42%
SHAKER  B	185	39%	158	33%	323	68%	250	52%
SHAKER  C	197	40%	155	32%	331	68%	319	65%
SHAKER  D	216	46%	174	37%	334	72%	276	59%
SHAKER  E	208	49%	151	36%	261	62%	255	61%
SHAKER  F	169	61%	133	48%	142	52%	123	45%
SHAKER  G	196	62%	157	49%	172	54%	121	38%
SHAKER  H	261	65%	220	55%	211	53%	163	41%
SHAKER  I	183	60%	140	46%	160	53%	148	49%
SHAKER  J	116	46%	100	40%	133	53%	110	44%
SHAKER  K	189	56%	178	53%	194	57%	157	46%
SHAKER  L	235	58%	203	50%	206	51%	198	49%
SHAKER  M	259	52%	229	46%	280	57%	281	57%
SHAKER  N	158	46%	148	43%	169	49%	198	57%
SHAKER  O	188	43%	167	38%	250	58%	248	57%
SHAKER  P	211	45%	186	40%	270	58%	263	57%
SHAKER  Q	158	36%	150	34%	336	76%	271	61%
SHAKER  R	127	35%	103	28%	256	71%	207	57%
SHAKER  S	176	38%	126	27%	341	73%	275	59%
SHAKER  T	168	36%	163	35%	355	76%	247	53%
SHAKER  U	199	41%	167	34%	312	64%	240	49%
SHAKER  V	150	34%	135	30%	285	64%	236	53%
SHAKER  W	244	43%	211	37%	369	65%	302	54%
SHAKER  X	168	36%	134	28%	290	61%	240	51%
ELECTION DAY	2677	44%	2249	37%	3621	60%	2938	49%
ABSENTEE	2231	46%	1868	38%	3017	62%	2763	56%
TOTAL	4908	45%	4117	38%	6638	61%	5701	52%

—————————————————————————————————————

     source: Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, does not include overseas or provisional ballots

Imagine Shaker: together we achieve

The Shaker Heights Board of Education has initiated a public engagement project to involve residents in planning the future of the schools.  Take a look at the link and consider signing up to participate.

Imagine Shaker

We can only hope that the newly imagined Shaker includes equity in education.

How to use data to improve your school

The Education Trust has made available a guide to help parents use school data to understand school performance and push for improvement in their schools.

 

Making Data Work: A Parent and Community Guide

Mission Statement: The Education Trust works for the high academic achievement of all students at all levels, pre-kindergarten through college, and forever closing the achievement gaps that separate low-income students and students of color from other youth. Our basic tenet is this — All children will learn at high levels when they are taught to high levels.

Now the challenge – sit down and go through the worksheets with data from Shaker schools.

Obama on Education as Civil Rights

President Obama at the NAACP Centennial - video here 

The African-American community will fall behind in the United States and the United States will fall behind in the world unless we do a far better job than we have been doing of educating our sons and daughters.   In the 21st century – when so many jobs will require a bachelor’s degree or more, when countries that out-educate us today will outcompete us tomorrow – a world-class education is a prerequisite for success. 

You know what I’m talking about. There’s a reason the story of the civil rights movement was written in our schools. There’s a reason Thurgood Marshall took up the cause of Linda Brown. There’s a reason the Little Rock Nine defied a governor and a mob. It’s because there is no stronger weapon against inequality and no better path to opportunity than an education that can unlock a child’s God-given potential. 

Yet, more than a half century after Brown v. Board of Education, the dream of a world-class education is still being deferred all across this country. African-American students are lagging behind white classmates in reading and math – an achievement gap that is growing in states that once led the way on civil rights. Over half of all African-American students are dropping out of school in some places. There are overcrowded classrooms, crumbling schools, and corridors of shame in America filled with poor children – black, brown, and white alike.

The state of our schools is not an African-American problem; it’s an American problem. And if Al Sharpton, Mike Bloomberg, and Newt Gingrich can agree that we need to solve it, then all of us can agree on that. All of us can agree that we need to offer every child in this country the best education the world has to offer from the cradle through a career.

Achievement Gap Solutions For Parents

Very real-world down to earth statements of facts and advice for parents are offered on Achievement Gap Solutions for Parents  a  website put together by a parent in the Cleveland Heights-University Heights school district.  Carla, the mother of two children; ages 13 and 17 describes her motivation:  

My passion is to empower parents, by giving information, knowledge, tips and strategies on how to help your child achieve academic success and have fun doing it. . . . .not teaching you knowledge from a book, but knowledge from my own experience of working with schools, teachers, administrators, gifted coordinators, PTAs, Parent Councils, foreign exchange programs, etc.

The number one solution to the achievement gap?  Parent involvement.

Parent Involvement means overseeing and expecting academic achievement of your child; on all grade levels. Parent Involvement also means and probably more importantly learning how to advocate for your child.

Intelligence and How to Get It

Nicholas Kristof’s column in today’s NYT discusses Richard Nisbett’s new book “Intelligence and How to Get It”.   The fundamental conclusion seems to be that nurture is more important than nature in human intelligence.  Intelligence as a process rather than a fixed inborn trait.

“In the mosaic of America, three groups that have been unusually successful are Asian-Americans, Jews and West Indian blacks….    These three groups may help debunk the myth of success as a simple product of intrinsic intellect, for they represent three different races and histories. In the debate over nature and nurture, they suggest the importance of improved nurture — which, from a public policy perspective, means a focus on education.”

More evidence, if any were needed, that the path to a solution to poverty and inequality in America goes through the schoolhouse door.