By Victoria Carmona, Communications Department, NCLR
Even after implementation of NCLB-mandated programs, more than 1,000 schools in California continue to suffer from persistent student underachievement and low attendance. There is a combination of reasons for this, including policy failures at both the state and federal level. Frustrated parents, teachers, and students are now desperate for an effective alternative to federal restructuring and are organizing to create reliable, locally controlled improvement.
One of NCLR’s newest Affiliates is leading the way in this movement. Recently the U.S. Department of Education awarded a $500,000 planning grant to San Francisco’s Mission Economic Development Agency (MEDA). The grant will fund a project to help minority and low-income students at low-performing schools. MEDA could receive as much as $24 million more from federal grants over the course of four years if this initiative is successful.
As MissionLocal.org reports:
If funded, MEDA’s “Cradle to Career” proposal would be implemented at Everett Middle School, O’Connell High School, Cesar Chavez Elementary School and Bryant Elementary School. All are considered underperforming schools and recently received a School Improvement Grant that averages $1.6 million a year for three years.The cradle-to-career approach is MEDA’s idea to track students from kindergarten through college and assist them by integrating services from nonprofits, including those that offer health services, financial literacy education and English language learning.
“The planning money will help [MEDA] figure out the most effective way of tracking students to ensure they become successful,” said Luis Granados, MEDA Executive Director, about the expectations for the grant.
At a recent awards ceremony in which Granados received the KQED “Local Hero” Award, he said that his parents were the inspiration for the idea behind these projects. Both parents emphasized the importance of education. They emigrated from Mexico to the United States and successfully built a house within a year, committed to providing a stable life and better education for their children.
Check out Granados’s speech at the KQED awards ceremony in the video below: