National Charter Schools Week: CSP represents Minnesota charters in DC

Posted on May 10, 2012 by admin

As part of  National Charter Schools Week, May 6-12, charter representatives from dozens of states descended on Washington, DC to advocate on behalf of charter schools.

CSP's Al Fan and Brian Sweeney, representing the Minnesota charter community this week in Washington, DC, met with most of Minnesota's Senate and House delegation. Here with Rep. John Kline, MN-2, who chairs the powerful House Education and Workforce Committee, which oversees all federal issues relating to charter schools.

Minnesota was well represented in Washington, DC this week. Ember Reichgott Junge gave an inspiring presentation at a reception in the U.S. Capitol and announced the launch of her new book "Zero Chance of Passage, The Pioneering Charter School Story!"

While the focus was on raising awareness of the growing success of the charter sector, there were specific federal charter issues that state reps discussed with their state’s Senate and House delegation, including maintaining adequate funding for charters and the critical issue of the proposed IRS regulation that would force states to prohibit charter school teachers from participating in state retirement plans, a proposal that would be devastating to the charter sector.  If implemented, it is estimated that more than 93% of our country’s charter school workforce would be affected, including most of Minnesota’s charter teachers, forcing many of them to consider either leaving their charter schools or lose their accrued pension wealth.

With the long tradition of charter schools in Minnesota, the delegation was very supportive of charter schools in general as well as the specific federal issues of concern that were raised.  It was also an opportunity to talk about Charters 2.0 and for the delegation and their staff to learn more about the evolving charter landscape in Minnesota.

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2012 legislative session: Charters 2.0, district-charter collaboration, K-12 omnibus

Posted on May 7, 2012 by admin

Overview

With a final vote on the Vikings stadium bill pending, the legislative session will wrap up in the next few days.  For charter and ed-reform advocates, the shortened session was somewhat mixed and difficult to get one’s arms around as there were a plethora of controversial bills passed by the Republican legislature and subsequently vetoed by Governor Dayton. Particularly disconcerting to ed-reformers was the Governor’s veto of LIFO (“last in first out”) provision, a bill that would require consideration of teacher performance when making layoff decisions, rather than just seniority. Also vetoed was a GOP proposal to use the surplus to pay back a portion of the shift in school funding.

K-12 education omnibus policy bill: The consensus K-12 education omnibus policy bill, HF 2949, included a lot of disparate provisions including:

  • an idea advocated by Joe Nathan at the Center for School Change that would expand PSEO options to encourage 10th graders to take a career and technical course;
  • a fix in state law that would require school districts pay teachers on military leave their full salary and other military award modifications;
  • a provision for early graduation scholarships;
  • a requirement that 35% of a school principal’s evaluation be based on student academic achievement;
  • an individualized learning initiative authored by Education Evolving that could serve as the foundation to encourage a Rocketship Education, School of One, or more home-grown schools that are focused on individual learning to launch in Minnesota.

Senate Education Chair Gen Olson, who will be retiring after this legislative session, shepherded her final omnibus education bill.

Charter related items in the bill included:

  • a district-charter collaborative provision, strongly supported by CSP, which would potentially create a powerful incentive for school districts and charter schools to work closer together in a collaborative fashion with the goal of increasing student achievement.  Minneapolis Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson and CSP Executive Al Fan published an op-ed on Thursday, May 3rd outlining the possible impact of the new legislation.
  • Changes in the initial term of authorizer/charter contract from three to five years

More technical or minor charter provisions included:

  • Additional charter assessment data on a school’s website.
  • Department approved vendors for board training eliminated (board training still required).  Must add training info in annual reports.
  • Authorizer not allowed to charge more for any other services except those in the contract.
  • Technical changes relating to affiliated building corporations.

Several provisions proposed by the Minnesota Association of Charter Schools (MACS) were controversial and did not make it into the final bill — provisions which observers  suggested that if implemented, could have diluted the authorizer’s authority and ability to close down chronically low-performing schools or allow the replication of mediocre or poor-performing schools. Specifically, MDE referenced the provisions of changing ‘approval’ to ‘review and comment’ as it related to a supplemental affidavit and change of authorizer, as well as language around dispute resolution (a final version of proposed language would have included any dispute resolution as part of the charter contract with authorizer, however, it was still not included in the omnibus bill).  Here is a link to the MACS language.

Charters 2.0: Separately, Charter School Partners introduced Charters 2.0, a bold series of legislative initiatives, which would increase the number of high-performing charter schools in Minnesota. Authored by Rep. Kelby Woodard (R-Belle Plaine), HF 2714, was heard in the House Education Finance Committee and was ‘held over for possible inclusion in other bills’, an action which would have allowed any of the provisions of HF 2714 to be included in other education ‘vehicles’ as the legislative session moved along. Here’s a MinnPost article on Charters 2.0.

Shannon Blankenship, Hiawatha Academies and Eric Mahmoud of Harvest Prep/Best Academy testifying in support of Charters 2.0/HF 2714 at the House Finance Education Committee. Bill author Kelby Woodard also present.

A lively debate was held on the bill’s automatic closure of low performing charter schools provision (Al Fan op-ed) and increasing the pipeline of teachers who have experience in teaching in schools with high populations of poverty in other states to more easily teach in Minnesota’s charter schools.  Most notable were the strong letters of support for HF 2714 from both major national charter groups, the National Alliance of Public Charter Schools and the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA), particularly surrounding the auto-closure provision and the charter board election option.   Other supporters of Charters 2.0  included MinnCAN, Students for Educational Reform, Students First, the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, the Minnesota Business Partnership, Action for Equity as well as many of CSP’s own Partner Schools.

The one Charters 2.0 issue that got some legs at the end of the session was the option to eliminate the charter board election.  Eric Mahmoud’s powerful testimony included remarks that this provision remains a barrier for some of the nation’s top education-reform foundations and funders to invest in the replication of successful charter models like Mr. Mahmoud’s four new Mastery Schools which just received approval from the Minneapolis School Board. In addition, the charter board election is a barrier to attract to the state innovative charter groups like Rocketship Education, who utilize a successful blended-learning model that is closing the achievement gap in communities it serves.

Interestingly, the Minnesota Association of Charter Schools (MACS) opposed and testified against most provisions of Charters 2.0 except for the increased funding provisions. They also opposed the district-charter collaborative language in the K-12 education omnibus policy bill.

As the legislative session wound down and the stadium, tax and bonding bills were front and center, it became clear that except for the consensus omnibus bill, few additional education bills would move forward this session.

However,  Charters 2.0 introduced some new and bold concepts that when implemented, will positively impact the quality of charter schools in the state and will help close the achievement gap. As one legislator put it: “Charters 2.0 is a little bill with some very big ideas”. We look forward to continue the discussion of Charters 2.0 over the next eight months  and then into the 2013 legislation session.

New coalition of ed-reform/charter-reform groups: Another important development of this year’s legislative session was the coming together of a new coalition of ed-reformers, meeting on a regular basis to discuss and strategize about various legislative initiatives. This loosely knit group that initially galvanized around the alternative teacher certification issue in 2010-2011, really coalesced in a more formal way this session.

In other states, charter advocacy groups play a pivotal role in improving all of public education given the key role charters play in helping close the achievement gap. Similarly CSP’s advocacy mission includes helping shape the discussion statewide on larger systematic reform initiatives, including improving teacher quality, collaboration between districts and charters, mayoral involvement with schools, and more focused efforts to address chronically low-performing schools.  We look forward to continuing to be a part of this ongoing discussion.

Posted in 2012 Legislative Session, Charter-District Cooperation, Closing Chronically Underperforming Schools | Comments Off

Walton Family Foundation awards $1.22 million to Twin Cities charter schools. Refocuses support to high quality Minneapolis charters

Posted on April 25, 2012 by admin

Minneapolis, MN. 4.25.12.  The Walton Family Foundation today awarded $1.22 million to five start-up charter schools, including Eric Mahmoud’s new North Minneapolis Mastery School which will open Fall 2012, and announced that it would focus its future support for charter schools to those that draw a majority of their students from Minneapolis. The grants also target schools that will serve a majority low-income student population.

“The Walton Family Foundation has been a strong supporter of helping launch quality charter schools in Minnesota for over a decade,” said Al Fan, Executive Director of Charter School Partners, a non-profit group who serves as the foundation’s designated grant partner in Minnesota.  “It’s support of these five schools illustrate a renewed focus to launch a new generation of high-performing charter schools and also to ensure their grants have a profound impact on a single community.

The charter schools that received the $250,000.00 start-up grants included:

  • Mastery School, opening 2012, North Minneapolis.
  • Hennepin Elementary School, opening 2012 (received $220,000.00; had previously received a $30,000.00 pre-authorization grant), South Minneapolis.
  • ARCH Academy, opening 2013, South Minneapolis.
  • Prodeo Academy, opening 2013, North Minneapolis.
  • West Side Summit, opening 2013, St. Paul’s West Side.

Recent Walton Family Foundation grants have also included Minnesota School of Science, Minneapolis College Prep, Hiawatha Academies, all from Minneapolis, as well as Cornerstone Montessori in St. Paul.  Charter School Partners has been the foundation’s designated grant partner in Minnesota since 2009.

About the Walton Family Foundation

Driven by the urgent need to dramatically raise student achievement, particularly in low-income neighborhoods, the Walton Family Foundation has invested more than $1 billion to date to initiatives that expand parental choice and equal opportunity in education. Empowering parents to choose quality schools, regardless of type – traditional public, private or public charter school – will help spur the bold transformation of our national K-12 system of public education. Our nation’s children will only reach their potential in today’s global economy by having access to a high-quality, publicly-funded education.

Visit the foundation at www.waltonfamilyfoundation.org.

About Charter School Partners

The mission of Charter School Partners, a Minnesota-based non-profit organization launched in 2009, is to increase the number of high-performing charter schools in Minnesota; increase the number of at-risk students being served by high performing charters and close the achievement gap.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:  Al Fan, 612.418.293 or Brian Sweeney, 612.817.3266

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Charters 2.0 heard in key House committee, stays alive. State secures $28.2 million for charters

Posted on March 21, 2012 by admin

Charter School Partners own bill, Charters 2.0, HF 2714, sponsored by Rep. Kelby Woodard (R-Belle Plaine) was heard in yesterday’s House Education Finance Committee and was ‘held over for possible inclusion in other bills’, which would allow any of the provisions of HF 2714 to be included in other education bills in the coming weeks, a great victory for the Charter 2.0 initiative (northfieldnews.com).

Shannon Blankenship, Hiawatha Academies and Eric Mahmoud of Harvest Prep/Best Academy testifying in support of Charters 2.0/HF 2714 at the House Finance Education Committee. Kelby Woodard (left) is author of the bill.

Here is a narrative and an outline of the bill and a recent MinnPost article on the initiative.  Also, linked is a Pioneer Press op-ed from Al Fan supporting one of the key components of our proposal — the closing down of chronically low-performing charter schools.

In a show of bipartisan cooperation on the bill, Rep. Carlos Mariani added a friendly amendment to Rep. Woodard’s bill, that would help streamline the legislation and make it more acceptable as the bill moves forward.  Testimony included CSP’s Al Fan and Brian Sweeney as well as school leaders Eric Mahmoud of Harvest Prep/Best Academy and Shannon Blankenship of Hiawatha Academies. MinnCAN, Students First, Students for Ed Reform, the Minnesota Business Partnership and the state Chamber all weighed in with strong  letters of support.

A lively debate was held on the bill’s automatic closure of low performing charter schools provision and increasing the pipeline of teachers who have experience in teaching in schools with high populations of poverty in other states to more easily teach in Minnesota’s charter schools.  Most notable was the submission of a letter from Alex Medler, VP of Research and Evaluation at the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA), who strongly supported HF 2714, particularly the auto-closure provision.

The five major goals of Charters 2.0/HF 2714 are:
1. Financing the creation and growth of a new generation of high-performing charter schools, particularly serving high populations of poverty.
2. Increased accountability of authorizers and charter schools by closing down chronically low-performing charters.
3. Improving the leadership/teacher talent pipeline for charter schools serving high populations of poverty.
4. Removing governance barriers that will help attract the nation’s most innovative and successful schools and school leaders particularly serving high populations of poverty.
5. The creation of digital and blending-learning models of education in the charter sector.

Governor/Commissioner announce $28.2 for charter school start-up — key provision of Charters 2.0

Perhaps the most important provision of Charters 2.0, CSP’s policy initiative to develop a new generation of high performing charter schools — particularly serving a high population of poverty, relates to securing adequate funding to develop and replicate successful charter schools.

Governor Dayton’s announcement recently that the state has secured a five-year $28.2 million Charter School Program grant from the U.S. Department of Education goes a long way in achieving this goal. The grant provide monies to Minnesota to plan, design, and implement new charter schools, as well as to disseminate information on successful charter schools. (MPR News article here).

Special thanks go to Governor Dayton, Commission Cassellius and her team for their aggressive efforts in securing these dollars as well as to Congressman John Kline’s office for its assistance and for keeping Charter School Partners informed of this process which has been pending since last summer.

Posted in 2012 Legislative Session, Churn, Closing Chronically Underperforming Schools | Comments Off

An historic new day: Harvest Prep gets approval for four new schools

Posted on March 1, 2012 by admin

(March 24, 2012 update: A Minneapolis Star Tribune article on Eric Mahmoud and the success of Harvest Prep/Best Academy).

Earlier this week, the Minneapolis School Board unanimously approved the
the creation of four new schools for Harvest Prep’s founder and director Eric Mahmoud. The new schools will be called Mastery Schools and will be authorized as charter schools by MPS’ Office of New Schools. The first school, which will start with grades K-2 and expand a grade a year, is scheduled to open this fall in North Minneapolis.

Eric Mahmoud

Harvest Prep and Best Academy is the highest performing public school serving minority students in Minnesota, with its students outperforming all state students in reading proficiency (77 percent to 75 percent), and state white students in math proficiency (82 percent to 65 percent).

This is an incredibly historic moment for the children of North Minneapolis. Tremendous credit should be given to Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson for her strong leadership to make this happen as well as her team — Sara Paul, Office of New Schools Director, Associate Superintendent Mark Bonine, and Jill Stever-Zeitlin. Finally, the  MPS Board, with the very strong support from Chair Alberto Monserrate and others, made a gutsy decision and signaled a strong commitment about a new direction for Minneapolis Public Schools.

In November 2009, we blogged about Minneapolis’ Office a New Schools: A New Hope. We wrote

After decades of trying a of strategies to close the achievement gap in Minneapolis,  we believe this initiative could finally be the beginning of a successful new focus in creating and sustaining  high-performing, high-achieving public schools. Our confidence is based on several factors and we’ll expand on this in the future.

This week’s action by the MPS Board indeed signals a new hope, a new beginning of a successful new focus in creating and sustaining a new generation of high-performing, high-achieving public schools for Minneapolis’ children. Congratulations to all.

Posted in Beating the Odds!, Charter-District Cooperation, Culture of Reform and Achievement | Comments Off

Gap Closing: Achieving Results — Twin Cities

Posted on February 12, 2012 by admin

Last Saturday, the African American Leadership Forum hosted the Gap Closed: Achieving Results! conference on the University of Minnesota St. Paul campus.  The event, which had over 200 participants made up mostly of  classroom teachers working at both district and charter schools, was a collaborative project of the AALF Education Workgroup. AALF strives to “dramatically improve educational outcomes for African-American children from pre-school through 12th grade by closing the achievement gap within the public school system.”  The event featured many educational experts, including three CSP Partner School leaders, all of whom are hosting our CSP Fellows in residence at their schools this year. Joe Nathan also wrote about the event.

Eric Mahmoud, Harvest Prep/Best Academy.

Eric Mahmoud, CEO of Harvest and BEST Academy, provided an inspiring opening for the event, sharing his “5 Gaps” framework and analysis of what schools must do to address the multi-faceted opportunity gaps that contribute to the disparity of educational outcomes for kids in the Twin Cities.  Dr. Callie Lalugba, also of Harvest/BEST, later led an inspirational breakout session focused on the educational and cultural framework the team at Harvest and BEST has developed over the past decade that has enabled their inspiring gap closing results.

Mahmoud listed 5 key gaps in Minnesota. He’s found that “schools can overcome all of them.”

Preparation Gap: too many students from low income families come to kindergarten with low birth weight, not having heard enough words or encouragement.
Time Gap: Given the preparation gap, many students from low-income families need a longer day and a longer year.
Belief gap: Mahmoud called this “the most important gap.” It’s the belief of some people that students from low-income families cannot succeed in school.
Teaching Gap: failing to use research based approaches.
Leadership Gap: More leaders needed who know how to overcome other gaps.

Bill Wilson, Executive Director of Higher Ground Academy, discussed the importance of respecting and honoring the student, family and community cultures in successful schools.  Finally, Mary Donaldson, Director of Concordia Creative Learning Academy, encouraged all participants to take advantage of the opportunity to learn from school leaders and colleagues and to forge the personal and professional bonds that can sustain them in their important, on-going work with students.

Mary Donaldson, Concordia Creative Learning Academy, Chris Stewart, AALF, and Bill Wilson, Higher Ground at the AALF event.

The event had a palpable momentum and provided an inspirational forum for community leaders and members, school leaders and teachers to come together to share in the hard and important work they are all doing to address the Twin Cities’ egregious achievement gap. Eric Mahmoud’s presentation included a video clip of an Olympic runner who tore a muscle during a key race; aided by this father, who ran out to help him, this determined runner was able to complete the race.  This event challenged all of us who work to bring high-quality educational opportunity to all students in the Twin Cities to give support and strength to one another as we all work for educational equity.

AALF leader and CSP board member Chris Stewart said that this event was designed to be the beginning of a collaborative community effort: it was an auspicious beginning and one CSP was honored to experience firsthand.

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Teach for America: Growing up, having impact

Posted on February 4, 2012 by admin

Since its launch in May 2009, Charter School Partners has been a strong partner with Teach for America-Twin Cities. CSP has encouraged  many of its Partner Schools to hire TFA Corps Members and we continue to maintain a strong, committed relationship with the ongoing development of the organization.

Today, CSP Executive Director Al Fan responded to an editorial in the Star Tribune by Jack Schneider, no doubt a very smart Carlton College professor (because he’s from Carlton), who, while not completely dissing TFA, did roll out a number of the somewhat tired, recycled straw-man arguments against TFA such as “the organization promotes itself as a panacea for the nation’s schooling woes. And, more important, reformers believe it”, a statement Al addresses  in his response.

Daniel Sellers, Executive Director of Teach for America-Twin Cities, regularly provided background information on the success of Teach for America nationally, which was key in passing alternative teacher licensing in 2011.

MinnPost recently outlined the growing trend of TFA alum to increasingly take on pivotal educational leadership roles in states and large urban districts.  The article includes the following quote:

He (John White, Louisiana’s new state Superintendent of Education) joins a growing number of TFA alums who have made their way from the classroom to positions of influence. Last March, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam appointed TFA Executive Vice President for Public Affairs Kevin Huffman, who started with the organization as a bilingual elementary-grades teacher, that state’s commissioner of education.

TFA alum Kaya Henderson is chancellor of Washington, D.C., schools, alum Kira Orange Jones was just elected to the board that appointed White and ex-TFAers have assumed superintendencies in New York City, Massachusetts, Arizona and elsewhere. Still others, like Chris Barbic, superintendent of Tennessee’s statewide Achievement School District, are heading ambitious school turnaround efforts. Some 600 are principals.

Charter School Partners looks forward to our continued partnership with Teach for America for many years to come and do ‘whatever it takes’ to deliver quality education to all Minnesotan children no matter their income, race or zip code.

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Harvest Prep: Beating the Odds

Posted on January 19, 2012 by admin
Great story on KARE 11 this morning on the success of CSP’s Partner School, Minneapolis’ Harvest Preparatory Academy, the state’s leading public school serving 95% low-income students. Here it is in its entirety.

Harvest Preparatory beats the odds on achievement gap

9:33 AM, Jan 19, 2012   |   0  comments

Best Academy students close the achievement gap

MINNEAPOLIS — “We are the best!” shout dozens of 5th through 8th grade boys at Harvest Preparatory School, a public charter school in Minneapolis.

This is part of a creed students recite daily at the school, which houses several programs, including Best Academy, a boy-focused program serving students through 8th grade.

“Our boys… have closed the achievement gap,” declared Harvest Prep founder and CEO Eric Mahmoud.  Because Minnesota carries one of the largest achievement gaps of any state in the country, Mahmoud makes quite a statement.

“Nationally, only 12 percent of African American boys are proficient in math and reading,” said Mahmoud, quoting a study by the National Assessment for Educational Progress.

Mahmoud and his staff weren’t satisfied by the scores of their own students. That’s why staff changed their approach in recent years.

“We changed the level of rigor, we changed the level of focus, we began to sweat the small stuff,” said Mahmoud.  The results have become more apparent in testing the past two years.  African American boys at the school now boast 85-percent proficiency in reading, and 80-percent in math, which Mahmoud says beats the state average for white students.

Part of that success also stems from something central to every student’s day at Harvest Prep.  Their school day is about 35-percent longer than the average school day in Minnesota.  That allows teachers more time to work with students.

It also takes some getting used to.  Shawn Williams moved her son, Dontae, to Best Academy when he was in the 6th grade.

“He was like, ‘Mom, I hate it there,’” Williams recalled.

But after transferring to another school in the 7th grade, it took Dontae just a matter of weeks to change his mind and return to Best.

“He was making straight A’s because he said ‘I did that already.  We did that last year,’”  said Williams.

Mahmoud sees the success of his students as critical to their own advancement, and also for the good of the country.  If the nation doesn’t find a way to close the gap “Then I think that we’re going to lose our competitiveness as a state and as a country,” said Mahmoud.

He’s already working with Minneapolis Public Schools and a school in Saint Paul to find a way to replicate Harvest Prep’s success in other programs.

Mahmoud says it comes down to the will of the adults in the room to do whatever is necessary for the good of the students.  Harvest Prep’s creed makes it clear, the school expects just as much from the students.

“We are the best not because we say it.  Because the best is what we do.  We are the best.”

(Copyright 2012 by KARE. All rights reserved.)

Posted in Beating the Odds!, CSP Partner School Profile, CSP's Closing the Gap" Schools, Culture of Reform and Achievement | Comments Off

Northside Achievement Zone (NAZ) secures $28 million Promise Neighborhood grant!

Posted on December 19, 2011 by admin
A remarkable announcement from North Minneapolis today. The $28 million Promise Neighborhood grant is on top of last week’s announcement that Minnesota has secured a $45 million Race to the Top grant to support Minnesota’s Pre-K reform efforts, dollars that would be focused on four geographic areas including the Northside Achievement Zone.   These initiatives, along with several other efforts focused on improving district and charter school student achievement, show a new and genuine commitment to close the achievement gap in the Twin Cities. (Star Tribune article, MPR News, MinnPost).

Here is NAZ’ newsletter from today that includes a video of the very emotional event. Congrats to our friend and partner Sondra Samuels and the entire NAZ Team for their great effort in making this a reality. Now the work begins! (U.S. Dept. of Ed’s news release).

Dear Partners,

Today is a historic day for North Minneapolis. The U.S. Department of Education awarded NAZ with a $28 million Promise Neighborhood grant. Please read our release below, view the video of the announcement and celebrate with us!
North Minneapolis Tapped for $28M Promise Neighborhood Investment

Hopes Rise as NAZ’s Work to End Poverty Gains Steam

MINNEAPOLIS, Monday, December 19, 2011—North Minneapolis’ Northside Achievement Zone (NAZ) is a winner of the Department of Education’s prestigious Promise Neighborhood Implementation grant. The U.S. Department of Education announced five national winners at 11 a.m. today from Elizabeth Hall International Elementary School in North Minneapolis. The school is one of several partners who make up NAZ, a collaborative organization that works to prepare North Minneapolis children to graduate from high school ready for college.

“North Minneapolis is a renewed community today,” said NAZ CEO, Sondra Samuels.  “The Promise Neighborhood program and NAZ share the same vision—that all children and youth deserve access to great schools and strong systems of family and community support that will prepare them for college and a career starting at birth.”

NAZ is dedicated to the success of children and families in North Minneapolis. It supports families, promotes academic achievement and creates a culture of success.

NAZ is positioned to coordinate the North Minneapolis service-delivery system and is refocusing the mission of every partner organization to drive toward a single, shared goal. The NAZ mission is based on the expectation that successful families will support successful children.  The NAZ collaborative includes schools and service providers, who have worked together to create a “cradle to career” pathway for children, while supporting their families with wrap-around services.  NAZ began in 2010 as a pilot.

The Promise Neighborhood Implementation funding for NAZ is $28 million over 5 years. NAZ currently operates with an annual budget of just over $1 million, provided through the support of individual donors, foundations and corporations.

The grant will be used to build NAZ infrastructure. For example, NAZ will increase the number of engagement team “family coaches” from six to 40.  Family coaches are from the North Minneapolis community and are trained neighbor-leaders who work one on one with families to build a culture of achievement within their homes.

“The Promise Neighborhood funding will allow us to immediately scale up our services to reach many more families,” Samuels said. “It sets in motion our ability to grow from our current 150 pilot families to our five-year goal of reaching 1,200 families with 3,000 children – all successfully on a path to college. We hold the belief that all of our families are going to succeed. This isn’t the end of our journey, but just the beginning,” she said.

About NAZ
NAZ is a collaboration of service providers and schools who work with children and families in a geographic area, or “Zone” of North Minneapolis to build a culture of achievement so that all youth graduate college-ready. NAZ focuses on a geographic target area that is an 18 by 13 block square that is most impacted by crime, violence and poverty on Minneapolis’ Northside. The Zone is estimated to be home to more than 5,500 children. A variety of challenging family factors are experienced by these children—including physical and behavioral health, stability and safety of housing, and economic and financial well-being.The purpose of NAZ is to end multigenerational poverty by significantly improving achievement outcomes for all children and youth in the Zone. To achieve this bold goal, NAZ has developed a comprehensive, multi-level change strategy that uses a “high-touch” approach to engage families and children, coordinate services and supports, and build the culture of achievement one family at a time.
NAZ FLASH / News from the Northside Achievement Zone (NAZ)
1200 W. Broadway #250 | Minneapolis, MN 55411 | 612-521-4405 | the-naz.org
Posted in Northside Achievement Zone (NAZ) | Comments Off

Partner Tuesday, TFA Event highlight CSP’s busy week

Posted on December 15, 2011 by admin

House Ed-Reform Chair Sondra Erickson at CSP's Quality-Charter/Ed-Reform Partner Tuesday event this week

Two events highlighted a very busy week at Charter School Partners. The first was a Partner Tuesday Quality-Charter/Ed-Reform Legislative Luncheon in which House Ed-Reform Committee Chair, Rep. Sondra Erickson, joined CSP Partner Schools and a number of CSP ed-reform partners for lunch at Concordia Creative Learning Academy (CCLA), St. Paul.

In addition to hearing about the upcoming legislative session from  Rep. Erickson, presentations included the rolling out of CSP’s legislative/policy agenda as well as comments from several representatives of a nascent and growing ed-reform coalition here in Minnesota including the African American Leadership Forum (AALF), the Minnesota Business Partnership, and Leadership for Education Equity (LEE), the advocacy arm of Teach for America. MinnCAN’s advocacy team were all out of town, otherwise they would have joined us.

CSP’s Partner Tuesday Quality-Charter/Ed-Reform Legislative Luncheon at a very holiday festive  Concordia Creative Learning Academy, St. Paul. CCLA students charmed the guests by escorting them from their cars, greeting and making name tags, serving lunch and giving tours of the school. The CCLA choir performed three spirited songs as well.

TFA-Twin Cities/Charter School Partners host
BUILDING THE MOVEMENT: TOWARD A NEW DEFINITION OF SCHOOL LEADERSHIP

Later that evening at Minneapolis’ Open Book, TFA-Twin Cities and Charter School Partners hosted an event for TFA corps members and alum on school leadership and ed-reform.  Speakers included CSP Executive Director Al Fan and Katie Piehl, who is with the National Alliance for Charter School Authorizers (NACSA), both of whom outlined developments in the national ed-reform movement. In addition, two panel discussions were held on school leadership.

CSP's Director of Academic Excellence and Leadership Development Katie Barrett Kramer leads a panel of current and aspiring school leaders who discussed their careers as teachers to becoming transformational school leaders. From left to right: Katie Barrett Kramer, Hiawatha Academies' Shannon Blankenship, KIPP's Ben Tierney, Hiawatha Academies' Robin Fisher , CSP Fellow Angela Mansfield, Carl Phillips of Achieve Language Academy, and CSP Fellow Matthew Bannon.


Posted in 2012 Legislative Session, Partner Tuesday Events, Teach for America | Comments Off