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Diplomas Now

Posted by Robert Balfanz on February 27, 2013 at 1:32 PM EDT

Robert Balfanz is being honored as a Champion of Change for his efforts in Educational Excellence for African Americans.

My professional work has revolved around figuring out what it will take to enable all our students to graduate from high schools prepared for adult success. I believe our current outcomes are an affront to what America can and needs to be. Far too many of our students, especially students of color who live in poverty, fail to graduate from high school. The good news is that, for the first time in forty years, the nation’s high school graduation rate is improving, and at a significant rate. Over the past four years, the graduation rate has increased by five percentage points. Those gains have been driven by improvements in the graduation rates of African American and Latino students, the very students for whom the dropout crisis has been the most acute. Much work, however, remains in order to insure that all students have the educational experiences and supports they need to graduate from high school prepared for college and career. This is essential because there is no work in the 21st century which can support a family without high school diplomas.

The challenge that remains for African American students is that, even with the progress of the past five years, one in three students do not graduate with their class, and one in four attends a high school where graduation is not the norm. About 11 percent of high schools, 1400 in number, produce half of the nation’s African American and Latino dropouts. Nearly all these high schools, in turn, educate students who live in neighborhoods of concentrated poverty. To move forward, we must organize our efforts. We must not only turnaround these schools and insure they provide a quality education which prepares their students for success, but we must also insure that students within the school have the supports they need to overcome the challenges of poverty. Poverty makes it more difficult for students in the nation’s low-graduation-rate high schools to come to school every day, pay attention in class, and get their school work done. Research shows that the best teachers and most evidence-based curriculums will have muted impacts if students are not able to attend, focus, and try.

Fortunately, it is being demonstrated more and more that the hungry bear of poverty can be pushed back. Whole school instructional and teaching improvements can be enhanced through the use of early warning systems and better targeted student supports provided by a growing number of non-profits and community organizations using evidence based strategies. These solutions will keep many more students on the path to high school graduation. The “Our Diplomas Now” program, for example, is showing that chronic absenteeism, behavioral struggles, and course failures in our most challenged schools can be cut in half or more.

Yet to truly provide all students who live in poverty with reliable pathways to adult success, bolder action will be needed. We need an innovation competition to re-design middle and high school so that it will be routine for students who live in high poverty communities to take and succeed in high school credit-bearing classes in eighth grade, and college credit-bearing classes in twelfth grade. This will provide students with direct experience to the expectations of the next level of schooling, while still providing the familiarity and support of their current school, where they are seen as the most advanced rather than the least experienced students. This is critical because we know it is in the transition years – sixth grade, ninth grade and the first year of college – when most of our high poverty students fall off the path to high school graduation and post-secondary success. As importantly, this plan would enable students to complete college in three years, which means financial aid can be spread over fewer years, increasing the amount available each year. Finally, what would have been the fourth year of college can be used as a year of community and national service (in exchange for enhanced financial aid), working in the highest-needs schools to provide the person-power needed to give students the tutoring, mentoring, role models, nagging, and nurturing they will need to overcome the challenges of poverty and succeed in more demanding courses.

There is one final component that will be required. It was driven home to me during a visit to a school we were helping in Chicago. The ninth grade class was reading “A House on Mango Street,” and the teacher, as a discussion prompt, asked the class, “if [they] could, would [they] leave their neighborhood, and, if so, why.” Almost every single student said they would, and almost every one of them said it was because of their near-daily exposure to violence. Part of me at that moment felt that, instead of seeking to improve the school, we should be organizing an evacuation. But then, one student said it was only worth leaving if the violence did not follow them. What we need to acknowledge is that within the sub-set of schools which drive the dropout crisis, there is a further sub-set, which needs to take on a therapeutic role, one that both helps students cope and overcome the negative and often crippling aspects of exposure to violence, and one that shows that alternatives to violence exist. The truth is, in our most impacted neighborhoods, the public school is often the only societal institution with a physical presence in the community. As such, it needs to offer more than just academic instruction; it needs to provide students with the academic and non-academic experience and supports they need to thrive. Right now, schools are not resourced for this mission. To do this, we will need to become much better at integrating the funds and efforts currently housed in other city, state, and federal social service and justice agencies, usually disconnected from the schools, into a set of preventative, therapeutic, and wrap-around supports provided in the schools in our most challenged neighborhoods.

Robert Balfanz is a professor at Johns Hopkins University

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Common Sense: Attendance Matters

Posted by Hedy Chang on February 27, 2013 at 1:02 PM EDT

Hedy Chang is being honored as a Champion of Change for her efforts in Educational Excellence for African Americans.

I am thrilled and honored be selected as a White House Champion of Change for my efforts with Attendance Works to reduce chronic absence. The truth is Ralph Smith, my mentor and the managing director of the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, was the inspiration for this work and deserves equal credit. Seven years ago, he asked me to examine, on behalf of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, whether missing too much school in the early grades was one of the reasons so few low-income children were reading proficiently by the end of the third grade. He knew that kids who don’t reach this benchmark are much less likely to graduate from high school because by fourth grade they start falling rapidly behind because they can’t read in order to learn.

So what did we find? Our research confirmed what we know from common sense: attendance matters. Chronically absent students – those who miss ten percent or nearly a month of school – do worse academically. We also learned poor attendance is a huge problem that starts much earlier than middle and high school. One in ten kindergarten and first grade students nationwide miss nearly a month of school each year. In some cities, the rate is as high as one in four elementary students. In some schools, chronic absence affects fifty percent of all of the students!! Large numbers of children who are chronically absent results in less learning for everyone.

Children in poverty are four times more likely to be chronically absent than their more affluent peers. They also suffer the most academically because they lack the resources to make up for the time they missed in the classroom. They are also likely to face challenges like unstable housing, poor health and nutrition, and unsafe neighborhoods that lead to multiple years of chronic absence. Chronic absence is disproportionately high among young African Americans and other children of color who are more likely to live in poor, environmentally-challenged, low-income neighborhoods with high levels of community violence.

What motivates me to be a passionate advocate for change is the realization that most schools and communities don’t even know they have a problem in the first place. Too often, absences aren’t seen as a problem as long as they’re excused, or schools and families only worry when a child misses several days in a row and fail to recognize the cumulative impact of missing a day every couple weeks. Data can help identify which students are at risk. If large numbers of students are affected, it could be an indicator of a systemic community issue, like high rates of asthma or the lack of safe paths to school. It could also signal a serious school problem, such as a lack of engaging and meaningful instruction or unwarranted suspensions pushing young people out of the classroom. Insights from students, families, teachers, social workers, and nurses can help clarify why students are not showing up to class and what programmatic solutions are needed to improve attendance. Yet, currently, no federal and very few state laws require schools to track and report on chronic absence. We are turning a blind eye to an enormous problem and losing out on an opportunity to close the achievement gap.

In 2010, I launched Attendance Works, to ensure schools and communities use attendance data to intervene early before absences result in academic and behavioral challenges that are much harder to ameliorate. The good news is that chronic absence is a solvable problem. The key is for schools, community agencies, and families to work together to: a) build a habit and a culture of regular attendance; b) use data to monitor when chronic absence is a problem; and c) identify and solve barriers to getting children to school. We can turn chronic absence around by making it a priority, driving with data, and using positive supports rather than punitive action to engage families and students in showing up to school.

Hedy Chang directs Attendance Works

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African American History Month Weekly Wrap-up

Posted by Heather Foster on February 22, 2013 at 7:30 PM EDT

This week, to celebrate African American history month, we held events for civil, community, LGBT and business leaders here at the White House. We had wonderful discussions, highlighting ways to increase equality and opportunity for all and celebrating African American history and opportunities to pave the way forward for the next generation of leaders. These are the groups that came into the White House as part of our week’s events for African American History Month.

Here’s a rundown on all the exciting events that have been happening this past week:

Tuesday: Association of African American Life and History Panel Event

The Association of African American Life and History is a group of historians and academics who, among other duties, come up with the theme of African American History month every year. The theme this year, “At the Crossroads of Freedom and Equality: The Emancipation Proclamation and the March on Washington,” commemorates the 150^th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation and the 50^th anniversary of the March on Washington. The association came in for a panel, featuring Michael Strautmanis, Counselor to the Senior Advisor for Strategic Engagement, to hear about the Administration’s actions and priorities for the African American community.

Wednesday: Doing Business in Africa Forum

On Tuesday, we welcomed the business and entrepreneurship community to the Doing Business in Africa forum, which featured speakers from the Department of Commerce, the White House, and private and nonprofit sectors to highlight how the federal government can use trade promotion, financing and strategic communications and capabilities to help U.S. businesses identify and seize opportunities in Africa. The goal of the forum was to help give tools to overcome any challenges they face to establishing business relationships with Africa.

Thursday: African American Leaders Meeting with POTUS

Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

President Obama met with African American leaders in the Roosevelt Room at the White House. They discussed his plan to strengthen the economy for the middle class and to build ladders of opportunity, through increasing access to job training programs, partnering with high-poverty communities to help them rebuild, and encouraging companies to invest in disadvantaged neighborhoods. Other topics included how to expanding universal pre-K education for every child as a way to significantly decrease the achievement gap, as well as improvements to the voting process. The leaders also highlighted their goals to continue to build momentum for Congress to act in the best interests of the American people by supporting policies that help move our country forward.

Thursday: Black LGBT Emerging Leaders Briefing

At the Black LGBT Emerging Leaders Briefing, 175 young leaders gathered to hear about policies and accomplishments that impact the African American and LGBT communities. We also connected participants with ongoing Obama Administration programs and outreach efforts and with black LGBT Administration officials who can serve as mentors and role models. And we heard from the participants about the opportunities and obstacles they encounter in their campuses, neighborhoods, and communities.

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Ensuring Safe Schools for LGBT Youth

Posted by Michael Yudin on February 22, 2013 at 11:48 AM EDT

Ed. note: This is cross-posted from the US Department of Education Blog

Photo Credit: US Department of Education

This past weekend in San Diego, I had the opportunity to participate in the 4th Annual National Educator Conference focused on creating safe, supportive, and inclusive schools for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth. A goal of the conference, presented by the Center for Excellence in School Counseling and Leadership (CESCaL), was to bring together education leaders and LGBT experts to empower and provide educators and school personnel with the knowledge and skills necessary to create safe, welcoming and inclusive school environments for all youth, regardless of their sexual orientation.

Additionally, the conference focused on providing educators with the tools and resources to prevent and respond to bullying of LGBT youth, as well as empowering them to make the changes in their schools to make sure all kids are safe and thriving. I met with so many amazing educators; it truly was empowering.

Safe schools are not only free from overt forms of physical violence or substance abuse, but work proactively to support, engage, and include all students. Unfortunately, too many schools are not safe for LGBT youth. According to GLSEN’s National School Climate Survey, nearly 8 out of 10 LGBT youth were harassed at school. We know that students who are bullied are more likely to have depression, anxiety, and other health concerns, as well as decreased academic achievement and participation. When students don’t feel safe, they are less likely to learn and more likely to give up on school altogether. Unfortunately, we also know that LGBT youth are disproportionately subject to discipline practices that exclude them from the classroom, and make up close to 15% of youth in the juvenile justice system.

Given these statistics, it’s not surprising that LGBT youth are at an increased risk for suicidal thoughts and behaviors, suicide attempts, and suicide. We need to ensure that educators have the tools and resources to not only protect LGBT students from harassment and discrimination, but to ensure that they thrive in schools, not drop out!

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Help Stop The Student Debt Domino Effect

Posted by Rohit Chopra on February 22, 2013 at 11:17 AM EDT

Ed. note: This is cross posted from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Blog

Today, we announced that we’re gathering information to come up with a plan to address the challenges many struggling borrowers face to find a more affordable payment plan on their private student loans. We need your ideas and help to stem the tide of trouble for many student loan borrowers.

Student loans are a critical part of the consumer finance marketplace — a way for millions of Americans to attend college and climb the economic ladder. But rising balances and distress in the student loan market raise questions about the domino effect on the rest of the economy and society. Will young consumers with large amounts of student loan debt be able to start small businesses and buy homes like generations before them?

Policy makers and financial institutions have taken steps to ensure that lending is safer. Many loans of all types made in years leading up to the financial crisis would likely not be made today. But those already stuck with heavy debt burdens and looking for some way to pay it back, want to know: what about us?

Most of the student loan market consists of federal student loans, which allow most borrowers to avoid default through the income-based repayment options in times of hardship. But private student loans – a market which boomed in the years leading up to the financial crisis – generally don’t.

Over the last year, we’ve heard from thousands of private student loan borrowers willing to make good on their debts but seeking a more affordable payment, especially when navigating tough times. One of the top complaints we’ve heard from private student loan borrowers was the inability to refinance or negotiate an alternative repayment plan with their lender or servicer.

This is a familiar story. Since the financial crisis, millions of homeowners have sought more affordable mortgage payments by refinancing and locking in rates at historically low levels. Others pursued loan modifications to avoid foreclosure with mixed success. But for many private student loan borrowers, finding a more affordable payment has been a frustrating experience.

We also hear from lenders, who want customers to be successful and ultimately repay their loans. That’s why we’re looking to put together some creative solutions to find private student loan repayment plans that borrowers can actually afford.

We need your input to help student loan borrowers experiencing distress and default. Learn more about this project and how you can contribute ideas. We want to hear from borrowers, lenders, schools, and everyone with a stake in the success of this market by April 8th.

In the coming months, we’ll release your input and our ideas on how to address this piece of the student debt puzzle. Stay tuned.

Rohit Chopra is the CFPB’s Student Loan Ombudsman.

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WWTDG: Subscribe to Charity

Posted by Ronnie Cho on February 8, 2013 at 12:19 PM EDT

Two weeks ago, we witnessed President Obama deliver his second inaugural address. His speech was a call to action, a reminder that our work towards a more perfect union remains unfinished and that we each must do our part to improve the community around us. Whether it’s devoting our time through volunteer service or by making small donations towards causes that make a big impact, we should all do what we can in order to move our nation forward.

Photo from Hellogiggles.com

This week’s Women Working to Do Good (WWTDG) profile highlights a young woman who is doing just that. Amy Crews created an innovative website that makes charitable giving as easy as signing up for a subscription to your favorite magazine. In the article, the author writes:

As Amy said, “while we’re all giving a little bit, collectively as a community, we’re really making a difference.” CharitySub has focused on issues ranging from childhood obesity to hunger, clean water, confidence through the arts, sex trafficking, and financial literacy to name a few.

The work that Amy and her team are doing is inspiring and reminds us that anyone can help make the world a better place.

Women Working to Do Good is a series that the White House and Hello Giggles collaborate on. We will bring you stories of women in communities across the United States who we think are stars in their own right. Each story will also be featured on Hello Giggles. If there is a woman in your community who you think should be honored in this series, email at wwtdg@hellogiggles.com.

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Immigration Leaders Welcome President Obama's Proposal for Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Posted by Julie Chavez Rodriguez on February 5, 2013 at 11:31 AM EDT

Last week, President Barack Obama delivered remarks in Las Vegas about fixing the broken immigration system so that it is fairer and helps grow the middle class by ensuring everyone plays by the same rules.

"I’m here because most Americans agree that it’s time to fix a system that’s been broken for way too long." President Obama said. "I’m here because business leaders, faith leaders, labor leaders, law enforcement, and leaders from both parties are coming together to say now is the time to find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as the land of opportunity.”

President Obama's proposal for immigration reform has four parts. First, continue to strengthen our borders. Second, crack down on companies that hire undocumented workers. Third, hold undocumented immigrants accountable before they can earn their citizenship; this means requiring undocumented workers to pay their taxes and a penalty, move to the back of the line, learn English, and pass background checks. Fourth, streamline the legal immigration system for families, workers, and employers.

In response to the President’s remarks, a number of immigration leaders across the nation issued statements applauding the President for his leadership. Here are a few of those statements:

American Immigration Council

“Today, in Las Vegas, President Obama urged the country to join him in moving forward on immigration reform, offering a proposal that addresses the pressing economic, cultural, and moral crisis facing the nation over immigration. In doing so, he brought policies and principles down to one very important idea—that our American identity is directly tied to our heritage as immigrants and thus we owe it to each other to fix the immigration system once and for all.”

National Immigration Law Center

“President Obama promised voters that he would work with legislators in Washington to create an immigration process for our country’s aspiring citizens, and today he showed that he will deliver on that promise. The president spoke passionately about his commitment to a clear road to citizenship for the 11 million women and men who are Americans at heart if not on paper. He reminded the country of our own immigrant roots, and that immigration cannot be a matter of ‘us’ versus ‘them.’ In fact, he said, most of us, at some point, were ‘them.’”

United We Dream

“Today, President Obama unveiled his plan for immigration reform in a major speech in Las Vegas, stating a commitment to creating a roadmap to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and pledging to make immigration reform a top priority for 2013. United We Dream, the largest immigrant youth-led network in the U.S., is speaking out to welcome President Obama’s new leadership and pledging to continue pressing President Obama to stop deporting our families now. DREAMers will also pressure Congressional leaders from both sides of the aisle to support reform with a direct path to citizenship and an end to deportations that tear families apart.”

FIRM

“We are looking forward to the detailed plan the President is expected to present tomorrow in Las Vegas. We welcome his leadership which will be essential to finally creating an immigration system which reflects our national values.”

America’s Voice

“President Obama today provided another reminder why we are optimistic about immigration reform in 2013. During the President’s speech, he laid down a clear and important marker for the impending debate by saying it ‘must be clear from the outset that there is a pathway to citizenship.’

Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition

“These people have lived here for decades. They are the fabric of their communities. They need a pathway to citizenship that’s reasonable.”

New York Immigration Coalition

““We welcome the President’s remarks today calling for commonsense immigration reform, including, importantly, a path to citizenship, reduced wait times for families to reunite, and an immigration system better aligned to the workforce needs of our economy. We are encouraged by several of the positive reforms the President outlined in his proposal, which, in some cases, are more far-reaching than the Senate framework.”

Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles

“The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA) described President Obama’s address on immigration Tuesday as a significant turning point in American domestic policy and a ray of sunlight at the end of a long dark tunnel that has kept so many families in the shadows for more than two decades.”

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LGBT Advocates Welcome President Obama’s Proposal for Comprehensive Immigration Reform

Posted by Gautam Raghavan on January 31, 2013 at 12:53 PM EDT

Earlier this week, President Barack Obama delivered remarks in Las Vegas about creating a fair and effective immigration system that lives up to our heritage as a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants."I’m here because most Americans agree that it’s time to fix a system that’s been broken for way too long." President Obama said. "I’m here because business leaders, faith leaders, labor leaders, law enforcement, and leaders from both parties are coming together to say now is the time to find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as the land of opportunity. Now is the time to do this so we can strengthen our economy and strengthen our country’s future."

President Obama's proposal for immigration reform has four parts. First, continue to strengthen our borders. Second, crack down on companies that hire undocumented workers. Third, hold undocumented immigrants accountable before they can earn their citizenship; this means requiring undocumented workers to pay their taxes and a penalty, move to the back of the line, learn English, and pass background checks. Fourth, streamline the legal immigration system for families, workers, and employers.

In response to the President’s proposal, a number of organizations that advocate for LGBT rights issued statements praising the President’s leadership and calling for comprehensive immigration reform. Here are some of their words:

Rachel Tiven, Executive Director of Immigration Equality

“LGBT families are elated to have the President’s support for an immigration reform bill that includes our families. When the President leads, Congress and the American people join him to stand for equality. From the repeal of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ to marriage equality, the President’s leadership has been effective, and critical, in winning real change for real families. As Congress moves forward in crafting legislation to fix our broken immigration system, we look forward to working with the President and our allies on Capitol Hill to pass a bill that ends the discrimination LGBT families face, provides a pathway to citizenship for undocumented people – gay and straight – and quickly integrates young people whose dream is to be fully, legally American.”

Chad Griffin, President of the Human Rights Campaign

“President Obama continues to demonstrate his tremendous leadership on behalf of our community by recognizing that fixing our nation’s flawed immigration system must include relief for these loving, committed couples and their families. In addition, by establishing a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, including children brought into this country by their parents, the President’s plan will help millions of individuals at our nation’s margins.”

Rea Carey, Executive Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force

“President Obama today put forth a vision of immigration reform that is inclusive. Today, there are 11 million undocumented immigrants, including hundreds of thousands of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people who are forced to live in the shadows of society. Creating a clear pathway to citizenship will ensure better and brighter futures not just for them, but for our entire country. America wouldn’t be what it is today without the grit, guts, ingenuity, creativity and work ethic of millions of immigrants who have come to this country with a dream. These dreams built and have sustained America — from science and industry, to agriculture and domestic work, to commerce and innovation. The American dream dies when the dreamers are shut out.”

Jennifer Chrisler, Executive Director of Family Equality Council

“Immigration is fundamentally a family issue. The President has demonstrated time and again that he has the best interest of families with LGBT parents at heart, and our inclusion in his plan for Comprehensive Immigration Reform further demonstrates his commitment to us. We will stand with him every step of the way to make sure we are protecting families with parents who are immigrants, and we look forward to working with the White House and Congress to get this done. ”

Kate Kendell, Executive Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights

"It is clear that after long suffering we may finally see true progress on meaningful immigration reform. In a historic speech today, President Obama made clear that he supports an accessible and straightforward path to citizenship, recognition of ALL families and a process for keeping those families together, including same-sex couples and families headed by LGBT parents, and citizenship for DREAMers. This is what we must see. As the process continues, we are committed to assuring that reforms truly provide the dignity, recognition, and fairness the President suggested. We need a plan animated by humanity, not punishment."

Justin Nelson and Chance Mitchell, Co-Founders of the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce

“On behalf of the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, we congratulate President Barack Obama on his proposed plan to reform immigration policy, which includes provisions for both business owners and for LGBT bi-national couples. The NGLCC understands that the United States is a nation of entrepreneurs, and the health and strength of our economy depends on opening greenfield opportunities for innovators looking to start and sustain businesses within our borders. We call on Congress to work with President Obama and move forward meaningful reform to establish an efficient path to citizenship for all people, including LGBT bi-national families.”

Iván Espinoza-Madrigal, Staff Attorney at Lambda Legal

“We are pleased that the experiences of LGBT families are being addressed by the President's plan for comprehensive immigration reform, presented today. The plan includes critically important protections needed by millions of hardworking Americans. Those who dismiss the needs of LGBT families and suggest that we can only protect some people but not all are not being true to deeply held American values of fairness.”

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