Community Education

How to be a Successful Policy Entrepreneur: Words of Wisdom from Tom Kalil

Over the past several weeks, I’ve been reflecting on all we’ve learned this semester. We’ve had the opportunity to hear from a range of leaders in policy and technology. (Check out our syllabus) For my last post for Gov 3.0, I wanted to share some valuable insight from Tom Kalil, Deputy Director for Policy for the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.  When he joined our class via webcam, Tom outlined ten “attributes and tactics of a successful policy entrepreneur” which I share below with some reflections on my own personal experience.

1. Personal commitment: Start with an issue you’re passionate about and personally committed to changing. Shaping and changing policy can be a long road, so you should work on issues that you care about deeply.
2. Be specific: When seeking to create or change policy, be really specific about the who, what, why, when and how of the issue. Outline concrete public and private actions to move your policy ideas forward.
3. Trust and mutual reciprocity: In order to advance new policies, you must have a wide range of relations based on trust and reciprocity, both with policymakers and the people responsible for executing programs.
4. “Intellectual arbitrage”: Take an idea that works in one policy domain and introduce it in another context.
5. Large tool kit: To get stuff done in government, you need to have a range of tools and techniques to advance your agenda. Your job as a policy entrepreneur is to use a variety of existing tools and to create new ones. Tom spoke about this in the context of working in the White House, but it applies to every level of government.
6. Persistence: “Like water on stone.” Government deals with many complex issues and people have competing priorities. To make progress on policy, you must be committed and persistent.
7. Share credit: You will get more done if you are willing to give away or share the credit. Don’t worry about whose name is on the memo. People are willing to help you and many want to be recognized for it.
8. Identify talent: Find people committed to public service, who are entrepreneurial, hard workers, have great ideas. The ability to identify rock stars and recruit them to work for you or in other departments is incredibly valuable. If things are going well, you have the right person in the right job.
9. Inside/outside support: Identify people inside and outside government that are willing to help you advance your agenda. Tom shared a Tom Sawyer analogy—recruit others to help paint your white picket fence and over time, you'll have a large percentage of the town doing the work.  
10. Effective communication to multiple audiences: If you want to get things done in government, you must be able to work with many different types of people and be willing to use different types of arguments and vocabulary depending on your audience. 

As a soon-to-be-Wagner graduate, I’m still fairly new to the policy scene. Most of my policy-related experience has been as a parent advocate working to influence education policy at the local level.  My recent blog post, New Haven Parents: A Case Study in the Promise of Open Government, will give you a sense of this work. Even from my limited experience, Tom’s advice rings true. I will carry his advice with me as I venture into the next phase of my work, aspiring to be a successful policy entrepreneur. 

Sharing is Caring

What Skillshare could do for public schools

Skillshare, a private sector, open class system that allows anyone to learn on their own, is disrupting higher ed. Why can't K-12 take a hint?

Like other Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), Skillshare is open to anyone to take the thousand of classes crowdsourced through talented people. As compared to Khan Academy or other well-known MOOCS, Skillshare courses are more practical than "studying for the SAT" or "algebra." Instead, you will find $20 courses like Illustration and Lettering: A Hands-on Approach to Label Design or the $25 course HTML & CSS from Scratch in 30 Days. Why not supplement the methodical, NCLB (No Child Left Behind) classes with practical courses that cultivate lifelong learners? 

 

Shared Data

How data from over-performing schools can help under-performing schools

 

Data analysis focuses on the underperforming schools, focusing on what is not working in order to discover the silver bullet that will turn the education system on its head.

What if rich public schools, with over 80% of students going to college and bountiful resources, were responsible for analyzing the data at their own schools to use at underfunded schools in their communities. By opening up their “little to be ashamed of” data, rich schools can support their communities while teaching their students about research, philanthropy, community, and other cultures/walks of life. 

 

But what would this look like exactly? Curently, in Newton Massachusetts, students form downtown Boston commute to Newton, a suburb with excellent public schools, everyday to go to school. While in theory this program is a fantastic opportunity for inner city kids to gain access to high quality education, however there are mnay glitches in the program. For one, socially it is difficult to commute so far, especially before anyone has a license. Second, the cultural differences are so strong that it makes it very difficult for a 14 year old to take advantage of the high caliber education. 

Instead, schools should share data and best practices online, saving students the commute and social anxiety of moving. This could work in a few different ways. One would just be recommendation from high performing schools that could be tested. Another technique could be having the high performing teachers webcast trainings for the lower performing teachers, which wouldn't necessarily have to be across schools in different districts with different access to resources, but even within districts. This would allow knowledge sharing in a way that wouldn't feel as competitive as if it were happening within a specific school. 

Using either of these methods, or somethign else, I believe that sharing data across schools and teachers and administrators will lift the bar on learning and enable students to win. 

 

 

 

Allow Students to Bring Their Own Phones/Tablets to School

By: Jaleesa Murrell

Some are wondering what the next steps are in education and technology. Since some schools have yet to budget out for new advances in educational technologies such as Apple iPads or Windows Tablets for apps, e-books, and virtual games, how will schools start introducing the use of these tools? Some schools are allowing students to bring in their own technology to the classroom, the opposite trend from a few years ago of banning cell phones and other gadgets from the classroom. 

It is a good idea in the sense that you can introduce to students what learning apps they may use with the technology that they already have. In addition, teaching them different ways to use their technologies not just for Facebook and texting will get a lot of mileage from their technologies. 

However, how can one control what students are doing in the classroom with their cell phones and tablets? One article from the NY Times address some of the same concerns that came up when I think about how we can incorporate more technology and personalized learning into schools especially when schools do not have the funds to introduce all these cool, new services to their students.

Hopefully, these concerns will not stop people from at least trying this initiative out. Perhaps data collected from how well students are learning with these new technologies will encourage the federal and state governments to set aside grants specifically for these new learning techniques and move away from the more dinosaur way of learning.

Using Private Sector Technology in School

 The best education systems in the world are partnering with private sector giants. Is the United States missing out?

 

In April 2013, Singapore’s Nanyang Polytechnic signed an agreement with Samsung for an “innovation center.” Together, the government and Samsung will be working to improve learning environments using the testing and evaluation of technology in the classroom.

With governments, like that of the United States, lacking resources and initiative to innovate in the classroom, society would do well to team up initiatives in education reform with, for example, Google or Apple, in order to improve our country’s education system.

Silicon valley is dying for our education system to improve.  The network of high tech employers is currently pitching the White House hard on immigration reform because they cannot fill vacant job positions with top tier talent relying on American-educated applicants alone. From their vantage point, why wouldn’t they co-invest in education to improve their corporate responsibility, gain the next generation of customers, as well as improve the competition in their pool of future employees? It just makes sense.

 

But it’s not that simple. Not only would this be antitrust gone schizophrenic, but also it could cause complete uproar in school districts across the country. Having a technology company run our schools sounds like a harrowing tale.

 

But what if the partnership would be more like a continuous competition? The government could curate a grant-off, like Race to the Top, in order to gain the most valuable and cost-effective use of technology in education possible. And, rather than getting in bed with one company in a 10-year bind, this competition would be repeated year over year, allowing different school districts to test out different practices, and using open data to share the most effective tools out there.  

 

Smart Disclosure in K-12 Education

How private should our children’s data be?

 According to data.gov, Smart Disclosure is “an innovative new tool designed to help consumers make better informed decisions and benefit from new products and services powered by data."

 

In American education, local governments control and measure data, making it difficult to cultivate and curate a national conversation around its use and analysis in the classroom. However, with new systems for integration like LearnSprout and Clever, along with the new dropbox-like platform inBloom, education technology is becoming more interconnected, and the opportunity for aggregation and therefore smart recommendations is coming to fruition. But, how much information should schools and families disclose?

The default for disclosure is an important decision for government, as research shows that the majority of users stick with the option that is automatically chosen and do not think much about it. However, especially when it comes to minors, information is sensitive and should not be publicized. Yet, understanding and analyzing which factors are most responsible for low academic achievement means getting closer to improving our education system and thus society. So, what is the right thing to do?

As a great place to start, I believe that departments of education across the country should mimic what the Task Force on Smart Disclosure is doing in the consumer realm. Specifically, government is looking at “initiatives to empower consumers by giving them access to their own personal data.” The educational equivalent would be school districts aggregating information and sending it to families in a digestible format, allowing them to realize how their children are doing compared to successful children from their town or neighboring schools. In this way, at least parents would have access to the best of smart disclosure that government is working on, rather than having to login and analyze information in a customer (i.e. parent) un-friendly way.

This initiative could be extended to students, too. Students would have access to information, potentially in a gamified format, allowing them to see how their performance compares to the class average and to an anonymous but similarly talented fellow student (at their school or at another school). In this way, friendly competition (between the student and no one else in particular) would ensure, and motivate students in the classroom. Just like consumers in the corporate world want access to their data in order to make smarter decisions, parents and students deserve this information, too. 

Play for Education by Google

By: Jaleesa Murrell

Google is finally throwing its hat in the ring with educational innovations. Google is introducing Play for Education, a platform that organizes content by education type, age, and various other criteria to make the content discovery process simpler for higher learning institutions. In addition, the content has the educator’s stamps of approval so users know that they’re accessing quality content. Now more apps and e-books will be available to those who did not have access to them before.

Play for Education also makes use of Google+ groups so schools and universities can quickly push apps, books and other content out to their students and even bill it to one central account. There is already a pilot program underway with six New Jersey schools and general access won't be until sometime later this fall.

I think this is a great idea to decentralize most of the educational technologies already on Apple. Some schools cannot afford Apple machines so with the addition of this platform that can be used on Windows and Androids, which are cheaper. More schools with a tight budget can now have access to more educational technologies.

I am very excited to see what happens next, and will be keeping an eye on this project. 

Using Crowdfunding for Educational Innovation

By: Jaleesa Murrell

Using crowdfunding as a way to fund educational initiatives that institutions are inefficient in doing so is a great way for more educational projects to get started. Kickstarter is an example of a crowdfunding site were people can upload projects that need funding. For example, an afterschool program can receive funding from using Kickstarter versus relying solely on federal and state grants. In that way, there is more creativity and fewer restrictions on what type of afterschool program to provide since there are many restrictions placed on federal and state grants. With Kickstarter, you can start a project and ask for others in society to help with funding. People with an interest in your project will be able to help with funding, especially if they are interested in an new afterschool activity that may help students learn more about personal financing.

Now there is a Kickstarter app for iPhone so that one can keep in touch at all times with the funding of your project. I definitely think that educational programs can benefit from using Kickstarter for funding because it will no longer limit their innovativeness in regards to grant restrictions. Kickstarter even connects with Facebook, so that those on Facebook can learn more about your project and donate to it through Kickstarter. If they cannot contribute money, people can contribute their expertise for the afterschool program.

 

Understanding the data behind our nation's 1.3 million dropouts - Version 2.0

 The data around education is voluminous. While we have some idea of who attends schools, who slips through the cracks, and who fails to receive a high school diploma alongside their graduating peers. However, our education system could afford to be much more granular, transparent, and open about America’s students.   

Our nation currently educates over 49.8 million students in public elementary and secondary schools, as reported by the National Center for Education Statistics. Alarmingly, 25 percent of these students will not graduate nationally. In our nation’s Capital, this number increases to 37 percent, and in New York, 26 percent of students drop out.

If a student misses five or less days of school he/she will graduate at a rate of about 90 percent. If a student misses more than five days, this percentage decreases to 63 percent. In our very own backyard in District 12 in the Bronx, 51.7 percent of students are chronically absent (20-37 days) or severely chronically absent (38+ days), states research by The New School. Attendance is directly related to high school graduation. It is one of the three main predictors of academic success, as researched by Robert Balfanz of Johns Hopkins University.

Image from: http://www.newschool.edu/milano/nycaffairs/documents/StrengtheningSchoolsReport.pdf

These percentages mean that about 1.3 million students do not graduate each year. If we could reduce this number by 700,000 students, economists have hypothesized that we could benefit our economy $90 billion each year since. Henry M. Levin and Cecilia E. Rouse have calculated this cost-benefit analysis and argue for investing in boosting attendance in the New York Times.

These numbers are alarmingly huge and complex – as is the road to high school graduation. These facts and figures are also extremely overlooked. Whenever I talk about the data behind student attendance, reactions are undoubtedly shocked. While we have some idea about this data, where it comes from, and how it is collected, we could be extremely more granular.

The power of open data and smart disclosure around these students could have tremendous impact.  As Joel Gurin, Former Chair, White House Task Force on Smart Disclosure stated, making information transparent will promote our ability as consumers to make decisions in an informed manner. By understanding more microscopically who the students are that are falling behind, superintendents, principals, teachers, and families could have a stronger ability to intervene earlier, rather than continued to be shocked that one-third of our students are failing.

The concept “smart disclosure”, as discussed in the Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies, refers to the timely release of complex information and data in standardized, machine-readable formats in ways that also enable consumers to make informed decisions. In the education sector, smart disclosure should take the form of providing stakeholders with direct access to relevant information and data sets about student attendance and achievement.

Kinvolved, my startup company, is dedicated to promoting information sharing about student attendance data and information between schools and families. It is important how we make information transparent. Complex data sets, even if they are available to the public, are meaningless unless we can convert rows and columns in excel sheets to digestible facts and figures. 

The education sector needs to translate data surrounding attendance into a format, language, reading level, that parents of all communities, nationalities, and education levels understand. Making this information transparent will spur innovation, as I have seen first hand.  Our software program graphically analyzes trends in student behavior to understand why students are not in the classroom at the astounding rate that persists across our schools. Open sourcing this attendance data and synthesized research to schools and families is just a beginning.

To contribute to the wave of open data and open sourcing information Kinvolved helps parents to understand the data behind the number of days absent marked on their child’s report card. With 1.3 million students failing to graduate every year, there is room for additional data-focused resources, which can not only bring knowledge and power to teachers and parents, but can also help support getting these students in the classroom all day, every day.

This blog post was written by Alexandra Meis, current student at the NYU Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service.

 

 

 

 

 

How can technology improve parent engagement in schools?

I recently came across a very poignant article, “Is parent involvement in school really useful?” published in The Washington Post. The article argues that our education system has failed to focus on the importance of quality parent engagement. Strauss also approaches the elephant in the room – do parents from underserved, poor socioeconomic communities play an active enough role in their child’s education? I have been struggling with this issue for the past two years via my startup company, Kinvolved. I know that the bottom line is that parent engagement matters, but how are we promoting and monitoring parent quality across schools? More importantly, parents, regardless of their income or status, need to be empowered to be involved with schools.

Conversations are more so welcomed around quantity. For example, schools measure how many parents attended parent-teacher conferences, or the number of times a parent volunteers at a school event. But what discussions are being had at parent-teacher conferences, and how are parents invited into the four walls of the classroom? I have been asking myself if parents engaged in ways that are of best interest for the child? Are parents welcomed into schools in meaningful ways?

There is a lot of room for improvement around this issue area. Having discussions about quality options for parent engagement is a start. An educator and tech entrepreneur, Margaret Powers, has written about how technology can be an effective tool in facilitating, developing, and supporting parent-teacher relationships. She suggests a great idea about schools hosting teacher-parent tech nights. These events could reduce fear and confusion that some parents experience when utilizing technology to engage with the school community. However, a certain level of intrinsic motivation is needed on the parent end to just show up.

To mitigate this problem, Personal Learning Networks, have been shown to be successful. David Andrade, a CIO for a public school district in Connecticut, blogs about how these networks create virtual communities for parents, which allow them to connect with their child’s school, and communicate with other parents. But our educational community cannot overlook the fact that human capital is still needed. Pairing technology with human capital needs to be delicately introduced.

Leveraging technology certainly will not be a “cure-all” for improving the quality of parent engagement in schools, but it is a great start. The Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence has shown that when parents know they are valued, that their contributions matter, and that they are wanted in conversations, student achievement will improve, regardless of the child’s socioeconomic status. While all would agree that parent engagement is important, we need to much more effectively bring though leaders to the table to understand how we can make this engagement meaningful.

This blog post was written by Alexandra Meis, MPA Candidate 2013, NYU Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service.