Author Archives: Woody

L.A. Teacher Has A Bigger Impact Through Home Visits

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I’m old enough to remember when doctors used to make house calls. I remember our family doctor coming into my bedroom, carrying his little black bag, and taking my temperature. Whether or not he cured what ailed me, his caring presence made me feel better.

My teachers, however, never came to my home. In fact, I didn’t know that teachers made house calls until I talked with Glenn Allen Jr.

Mr. Allen, whom we honored as an Alma Exley Scholar in 1998, began making home visits in his first year of teaching, and has been doing so ever since. Generally, he visits when a youngster is getting into trouble or has attendance issues.

“Sometimes when I say I’m going to their house, they don’t believe me,” he told me recently. “And they’re shocked when I arrive. But visiting students at home with their parents enables me to make a deeper connection. When I’m sitting on the couch in their living room, it brings our relationship to a different level.”

Mr. Allen, who grew up in East Hartford, Conn., has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Connecticut. He teaches Special Education English at Carson High School in the Los Angeles Unified School District. He has also served two years as a dean of students, and for several years he was on the coaching staffs for football and track & field.

I had the opportunity to visit Mr. Allen at Carson High School on a recent trip to Los Angeles. It was a great pleasure to see him in action with a class of 10th graders, who responded to his caring manner.

“Making the effort to visit students at home always has an impact,” he said. “Over the past 14 years, not once have I been to a student’s home that his or her behavior hasn’t improved.”

When students have been in trouble, they’re usually resistant to Mr. Allen’s visits. Sometimes, when they greet him at the door, they tell him their parents aren’t home. Or Hispanic students sometimes tell him their parents don’t speak English. But he persists, and the students’ jaws drop when he speaks to their parents in fluent Spanish.

When students are resistant, he tells them, “Look, I don’t have to be here. I’m not getting paid extra to do this. I’m here because I care about you and want you to be successful.”

Showing that he cares has an impact. He continues to make these home visits because he sees the results in improved behavior and academic performance.

Mr. Allen says he has become more forgiving of students in the classroom as a result of seeing the conditions they are dealing with at home. Many of his students live in poverty, and some are in group homes.

“I wish more teachers would make home visits,” he said. “Some personal attention from the teacher can make all the difference.”

–      Woody Exley

Vernon-James Riley: Rapid Rise To Educational Leadership

In the five years since we honored Vernon-James Riley, he has earned two master’s degrees and has emerged as a respected educational leader.

Plunging immediately into school leadership wasn’t what he had in mind when he left Michigan State with a master’s degree in 2009. But three months later he was Dean of Students at a charter school in Brooklyn, N.Y.

“Originally I didn’t want to work in a charter school,” he told me. “I wanted to work in a public school, where I thought good people were needed. But when I returned home to New York City, I learned that a hiring freeze was in effect in the public schools.”

Instead, Mr. Riley, who grew up in Harlem, accepted a summer internship with Education Pioneers, an organization that places graduate students in high-impact positions with educational organizations across the country.

“They placed me at a new charter school, Excellence Girls, in the Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn,” he said. “I met a lot of hard-working people who were trying to do the best they could for the kids who attended the school. It made me realize that charter schools are mischaracterized.  Charters are public schools. They don’t charge tuition, and they are available to all students as long as there are open seats.”

As September approached, he renewed his job search, applying to several New York City charter schools to teach social studies, his field as an undergraduate at Yale, but there were no openings. Instead, recognizing his leadership potential, the principal of a new charter school, Summit Academy in Red Hook, Brooklyn, asked him to apply for the position of dean.

“I went right into a leadership role,” he said. “It was quite a steep learning curve, especially for someone 21 years old. But I learned a lot.”

After two years, he was named Founding Director of Operations at Amani Public Charter School, a brand new school in Mount Vernon, N.Y. In this position, he was in charge of the business side of running the school, sharing leadership responsibilities with the Director of Curriculum and Instruction.

Mount Vernon is part of wealthy Westchester County, but a large part of the city has more in common with the adjacent borough of the Bronx, in terms of demographics and income.

“That’s what drove my interest in joining the founding team of the school,” Mr. Riley told me, “and, of course, the opportunity to be a pioneer.”

During the summer of 2012 he began the 14-month Summer Principals Academy offered by the Teachers College at Columbia University. Sandwiched between two summers of study, he completed a 450-hour administrative internship at Amani Public Charter School. In this program, he earned a second master’s degree while fulfilling the requirements for a license to serve as a school principal in New York State.

This summer Mr. Riley took another big step up the educational ladder when the highly-regarded North Star Academy Charter School in Newark, N.J., selected him as an Instructional Fellow.

During the first year of the two-year fellowship, he will teach several subjects and pursue professional development opportunities. In the second year he will serve as a mid-level educational leader. This will prepare him to assume the leadership of a charter school in Newark.

There are many ways to have an impact in education. Mr. Riley’s talents and education have enabled him to have an impact through educational leadership. In this capacity, he has been making a difference for students in urban areas where the educational challenges are monumental.

Congratulations and best wishes for future success to Vernon-James Riley, one of the 24 Alma Exley Scholars who are setting an example for those to come.

-Woody Exley

Dr. Santosha Oliver: Gaps in STEM Achievement

Santosha Oliver, Ph.D., 2007 honoree, was assistant principal of the O’Brien STEM Academy, East Hartford Public Schools, when she was the guest speaker at the reception on April 8, 2013 to honor Margaret Seclen, the 2013 Alma Exley Scholar. With a doctorate in biomedical science, Dr. Oliver is dedicated to encouraging students, particularly girls, to develop an interest in science and mathematics and pursue higher education. In January 2014 she was appointed to oversee STEM education for the Manchester Public Schools. 

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Following are excerpts from her remarks.

John Quincy Adams, our sixth president, once said, ‘If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.’

Educators certainly inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more – and as educational leaders, we must respond to the tremendous challenges and historic opportunities facing the nation to improve 21st century teaching and learning, and educate the whole child and not just a test score. This holistic view of 21st century teaching and learning combines rigor, technology, and support systems to help students master the 21st century skills required of them to be successful in college and careers.

According to the National Science Foundation, the size of the STEM workforce is not where it needs to be because K-12 students are not succeeding in STEM and undergraduates are leaving the STEM majors. In addition, there are noticeable gaps in STEM access and achievement. A 2012 report by the U.S. Office for Civil Rights concluded that high schools with the highest black and Hispanic enrollments have the least access to STEM courses like Algebra 2, Calculus, and Physics.  We now know that Algebra 2, Physics and Calculus are the gateways to college and beyond. Perhaps this lack of preparation has in part led to the sobering statistic that only 36 percent of students nationally complete a four-year degree in four years. When we break this down, we find that only 20.4 percent of black students and 26.4 percent of Hispanic students complete a four-year degree in four years, compared to 39.3 percent for non-Hispanic white students.

In order for the United States to be globally competitive, innovative, and prepared for new economic challenges, the U.S. must have an innovative educational environment that encourages excellence in STEM subjects, regardless of gender, socioeconomic status or ethnic background.

As educational leaders, we can innovate in education and advocate for courses that will give all students, regardless of their gender, socioeconomic status or ethnic background, an opportunity not only to get into college, but remain in college and go on to earn degrees in various fields to support our infrastructure.

I will be the first to admit this will not be an easy fix. We must explore curriculum development and implementation, school administration, teacher preparation, professional development and educational technology. And we must consider the input from STEM education experts, STEM practitioners, and private companies.

At the O’Brien STEM Academy, we encourage innovative partnerships with industry, higher education and the community. For example, we recently developed a partnership with the University of Connecticut Health Center to expose students to research in developmental biology, higher education, and STEM careers.

We also participate in the Connecticut Invention Convention, which encourages critical thinking skills through innovation and STEM. Our STEM students developed inventions that were judged by STEM practitioners from United Technologies, Stanadyne and other organizations. A dozen students will go on to the state-wide Invention Convention.

We are also developing a relationship with the Connecticut Science Center to support in-school and out-of school activities, such as our annual science fair, which was extended to grades K-6 this year. In addition, our STEM teachers are trained at the Connecticut Science Center to enhance inquiry-based teaching and learning.

We now know there is truth to the African proverb that it takes a village to raise a child, and it will take the collaborative efforts of all of the aforementioned people and agencies to transform K-12 education – starting with our teachers.

With that being said, we must focus on developing good teachers, not simply measuring them. If we don’t help all teachers to succeed, we will diminish their potential impact on student learning. Again, that is why the legacy of Alma Exley is so important, and continues on today with the newest Alma Exley Scholar, Margaret Seclen.

I would like to congratulate Margaret on rising to the tremendous challenge of preparing students for careers and college in the 21st century, and inspiring all students to learn more, do more and become more. We welcome you to the distinguished network, and more importantly, the family of Alma Exley.