We believe schools are responsible for ensuring that all children are prepared to attend college. This blog is for courageous teachers and tenacious principals who embrace that moral imperative, and who seek strategies to make that daring dream a reality.
The No Excuses University at Mango Elementary in Fontana California received a surprise visit from a very special visitor this week. California State Superintendent Jack O’Connell had an opportunity to check out the great work that is taking place at Mango and offer praise to the staff for their efforts. We’ll do the same. Congrats Mango!
This week the No Excuses University at Julian Elementary School, in Julian California, was named a National School of Character. Julian Elementary was the only school in the state of California to receive such an honor. The No Excuses University Network of Schools congratulates the Julian Elementary School staff for their diligent work in helping students achieve high standards of academic success, and develop a strong sense of character on their road to college. Well done!
My friend Jennifer sent this movie to me this morning. One look and I was floored. While it left me inspired by educators like Michelle Rhee and Jeffrey Canada, it also gave me a jolt that reminded me about what’s at stake. The lives of children hang in the balance every day. Our school aged children are on academic life support. Their life’s prospects are dependent on the education we offer them. As a whole, we are failing them. But it doesn’t have to be this way. The academic success of all students should never depend on the luck of the draw or how a lotto ball may bounce. EVERY student deserves a GREAT education and we CAN offer it to them. We have the strategies, but don’t have the will to put them into action. We are distracted by layoff notices and frustrated by a lack of funding. We get bad news, eat it up, and translate it into bad attitudes. Enough! It’s time to shut the door to our classrooms and teach our kids as if their lives depend on it. There is no alternative. Every teacher must begin to take this profession and the success of their students very personally. They need to enter their classrooms feeling as if they were placed on this Earth with the one, single, purpose to educate children. Over the top you say? Too bold? Unrealistic? Maybe, but there is absolutely no other choice. If we don’t make serious changes today, the same students that need us the most but learn the least today, will be sitting in prison cells tomorrow. Do you understand the sense of urgency?
In California, there are few honors greater than earning the California Distinguished Award for exemplary success. To be associated with one distinguished school is tremendous, but to be linked to three schools is downright outstanding. Congratulations to our colleagues at Mango, Landau, and Cielo Vista Elementary School for earning this very prestigious award. We’re proud of you!
The other day while taking a walk with my family, I spotted a mother having a conversation with her son. With little time to spare, the boy was strapping on his helmet in an effort to ride bikes with his friends who were waiting patiently at the end of the drive way. As he ran off she said, “Eddie stop!”. Immediately he froze and looked at his mom right in the eye. She went on, “Eddie, do the right thing.” He kissed her and went on his way. Because my intrigue got the best of me, I introduced myself to her after her son left. “Can I ask you a question? Do you always say that to him? Do you always tell him to do the right thing?”, I asked. She smiled and said, “Always. In fact, I’m convinced that because his attention span is so limited at this age it’s the only thing he’ll remember.” I was impressed. Her desire to find simplicity in a quick affirmation to her son was not done because she knows he will “do the right thing” every time at 6 years old, but more so in the hopes that he will do the right thing when he is faced with tougher challenges at 16 or 26. This mom knew that the road to character for her son begins at an early age. What’s your affirmation to your children and students? If you were allowed to say just 5 or 6 words a day to your kids, what would they be?
Yesterday we found out that two No Excuses University projects are in the running for the Pepsi Refresh Everything Grant. Please read below, vote, and pass it on.
Project #1 — Create the first No Excuses University Charter School: This project will receive $250,000 to help us begin our dream of opening charter schools across America. Please visit http://www.refresheverything.com/noexcusesuniversityprepacademy and vote each day.
Project # 2 — Keep the Academy at Los Pen: This project will receive $50,000 to continue an extended school charter-like program that has been changing the lives of kids of poverty for over a decade. Los Pen is where all of this began and we just can’t afford to let the movement end. Please visit http://www.refresheverything.com/lospenacademy and vote each day.
As part of this grant process, each person can vote up to ten times a day. Your two votes for both the NEU Charter and Los Pen Academy will do just fine. The key is to vote every day and to pass it on to friends. Let’s go viral with this thing and change some lives! Thanks for your support.
Damen Lopez
Founder, No Excuses University
Professionalism is a powerful word. It has intrigued me for years and it wasn’t until just recently that I began to investigate why this was. Why does it catch my eye when I see it, my ear when I hear it? In order for me to find out, I decided to go to the root of the word, profession.
The definition of profession is: any vocation or business. The word “any” stands out to make this word very uninspiring. To be in a category of “any” implies that anyone can participate. It is common, average. In fact, it appears to be far different than the word professionalism.
The word professional is a little better as it is defined as: following an occupation as a means of livelihood or for gain, which I suppose expresses a desire for a person to participate in a specific occupation. That said, just about anyone can be a professional as well.
Professionalism on the other hand is defined by dictionary.com as: the standing, practice, or methods of a professional, as distinguished from an amateur. “Distinguished from an amateur” projects a sense of pride in the work that one does. It declares that the half-ass need not apply. In other words, everyone can have a profession, most can be a professional, but only the best can display professionalism.
This business of education is seen as a profession, but far too many of its members lack professionalism. We allow the two or three naysayers in a school to breed dissent and foster negativity in a way that stifles professionalism. Slowly but surely, professionalism is erased, letter by letter, leaving us with a word that defines every job and anyone. It’s time to add a few letters. Let’s help our staffs move from working in a profession, to becoming professionals, and finally to displaying professionalism. Many see this as an insurmountable task, but in reality is just five letters away.
A friend of mine just shared this story with me about the Urban Prep Academy in Chicago. EVERY one of their graduating seniors have been admitted to a 4 year college or university. Click on the picture to watch an ABC News Clip about this stellar achievement.
A friend of mine sent me this New York Times article filled with amazing videos. Be sure to read the article and watch each one of the five short videos that accompany it. After you are inspired, and you will be, pass it on to a friend.
Building a Better Teacher
by Elizabeth Green
Below is a rebuttal to an Education Week article that was titled: “Meeting Kids Where They Are – Not Where We Wish They Were” by Jack Schneider
While the author may have had great intentions, I couldn’t disagree with him more. What do you think? Read Jack’s article at edweek.org and my rebuttal as well.
Dear Editor,
The author’s belief that college readiness reforms equate to nothing more than “hype” for some of our neediest students is a simplistic view that our schools just don’t need right now. The fact is that our public schools are failing and our society is becoming educationally weaker with each passing year. Why? Because far too many have attempted to lower the bar to “meet kids where they are” rather than raise it to bring them where they need to be. College readiness initiatives, while not perfect, are our best attempt to raise the bar and shift the cycle of poverty for millions of children in our country. Will every student make it to college as a result of our work? Not likely, but how exactly will you decide which ones deserve an education that promotes college and which ones don’t. Because it is impossible to make such judgments, especially from an early age, we must find a way to tap into the college potential of each student. As Mr. Schneider points out, different kids do have different needs. What he fails to recognize however is that different kids also have some things in common, such as the will to be happy and successful. Let’s build a solid foundation for all of our students and start grooming them for a college education from the moment they start Kindergarten. Because, in the end, it is far better for us to strive for greatness than it is to prepare for mediocrity.
Respectfully,
Damen Lopez and Frank Nardelli
No Excuses University
