Natchez Elementary School: Wadsworth, NV

This week’s School Spotlight takes us to Natchez Elementary School in Wadsworth, Nevada. This small school, located directly in the heart of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Indian Reservation, is being named as a “Bright Spots” High Opportunity School.

A view of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Indian Reservation

For all intents and purposes, Natchez Elementary is in the middle of the desert, miles away from what most would call civilization. The nearest city is Reno, and it is 30 miles away. At 92 percent, the school is mostly made up of Native Americans, a demographic who often exist right at the threshold of poverty. In addition to this challenge, communicating through speech is quite limited in Paiute culture. This means that some children have virtually no language experience when they start school, posing a serious issue.

Many things for the people living in this community involve drawn-out processes, and their children’s education has been no exception. At least that is how the school’s Principal Rick Taylor explains it. According to a Bright Spots release, “Taylor describes his school’s path to success as ‘a really long process.’ When he became principal in 2003, Natchez teachers felt such empathy for their students that ‘there was always a reason they couldn’t perform.’ Then as now, students faced genuine problems — extreme poverty, crime, and drug and alcohol addiction in their families. Still, says Taylor, ‘Teachers were magnifying the impact of the problems by being so sympathetic.’”

The sympathetic mentality started changing, and along with it, student performance. The teachers, and all school staff members, now firmly believe that every one of their students is capable of learning. The “No-Exceptions” policy is a testament of this. Sympathy has been supplanted by high expectations for each student. They allow no excuses for these children to fail. Therefore, all of their students are fed three meals and even cleaned up, if necessary. They make certain that their children are ready to learn.

Per the release, “Taylor gives substantial credit for the rise in student performance to the reading curriculum, Success for All, which emphasizes prevention and early intervention around learning problems. Its leveled readers offer the same story, pitched to varying skill levels. Natchez teachers can also use the Houghton Mifflin Journeys curriculum, a district-wide adoption. A ‘sacred’ 90-minute reading block takes place each day, during which nothing else is scheduled and no interruptions are permitted.”

1973: Children from the Pyramid Lake Paiute Indian Reservation

The staff at Natchez Elementary check each student’s progress through frequent testing and monitoring, allowing them to adequately assess the needs of each child. This information helps the staff pinpoint “specific skill deficits” as they work in teams to “identify the most effective supports.” The release also states that “A $68,000 Save the Children grant supplements Title 1 funding for intensive 45-minute interventions every day for the 16 children who currently qualify. The other 129 children do enrichment activities, such as Accelerated Reader. ‘We use every adult in the building,’ says Taylor. ‘Not just teachers, aides, and speech therapists, but also music teachers, lunch ladies, and custodians.’ A reading coach provides in-service training three times a year, and three Natchez teachers are trained in the Lindamood-Bell Visualizing & Verbalizing program, a ‘fantastic but time-consuming’ approach to language comprehension.”

The school does get more private money than many Title 1 schools due to the dominating presence of Native Americans, so Natchez Elementary makes certain its abundance is shared with the community. Parents are invited to attend various activities that take place at the school, “often including Native American culture and always dinner … In addition, people in the community are provided books and clothing, access to computers, phones and fax machines, help with job applications and even space for funerals.” As the principal puts it, “Natchez IS the community.”

Many schools, especially in rural areas, are becoming the hub of their community, if they aren’t already. Educational establishments are reaching out to help solve many issues through opening their doors and resources to the community. Fortunately, it seems this practice is becoming more commonplace. The next time you visit a school, look at the bulletin board and I can almost guarantee you will see quite a few flyers and pin-ups offering classes, services or programs designed to enhance, not just children, but families and communities. What are some programs that you think belong on that bulletin board? We want to know.

A few years ago, I had a little problem with the voting. I’d signed up for a mail-in ballot and as soon as I did, I knew it was a huge mistake. All my adult life, I’ve been going through the civic ritual of showing up at the neighborhood polling place, being greeted by the friendly neighborhood poll worker, going into the little booth and casting my vote. As Election Day neared and I had yet to receive my mail ballot, I began to worry. What if it doesn’t show up in time? Can I go to the polling place anyway? What should I do? So who did I call? 311. The friendly guy on the other end of the 311 line answered my question and eased my anxieties about the late mail-in ballot.

In the late 1990s, the Federal Communications Commission came out with ruling giving local government a new tool, the “311” designation for non-emergency calls. The original idea was to take the pressure off of 911 call-in centers, which often got non-emergency calls from confused citizens. Hampton, Virginia, became one of the first cities in the country to create a 24-hour, seven day a week, one stop customer call center using 311. The goal was to provide customer service as quickly and efficiently as possible, minimizing the number of times citizens would have to hold on the phone and or by told to call another city department.

The 311 systems vary in quality and extent from city to city, and these days cities are cutting back on hours and services because of the budget crisis. But Hampton’s call center’s knowledge base allowed customer advocates to answer more than 4000 different questions about local government and other nearby public agencies. The system is based on keywords, allowing customer services advocates to quickly input questions and get the answer. It also gave the capability to directly issue work orders to handle problems such as potholes or downed streetlights.

The system has helped alleviate one of the biggest challenges in local government performance, the ignorance of many citizens about who does what, and thereby, who to call. In many regions, government services are dispersed between villages, townships, cities, counties and a myriad of special districts. Simply calling city hall, in other words, may result in nothing more than a referral to another agency or department. Now the customers/citizens have an easy task. When in doubt, simply call 311.

Calling 311: Somerville Mayor-Senator-Governor

Somerville, Massachusetts, a 2009 All-America, has a 24-hour 311 call center service allowing citizens to ask questions and make requests for service. Easy to answer questions are handled immediately. Others are answered in a timely manner through e-mail or a follow-up call, ensuring that citizens are not shunted from one department to another. Requests for service are entered into a database, given a tracking number so citizens can find out how things are proceeding.

In Somerville, the 311 system is a two-way street. The calls and work orders became an important source of data for the city’s data-driven performance management program, a system known as SomerStat, which was started by the city’s energetic mayor, Joseph Curtatone. The origins of SomerStat go back to 1994 and efforts by the New York City Police Department to link crime fighting efforts to timely, accurate data generated by police calls, computers and databases under the city’s CompStat program. Geographic information system software was used to pinpoint problem areas in the city and regular performance management meetings were held to ensure that resources were being deployed in the most efficient manner. The resulting drop in crime rates was dramatic, and other cities noticed. Baltimore created its CitiStats program using data to drive performance management in all city departments.

Somerville has added a new twist to the “stat” concept, combining it with good old fashion face to face meetings. Somerville began its ResiStat meetings in 2007 to complete the feedback loop between citizens and government. The comments and suggestions of residents are reported back to the SomerStat semiweekly data-driven performance evaluation meetings and compiled in an annual Resident Report that is published along with the official city budget.

Calling 311: NCL's All-American City Awards

As part of Somerville’s ResiStat” program, the mayor, the local alderman and other city officials meet with citizens in each of the city’s nine wards, which correspond roughly to neighborhoods, and five special interest groups (parents, young people and speakers of the city’s three main foreign languages—Spanish, Portuguese and Creole.) The goal of these public meetings is to present information generated through SomerStat, the city’s data-driven performance management system, and get feedback from citizens.

The 311 systems are great for answering questions quickly and easing the frustration of citizens who get tired of hearing, “sorry that’s not my department.” But at Somerville and other cities are proving, 311 can also help complete the information feedback loop between citizens and government, which is an important element of any thriving democracy.

Mike McGrath is senior editor and chief information officer for the National Civic League. A former newspaper reporter and magazine writer, he is editor of the quarterly National Civic Review, which will be beginning its centennial year of publishing this spring.

Mike’s posts will appear every Thursday on the State of the Re:Union website.

At State of the Re:Union, we believe that telling stories through the lens of American communities can help bridge divides and deepen our understanding of the country around us. While we strive to capture just some of the amazing narratives playing out here in the US, semi-anonymous French street artist, JR, has taken a different approach at helping people in communities around the world find their voice.

JR is an artist who uses the world as his inspiration, canvas and gallery, literally. He uses black-and-white photographs with arresting images of locals from around the world and posts these pictures in their neighborhoods. According to an article by Zac Stone in GOOD Magazine, “His goal is to give voice and representation to communities that otherwise might be obscured, like women living in Brazilian or Kenyan slums.”

He recently became the recipient of the 2011 TED Prize, awarding him a grant of $100,000 to help fund a “world-changing project.” From this seed money, JR launched his TED Wish and began an art project literally giving all of the world a chance to engage. His wish: “To use art to turn the world inside out.” (To find out more about his TED wish, click here.)

JR is doing just that with his latest global art initiative: the InsideOut Project. According to the project’s Website, “InsideOut is a large-scale participatory art project that transforms messages of personal identity into pieces of artistic work. Upload a portrait. Receive a poster. Paste it for the world to see.” All who participate in the project are encouraged to use black and white photographs to reveal and share their untold stories. These posters can be placed anywhere, from an office window to the side of an abandoned building. And according to the site, all of the exhibitions will be documented, archived and available for virtual view.

Source: InsideOut Project: Miguel R in Athens, Greece - "Eyes of Truth" embraces the diversity of our global community through the innocent gaze of our children.

According to Stone’s article, “JR is spreading his mission on a scale that was previously unimaginable, by crowdsourcing personal photos and the labor of posting them.” Even more amazing than JR’s ambition are the astonishing results this project has already yielded. Since InsideOut launched, men, women and children from six continents have become participants. According to Stone, TED Prize Director Amy Novogratz touts of JR’s project, “One guy based in Moscow is using [the platform] to show that homophobia is the shame of Russia. People are using it to bring their communities closer together.”

There are so many directions this project is going, and it really is helping to change the world one photo at a time. It might not change the world over night, but JR’s initiative is helping to bring controversial subjects to light, creating dialogue that has long been overdue for sensitive issues in many countries. The InsideOut project is connecting communities throughout the world and helping us to see that underneath our stories and struggles, humanity is universal.

If you would like to participate in the InsideOut Project, click here. As this phenomenal project takes place on a global scale, we want to know what initiatives and programs are making a difference in your community. From art collaborations to public works to educational programs, how are people in your neighborhood working to make the world a better place one person at a time?

Stone of Hope, central statue for Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial, Washington, DC.

I was out sick all last week and flat on my back, but one thing I crawled out of bed for on Sunday was to watch on TV the dedication of the MLK Memorial. We often want to lionize King – and well we should – but I am even more struck by how he personally persevered and the lessons for ourselves.

King’s legacy, and that of those who came before and after him, can be hard to fully comprehend; it was that large. It is also moving to see how his words and actions – indeed, his approach – still resonates so deeply today. He is an American icon, touchstone, and conscious for us all.

And yet, it would be easy to honor King without truly recognizing how he fought his way forward. It is by examining his personal struggles that those of us who seek to create change and build a better society must examine ourselves.
So, here are some things that this weekend’s dedication brought to the fore for me:

•    There was a moment, or probably a constellation of moments, which led King to answer a larger calling to step forward and to knowingly declare, “Here I Am.” In this way, King made a declaration first to himself of his intentions and the personal values that would guide his life’s work. I have come to believe that each of us, in our own way, must make such a personal declaration.

•    But the declaration on its own was never enough. King faced enormous personal doubts along the away and he questioned his own religious faith at times. Yes, even King had doubts and fears. What about each of us? My own personal experience – and my experience over 25 years of working with change-makers – is that such doubt and fear is always present, sometimes in the forefront of our mind, other times in the background. They are natural, and we cannot escape them. And they are not a sign of weakness, just our human frailties. So, the question is not whether such doubts exist within each of us, but how we choose to deal with them: are we willing to face them squarely, work through them, understand that they are part and parcel of our lives, and not let them consume us?

•    For every victory King had, he experienced even more defeats and setbacks. This each of us must know if we wish to create change and a better society. And here, again, the question is not whether such defeats and setbacks will happen, but how we choose to deal with them. For with such setbacks, we, as individuals, inevitably must confront loss and pain and deep frustration. Nothing good comes easily. It seems to me that we must not try to escape this pain and loss, but to embrace it, learn from it, grow from it, and continue to search for better and more effective ways to move forward.

•    These lessons also require us to take a long view of our efforts. Toward this end, we would do well to adopt a kind of “impatient patience.” Isn’t this what King did? He never let go of his sense of purpose, nor did he not sit idly as his efforts ebbed and flowed. He pushed, and pushed and pushed! But he knew that his efforts, and those of others, would come about only over time. Indeed, recall this well-known quote of Abolitionist Theodore Parker that King often used: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” Yes, “impatient patience” is what we must exercise.

•    Finally, King expressed and lived by an enduring belief in “people.” Imagine how many times he and his fellow travelers were imprisoned, attacked with water hoses, and had rocks and debris thrown at them, among other things. Even amid all these trials he maintained his deep faith in the capacity of people to choose a better path. Our own challenge today is to make sure we do not say that we hold this belief, but act in ways where we are do not truly live it out. I believe King reminds each of us that we must examine our own belief in people – especially amid the evil and bad things that do occur – and whether our actions actually match our words.

What is so beautiful and compelling about King’s messages is that they ask us to strip away our to-do lists, the press of our daily projects, our immediate funding needs, and to ground ourselves in what truly is important. They tell us that we cannot out run doubt, pain, fear, even despair; that they are real and human reactions to the very struggles embedded in what seek to do. Our task, as individuals, is to declare, “Here I am” and to engage fully in what stands before us and within us.

So, as we celebrate King’s enormous contribution let us use this occasion to remind ourselves of our own journey and the choices we must face and how we can continue down a path of creating stronger communities and a better society – for all.

It is easy to take our freedoms for granted, many of us do everyday. But when you think about it, what part of our daily lives have not been affected by the actions of Dr. King? What are some key ways that our daily lives are different? Do you have a story you would like to share with us on this subject? Please let us know.

A dynamic public speaker, Rich Harwood is a frequent keynote for foundations and national organizations. He is an expert contributor on national and syndicated media outlets including MSNBC, NPR, The Christian Science Monitor, CNN’s Inside Politics, The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Special Report with Brit Hume, C-SPAN, and many others. He is also the author of Hope Unraveled: The people\’92s retreat and our way back (2005), Make Hope Real: How we can accelerate change for the public good (2008) and numerous studies, articles and essays chronicling vital issues of our time. His most recent written work, Why We\’92re Here: The Powerful Impact of Public Broadcasters When They Turn Outward, is being published and distributed in Spring 2011. You can follow him on twitter @RichHarwood and facebook.com/richharwood.

You can read Rich’s posts every Tuesday on State of the Re:Union’s website.

State of the Re:Union’s contributor Peter Block of Abundant Community explains the fiscal soundness behind being neighborly. (To read Peter’s original post, click here.)

We cannot build strong neighborhoods and communities while laboring under the principles of traditional economics. The dominant economic thinking begins with a religious belief in scarcity and self-interest. This rules most modern economies and continues to dominate what we measure and value. We measure our well-being as a nation by the growth of Gross Domestic Product or Gross National Product. We measure our lives and “standard of living” by family income. We have created a “show me the money” culture; if it has no dollar sign on it, it has no value.

1940: Neighbors join in to help dig a well for family who still live in their trailer.

This approach got formalized in 1934 when Simon Kuznets introduced the idea of the Gross Domestic Product to Congress. The GDP is the measure of all the goods and services that change hands in the country in a year. It is the number we use to measure our standard of living. When GDP goes up, we are theoretically doing well. When it goes down, we are doing poorly. That is the theory.

There is a movement to dislodge this measure because it masks the reality of people’s lives.  A growing number of economists are successfully arguing that the scarcity-based, money-centric model is not serving us, but destroying us. It puts no value on generosity, relationship, kindness, cooking, gardening, watching kids and all the non-money exchanges that comprise neighborliness and build community.

One of the voices for an economics of neighborliness is Canadian Mark Anielski. In his book The Economics of Happiness, he gives form to a measure of well-being he calls Genuine Wealth. Early on he quotes Victorian philosopher and artist John Ruskin:
“There is no wealth but life. Life, including all its powers of love, of joy, and of admiration. That country is richest which nourishes the greatest number of noble and happy human beings; that man is richest who, having perfected the functions of his own life to the utmost, has also the widest helpful influence…over the lives of others” (p 19).

Anielski goes on to say that “Ruskin was one of the few writers in modern times to understand that the true meaning of the word wealth has more to do with quality of life than the accumulation of worldly possessions.”

Toward Abundance and Community

What is interesting is that Anielski provides us with alternative measures of well-being. He begins by making the distinction between an Economy of Scarcity and an Economy of Well-Being.

The Economy of Well-Being holds that:
•    All wealth, including money, is abundant since it is a gift from God for all to receive and share.
•    Progress is driven by the pursuit of happiness and genuine well-being.
•    Such progress means that we move from consumer to citizen.
•    We become statesmen instead of politicians.
•    We replace accumulation with sharing, gifting and reciprocity.
•    Sustainability replaces growth (p. 66).

1942: Mrs. Fujita and her neighbor inspecting the tiny vegetable garden she has planted in front of their barracks.

Starting with this set of principles, Anielski has developed an alternative measure to the GDP: what he calls a Genuine Progress Index, GPI. Included in this measure are the very human functions of parenting and eldercare, free time, volunteerism, household infrastructure, savings rate, ecological footprint, air and water quality, fish and wildlife, voter participation — many of the things that John and I say grow out of abundant communities.

Anielski also assesses the usual measures of economic exchanges, employment and income, but they are not the point; they are just some of the factors that constitute the wealth of a family and community.

There is one more turn in his work that is worth noting here: Anielski thinks that each community needs to define for itself what it values and therefore measures. Leduc has its own statement of values and measures. Santa Monica has its own. Alberta its own. In this way an economy is owned locally, defined locally, assessed locally. This supports local identity and ownership.

This book is only one example of the larger movement to put economics back in service of our humanity, which is what Adam Smith held in the first place. A few others in this flow are Bernard Lietaer, Olivia Saunders, the New Economics Institute, Herman Daly and John Kay. They are questioning not only how we measure well-being; they question the purpose of a business, the ways communities are created and they also are interested in caring for the land and the earth and its most vulnerable people. All economists. Who would have thought a concern for abundance would find its way into the world of the dismal science?

There are hordes of people and communities shedding the shroud of “keeping up with the Jones’” because it is becoming too cumbersome. Decades ago, being neighborly determined the communities survival. Being a good neighborly citizen might not appeal to the masses right now, but how can that be changed? and, how do we begin to mobilize this movement forward? A wise man once said, “Won’t you be my neighbor?” Granted, it was Mr. Rogers who dreamed big and believed even bigger that everyone should live in a neighborly world. Could his idea be the answer?  We know that you have some suggestions and comments on this, so send them our way – we would love to see them.

Peter Block co-authored the book “The Abundant Community: Awakening the Power of Families and Neighborhoods.” He is a partner in Designed Learning, a training company that offers workshops to build the skills outlined in his books. He is the author of Flawless Consulting, Stewardship, The Answer to How Is Yes, and Community. He is the recipient of numerous awards, most recently the Organization Development Network’s 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award.

Loma Park Elementary – San Antonio, TX

Today’s School Spotlight takes us to Loma Park Elementary in San Antonio, Texas, where in true Texas form, everything is done BIG. Yesterday’s blog by State of the Re:Union’s contributor Mark McGrath mentioned the Bright Spot Program, which is part of  Campaign for Grade Level Reading, a collaborative effort that the National Civic League is involved with. (To read yesterday’s post, click here.)

Source: Campaign for Grade Level Reading

This program reaches across the country and customizes its tactics to reflect the issues of each region. According to the Website, the one thing that the program shares across the board is its goal:

• Closing the gap in reading achievements that separates many low-income students from their peers
• Raising the bar for reading proficiency so all students are assessed by world-class standards
• Ensure all children have equitable opportunity to meet those higher standards

The Bright Spot Program recognizes Loma Park Elementary is a high opportunity school. According to a release from the program, “The students at Loma Park Elementary get excellent scores on the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills, but they learn much more at school than the answers to test questions. ‘I want my students academically prepared for their careers in school and beyond,’ says Principal Alicia Garcia. She and Loma Park teachers want all students to “be self-directed learners, to read critically for meaning, and simply to love reading literature.”

Source: Loma Park Elementary School

Loma Park staff and district personal worked together in designing an innovative program that uses a balanced literacy approached to instill in the children a passion for reading.

In their approach to resolving educational issues plaguing their community, their reading initiative “Let’s Read!” is looking systemically at child development issues that can potentially impede a child’s academic success. According to the Grade Level Reading Initiative post, “Loma Park is leading the district in preemptive, early developmental screening of all incoming students — looking at social and emotional issues, health issues such as diabetes and asthma, fine and gross motor coordination, speech problems, and any other difficulties that might interfere with reading and overall academic success. Teachers trained in evaluation and data interpretation by a health professional administer the screening in January, after they’ve developed a relationship with each child. Parents trained as advocates, called ‘Promotoras,’ play a crucial role by reaching out to individual families in the community and communicating results.”

‘Through this approach,’ says Garcia, ‘we are able to identify and address developmental issues as early as possible to ensure that each child has the best possible chance to reach his or her academic potential.’”

Another way that Loma Park is achieving success is through marrying fun and education with its after-school program. The “Club House” embeds literacy instruction in the settings of students’ play. As an example, in the Cooking Club, students read and interpret recipes and convert measurements. They also have “Saturday Adventures,” which allows after-school students to take what they’ve learned throughout the week in the Club House and apply it in various locations in the community.

In addition to these program elements, Loma Park uses the district-wide “Universal Review System,” making it possible to evaluate a child’s progress every nine weeks. “The System also matches each child with appropriate interventions and tracks progress for each intervention. With support through the Casey Foundation’s Making Connections program, Foundations, Inc. provides additional assistance in staff development and needs assessments,” according to the Bright Spot release.

The Alamo in San Antonio, TX

Loma Park Elementary School is doing all that it can to “develop community-based strategies that reinforce reading progress.” The school is working with many community organizations (civic, nonprofit, churches, universities, et al.) to make certain that “every child has access to individualized support.”

San Antonio is a place that is steeped in the Texas tradition of never giving up – the epic battle of the Alamo bears testament to that. Embracing this same spirit are the faculty, teachers, students and families of the community that Loma Park Elementary School serves. This approach introduces students to environments rich with reading materials. As part of its base instruction, they use the premise that students’ reading abilities will advance with access to the proper materials and support. With a teacher’s guidance, reading increases in difficulty with each accomplished level of reading skill improvement.

SOTRU’s School Spotlight continues in its quest to find schools such as this who demonstrate and achieve community in education success. If you know of a school or community with the same modus operandi, we would love for you to tell us about it.