Teach for America – Sandy Rosenberg

I went there (and will be there again on Nov. 6)

I don’t write someone else’s testimony, except when I do.

I attended the Baltimore Educational Equity Summit of Teach for America last Saturday.

At the concluding session, I got into a conversation with a kindergarten teacher and told her that I was working on a bill to expand early childhood education (pre-K).

“The benefits of pre-K are evident in a kindergarten class by the end of the first week,” she replied.

“Will you testify on this bill?” I asked. “Yes,” she said.

Then I told her, “What you just said will be the first sentence of your testimony.”

Senator Bill Ferguson and I met yesterday to discuss the legislation. We’re calling it “Race to the Tots,” modeling it on President Obama’s education reform grant program, “Race to the Top.”

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I also met a TFA member who’s teaching science at Cross Country Elementary School.

“Have you been there?” he asked me.

“I went there,” I responded. “I was in kindergarten the year it opened – 1955.”

I’ll be there again on Election Day. Can you volunteer for two hours that day? Please let me know.

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Last week, I wrote about the implications for abortion rights if Gov. Romney wins. The fate of choice and other issues before the Supreme Court are discussed in “The Court and the Future of Everything You Hold Dear” by Jeffrey Rosen.

The secret word is suppression

February 13, 2012February 13, 2012 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2012 Legislative Diary | No Comments

The first grade classrooms at Cross Elementary School haven’t moved.

I returned to my alma mater to sit in on the class of Aaron Sohaski, a Teach For America corps member whom I’m sponsoring.

It was at the far end of the first floor corridor, just like 55 years ago.

One of the students guessed my age, but no one could do the math to figure out what year I was in first grade.

Turning from math to English, Aaron taught the difference between grouch, grouchy, grouchier, and grouchiest.

I doubt if I knew who Groucho Marx was when I was these kids’ age. So, like Harpo, I said nothing.

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Voter suppression – requiring voters to have a government-issued ID or making misleading robo calls the afternoon of Election Day, is an issue I’ve worked on for several years.

During the Great Depression, “paper exclusion” laws were used to deny the vote to people on relief, I learned from an op-ed in today’s New York Times.

When my niece and nephew, Rachel and Elliot, were in the first grade, we tried to coax them into eating mashed potatoes by saying they were French fries’ cousin.

Today’s voter ID requirements are the cousin of denying the vote to the unemployed.

November 2 – Earning a grade

November 2, 2011 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2011 Legislative Diary, Sandy's Legislative Diary | No Comments

I try to practice what I preach.

“When you testify in Annapolis, don’t read your written remarks. Know your subject well enough that you don’t use that piece of paper as a crutch. You’re better off stumbling a bit but always keeping eye contact.”

That’s my mantra for advocates during the 90-day session and for my law school students during the fall semester.

Today, I was put to the test.

Senator Bill Ferguson and I will be introducing a series of education reform bills next January. We’ve begun meeting with interested groups and individuals to get their input.

Bill is a Teach For America alumnus. He knows the subject matter.

I’m there for strategic advice or as “the muscle,” as one of my friends describes it.

Bill could not attend today’s meeting. So I had to describe the four bills, with John Stierhoff, our lobbyist, there to fill in the blanks or correct any major errors.

I’ve heard Bill describe what we’re trying to do with mandatory pre-kindegarten, a scholarship for people who commit to four years in the classroom, and time off from work for parents to meet with their kids’ teachers.

I looked at our summary sheet a few times but provided a decent outline of what the bills would do.

I’d give myself a B+.

October 5 – The Ideal Teacher

October 12, 2011 | by delsandy | Sandy's Legislative Diary | No Comments

“First-year teachers are pretty much useless. To me, the ideal teacher is a third-year Teach for America teacher.”

The principal of a South Bronx public middle school, Ramon Gonzalez, said this in a New York Times magazine article this past spring.

I reread it this week for the Legislation course I co-teach at the University of Baltimore Law School.

After Monday’s class, I learned about a program that directly responds to Gonzalez’s concern.

The North Carolina Teaching Fellows Program pays the tuition of top high school graduates who attend a public college in the state. They must then teach in a public school for at least four years. Only Teach for America had better test results among 12 training programs.

Tuesday morning, I asked that a bill be drafted based upon this program – with one change Grants equal to the cost of tuition at College Park could be made to students attending a private college in the state or a post-secondary institution in any other state. We want these Marylanders to teach here as well.

Now begins the process of making the case for this idea on the merits and of finding a funding source.

The Egypt Moment

February 13, 2011 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2011 Legislative Diary | 1 Comment

As I joined the hundreds of young adults streaming into the Teach For America 20th Anniversary Summit at the DC Convention Center, I said to myself, “Tahrir Square has come from Cairo to Washington.”

Inside, several speakers referred to the “Egypt moment” for education reform.

The potential exists for significant reform in the wake of Race to the Top, President Obama’s education initiative, and the collective efforts of TFA and many other local and national groups.

I had a similar feeling last fall, when I saw “Waiting for Superman,” the documentary film about children – and their families, hoping that they could win a lottery to get themselves into a better school.

That was the night that I spoke to Bill Ferguson, newly elected to the State Senator and a TFA alumnus, about forming a coalition for education reform in Maryland.

We have introduced three bills. The most controversial one deals with dismissal of ineffective teachers, as measured by standards being devised in response to the Race to the Top law the legislature passed last year.

My take away from this extraordinary gathering in DC: Aim higher. Don’t settle for incremental change. Our kids can’t afford it.

February 12

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Tag: Teach for America