Leaders for quality public education from cradle to career
Ruth Anderson, chair of the Tacoma Literacy Council, is on two missions: 1) teach the 20 – 25% of adults who can’t read how to read and 2) be a spokesperson for that silent segment of people who cannot read and write. Ruth says, “I don’t think the average American realizes what a pervasive problem [...]
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Michael Power is a career educator, Manager of Educational Programs at Tacoma Housing Authority (THA) and author of the booklet, “Reading with Children.” Power is working to ensure “that the children of our families (in public housing) do not become our clients as adults.” Schools say they can’t do it all. THA, along with a [...]
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Troy Christensen is the administrator of homeless programs for Pierce County, former chair of Pierce County Coalition to End Homelessness, and former chair of Washington State Coalition for the Homeless who fears that we are living in a seemingly endless cycle of budget cuts that leave an increasingly large number of families homeless. Christensen says [...]
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Scott Markowitz, is a 4th grade teacher at Christensen Elementary School in Franklin Pierce School District in Tacoma who became interested in the idea of using developmental assets in his teaching. Developmental assets are individual resources that young people have available to them that help them have positive experiences and become successful adults. Having caring [...]
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Last week, LEV held our first-ever Tacoma event with Full Court Press with Kevin Johnson,and boy was it awesome! Setting the mood for an inspiring night were youth performers: -Scholar Student Amara Gordon -Tacoma Hip Hip Group AOHH (Art of Hip Hop) -2011 YMCA Youth of the Year Sha Williams -Lakewood Boys and Girls Club [...]
Greg Eisnaugle is the principal of Lincoln Center, a college prep program designed for underprivileged students at Lincoln High School. Inspired by a 60 Minutes story on KIPP Academy, Eisnaugle modeled and implemented KIPP’s successful formula to close the achievement gap at Lincoln Center. Eisnaugle believes that a key teaching strategy is to reach all [...]
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Robert Brown, a 39-year teaching veteran, believes that Tacoma’s social promotion policy in the primary grades has to end if we’re to reduce the achievement gap. “Tacoma has a notorious problem with promoting kids with a 0.0 grade point average from middle school to high school,” he said. For Brown, encouraging students to read outside [...]
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Are you a poet? A musician? Perhaps you’re a budding choreographer? LEV is looking for you! We are holding a call for submissions from youth/young adults to perform for our Full Court Press with Kevin Johnson event! The submission must center on the theme: “The Benefit & Need for High Expectations within Schools.” The entry [...]
Catherine Ushka-Hall is currently the Vice President of the Tacoma School District Board of Directors, having been elected to her first six-year term in 2009. She is a lifelong education advocate, and her two teenagers attend Tacoma Public Schools. She wrote this for our edCored series on education funding. If you want to be notified [...]
Latino Action Group liaison to Tacoma’s Vibrant Schools committee, Liesl Santkuyl, discusses giving Latino parents a voice and suggestions for how we can close the opportunity gap. One way Santkuyl believes we can end the opportunity gap is by ensuring teachers and other educational staff be culturally competent.
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