Meet Public Education’s Everyday Superheroes

By Kevin Hart

Whether you’re catching a showing of the new education “documentary” Waiting for Superman or watching the latest special news report on education, don’t expect to hear about Yolanda Porter, Marsha Grim and their fellow educators at Ella Grant Elementary School in Prichard, Ala.

Maybe there’s nothing “Hollywood” about a group of public school teachers, administrators and support staff who bound together to transform a historically low-performing school that predominantly serves low-income students of color.

But Porter and Grim don’t need slick marketing or the validation of billionaires or talk show hosts to tell them they’re doing an incredible job. Their reward comes from the lives they change every day at Grant Elementary – a school with a checkered history of state takeovers that is now regularly making Adequate Yearly Progress. For 2009-2010, it hit all 13 of its targets.

Movie producers won’t get into a bidding war over the Grant Elementary story — after all, there was no magical silver bullet that changed the school’s fortunes. It took a renewed focus on collaboration, data sharing, and community outreach. But the Ella Grant story is just more proof that when educators are invited into the decision-making process and help drive reforms, the results can be heroic – even if they often go unrecognized.

No, one, for example, is going to throw a cape around the shoulders of Lynne Lopez-Crowley or Lori Nazareno, the two teacher-leaders at Denver’s Math and Science Leadership Academy. But ask the students at MSLA whether these two educators are heroes.

MSLA is one of the first teacher-led schools in the nation, and it came together thanks to a committed group of educators who wanted to prove that, through a focus on proven reforms, such as collaboration, mentoring and professional development, schools could close achievement gaps for lower-income students and students of color.

MSLA opened in 2009 as a K-2 school with 134 students, and is expanding to a K-5 school by adding grade each year. Sixty percent of its students are English-language learners, and up to 90 percent receive free or reduced-price lunch. The school’s innovative academic program integrates science, mathematics and technology in a standards-based model, and allows students to demonstrate their achievement through hands-on activities and service projects.

“This school is a testament to the joint effort of the district and the local association, who put the resources into giving teachers the opportunity to really show what we can do when we have an authentic voice in how a school is designed and run,” said Nazareno.

The teachers of Los Angeles are writing their own heroic tale. At the end of last year, the school district awarded them control of 29 schools, betting that experienced educators know better than anyone what it takes to transform schools and improve student achievement.

Teacher Nicole Fefferman was one of hundreds of educators who helped lead the effort. Her job at the teacher-led Jefferson High School can vary by the minute – from advising students on avoiding teen pregnancy, to helping low-income students secure college scholarships.

Fefferman is representative of the many dedicated educators from across the country who are committed to disrupting the status quo and improving educational outcomes for students. In Evansville, Ind., for example, the local teacher’s union and the district together developed the Equity Academy to improve instruction throughout the district.

Teachers spend 40 hours on Saturdays and after school on Wednesdays completing the program, and must pass a comprehensive oral examination.

“It makes such a difference for teachers to be involved in the decision-making process. It’s going to make our school stronger,” says Amanda Antey, a middle school social studies teacher.

NEA’s Priority Schools Campaign offers stories from throughout American of public education’s everyday super heroes who are working to transform historically lower-performing schools. To read more stories, click here.

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4. Obama Promotes Education to Meet “Our Generation’s Sputnik Moment”
5. NEA Unveils New Classroom Superheroes Site