{"id":1267,"date":"2014-10-22T06:30:46","date_gmt":"2014-10-22T13:30:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.rsed.org\/?p=1267"},"modified":"2017-12-17T04:49:16","modified_gmt":"2017-12-17T04:49:16","slug":"why-we-need-each-other","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipschools.org\/en\/latest-news\/blog\/why-we-need-each-other\/","title":{"rendered":"Why We Need Each Other"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

I was back in my old stomping grounds: Union University. Three years after I had graduated, I returned to speak at a memorial service for the\u00a0EF-4 tornado<\/a> that damaged or destroyed 80% of the campus in 2008. I had been trapped under the rubble until rescuers excavated me out. As I walked into the service, my phone rang. It was my executive director back in Memphis calling me. It was a school night.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have some news for you: we just got our Winter MAP scores back,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The NWEA MAP<\/a> is a nationally normed assessment\u00a0that measures growth of students throughout the school year in relation to students across the country. At the time, I was the dean of students at my school, which was in\u00a0its first year as part of the Achievement School District (ASD)<\/a>, a state-run district that approves charter schools to turn-around the lowest performing schools in the state. We were the first elementary charter approved by the ASD, in the first year of the ASD. These scores were important.<\/p>\n

\u201cKindergarten: outpaced the growth of 69% of students with a similar starting score,\u201d he explained in his best dramatic, teaser-trailer voice.<\/p>\n

Not bad. Our students were the lowest performing in the state last year<\/em>, I thought.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst grade,\u201d he continued, \u201coutpaced the growth of 70% of students with similar starting scores.”<\/p>\n

Again, not bad<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cSecond grade: outpaced the growth of 98% of students with similar starting scores.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wait, what<\/em>? I turned up the volume on my phone and asked him to say that again. Our second graders were in the 98th<\/sup> percentile in growth? In the nation?<\/em><\/p>\n

When he added our third graders were in 99th<\/sup> percentile, I think my heart skipped a beat.<\/p>\n

It was much needed news. More than news, it was affirmation \u2013 a lifeline in the midst of a raging storm. We were doing the right thing. We were changing the trajectories of our students\u2019 futures. But, who were \u201cwe,\u201d exactly?<\/p>\n

A couple of months before, community tension erupted around our school. A predominantly young, white staff had arrived in a predominantly black neighborhood and replaced a predominantly veteran, black staff at a historically black school. Beyond that, we were changing the school: the name, the colors, the traditions. In this multi-generational community, we were changing the legacy of the community \u2013 with or without community approval. Our no excuses model fixated us on a singular goal: college readiness. Everyone would agree this was a good and noble goal. By this fixation, however, we were blinded.<\/p>\n

I continued at that school a second year, and while relationships within the community improved, I still felt we were not doing enough. We were missing critical components that should not only inform, but also drive our work. What are the critical components of a school?<\/em> I wished I had an answer to that question.<\/p>\n

Then I came across Rocketship. I heard the network was planning expansion to Tennessee, and I started researching. There, on the website, within the three pillars<\/a>, I found them \u2013 the critical components: Excellent Teachers & Leaders<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/span>,\u00a0Personalized Learning<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0and Engaged Parents<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/a>. I\u2019d worked as a founding member of another charter network. I\u2019d interviewed at schools across the country. Never had I seen such an obvious value placed on community engagement. Once I saw it, I couldn\u2019t un-see it. A light bulb had ignited in my mind: we can\u2019t seek to partner alongside<\/em> the community; we need to be part<\/em> of the community.<\/p>\n

I am a Rocketeer because I believe in the necessity of community. Everyone talks about doing what\u2019s best for kids. In my short time with Nashville Northeast Elementary<\/a>, I have seen that Rocketship doesn\u2019t simply look around the country to mimic best practices of other high-performing schools. We\u00a0seek to break down archetypes and stereotypes of our kids and communities, building a new narrative based on what we \u2013 teachers, leaders, kids and families \u2013 all need, which quite frankly, is each other.<\/p>\n

\n

Danny is the founding third and fourth grade math teacher at Rocketship’s first school in Tennessee: Nashville Northeast Elementary. He grew up moving between three countries and four states. He loved attending the different public schools in each of his different hometowns, but as an adult, he began to reflect on the vast differences in quality of education he was receiving depending on the zip code of my house.\u00a0Danny became inspired to become a teacher when he was directly exposed to this reality through the Memphis Teacher Residency. In Memphis public schools, the average ACT score hovers around a 16. Only three percent of students are deemed “college ready” by ACT standards and of those three percent, more than 80 percent come from four public high schools.\u00a0He became convinced this was a systemic injustice that must be rectified. And the most direct way for him to impact the outcome was to become a highly effective urban teacher. In his sixth year in education, Danny still strives toward that goal each day. In the future, Danny hopes to return to Memphis to open a high-performing, community focused Rocketship school.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was back in my old stomping grounds: Union University. Three years after I had graduated, I returned to speak at a memorial service for the\u00a0EF-4 tornado that damaged or destroyed 80% of the campus in 2008. I had been trapped under the rubble until rescuers excavated me out. As I walked into the service, Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1268,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[137,91,122,143,35,75,22],"tips_for_teachers":[],"class_list":["post-1267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education-reform","tag-achievement-gap","tag-community","tag-core-characteristics","tag-danny-song","tag-excellent-teachers","tag-nashville","tag-teacher-voice"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy We Need Each Other<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rocketshipschools.org\/en\/latest-news\/blog\/why-we-need-each-other\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why We Need Each Other\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I was back in my old stomping grounds: Union University. 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