Here’s the Education Week interview with United Way’s Ryan Smith (pictured) we mentioned last week.
As you’ll see, the piece starts off with a few sentences about LAUSD’s challenges (high dropout rates, low scores compared to other big city school systems) and then moves on to Smith’s background (he’s a Native Angeleno) and views (very much in favor of parent organizing). Some highlights from United Way’s director of education programs and policy:
“I predict L.A’s story of educational change will be a grassroots, bottom-up story of educational change, not the other way around.”
“The education reform movement today has a critical weakness because it hasn’t engaged people of color and people who’ve lived in poverty as advocates for educational change.”
You can read the whole thing here: Young Education Leader: Ryan Smith
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