Can We Agree That All Means ALL?

I attended the recent Title 1 conference in Salt Lake City and was pleased to sit alongside Chris Weber and Shane Templeton on a panel facilitated by Lissa Pijanowski to talk about our work and reference the RTI Roadmap that Chris and I just had published. Many of you are aware of Title 1 and how it began fifty years ago as an initiative of then President Johnson who wanted to ensure equity for all by increasing access to a basic education, Remarkably, and fifty years later, there still seems to be increasing needs for equity and new demands for an educated citizenry.

From their website I was able to glean this about the National Title I Association:

…dedicated to improving and implementing the Title I program so that more children reach their academic potential. The Association provides educational leaders at the state and local levels with the opportunity to work together to share ideas on effective and innovative programs, identify problems and solutions, and represent the needs of Title I families.

This is in support of the twenty-one million students across the fifty states, and territories; many who experience abject poverty (the rate of childhood poverty has grown over the last decade and represents more than one-fifth of the population) while also trying to alter their life chances through the best vehicle available to them – education.

During our session, we heard from many determined educators who weren’t looking for excuses or the magic wand to make everything better. They recognized the struggle, shared successes, and took notes on the successes of others. They probed with deep meaningful questions designed to solve a few more challenges back home – or at the very least add another wrinkle to the plans.

A recent post I wrote for the Solution Tree blog site asked “What's the difference between schools?”(‪http://www.solution-tree.com/blog/whats-the-difference/ …) and in it I proposed that the difference really isn’t in our students, it’s in the way we view them. Dedicated educators creating a collective will overcome even the direst of circumstances. As I wandered around the conference and sat as a member of the panel, I saw many of those educators.

As I contemplate the work that lies ahead and acknowledge the work that has been done, I am reminded of the words of Ron Edmonds:

We can, whenever and wherever we choose, successfully teach

 all children whose schooling is of interest to us; we already know

 more than we need to do that; whether or not we do it must

 finally depend on how we feel about the fact that we haven't so far.

He said that in 1979. It’s time for us to demonstrate our response to how we feel about closing the gap for those students who will, otherwise, be unable to successfully transition to the next phase of their lives.