On Monday, Reach will launch its second program. As a supplement to our school year programming, we will use the summer months to do some additional work with our high school participants. In addition to some intensive academic work, our teens will have the opportunity to build key academic and vocational skills. Over time, we hope to create a summer option more rigorous than the current Summer Youth Employment Program offered by the District.

Our program will be built on four pillars:

Intensive Reading:  During the course of six-week program, our tutors will read two books. This year, we’ve selected two titles that explore issues of shifting identity. First, our kids will read Unlikely Brothers, the story of a meaning-seeking 20-something and the young boy he mentors. After that, we’ll dive into Things Fall Apart.

Unlikely Brothers will provide an entry point for discussions of identity formation, all set to a familiar backdrop (the story occurs, in part, in Washington DC). Things Fall Apart will present a significant challenge for our students, but we will build on the themes discovered in the first book to tackle the second. With four hours each day, we’ll be able to show our tutors how the skills learned during our school year program apply to the challenging texts they might confront in high school and college.

Educational Resource Development: During the school year, our tutors work with younger students to develop literacy skills. Over the summer, we won’t be working with elementary school students, but we will be working for elementary school students. Participants will create books on tape, adapt stories for reader’s theater, and create engaging lessons for use during our school year program. With additional time, we can unleash the creative potential of our excitable teens.

We’re particularly excited about two projects. First, our tutors will be working as a group to create a single children’s book, DC: A to Z, an alphabet book highlighting the DC our kids know well. Throughout the summer, we’ll use photography to capture the parts of DC that the kids highlight in their book. Additionally, we’ll be partnering with Writopia Lab DC so that each of our participants can write his or her own children’s book. With hours to write, revise, write, and revise, we’re excited to add these books to our library next year.

Philanthropy: We’ll also be giving our teens a chunk of money with one requirement: they have to give it away. While schools currently focus regularly on reading and writing and arithmetic as concrete skills, it’s less common for students to be truly invested in those processes. So, how do we make it matter?

Our teens will get to define the issues that matter most to them. They will, in teams, identify the local organizations that address those issues, research those organizations, and prepare presentations. At the end of our summer program, they’ll have the opportunity to make those presentations to an audience who will help us decide how to distribute the dollars. Their work will matter, and they will develop real research and presentation skills – skills they’ll need in high school and college.

College and Career Investigation: You can’t be what you can’t see, so we want to show our kids the world. We’ll host brown bag lunches to introduce our participants to a variety of careers. We’ll also orchestrate college visits, both locally and regionally. And lastly, every one of our participants will leave the summer with a solid resume and practice in interview settings. We’ll also introduce our kids to gap year possibilities like City Year and Public Allies.

By the end of the summer, our kids will have choices. They will be aware of the multitude of options that lie ahead, and they will gain the skills necessary to better access those opportunities. Whether through an improved understanding of college admissions or a fuller understanding of career options, our kids will be better prepared to understand the why – why does it matter? – of their academic careers. They’ll be better prepared and fully motivated when school begins in the fall.

As always, our program will give real responsibility to our teen tutors. We will trust them to make decisions, and we will turn mistakes into learning opportunities. We will push our kids to do more than they thought possible, and we will make sure they laugh along the way. We will unleash them on their community – as learners, as teachers, as scholars, and as activists. We hope you’re ready.

Thanks, as always, for reading.
Mark

Below is a list of the amazing donors that contributed to our successful two-day campaign! We are so very grateful for your support.

** As many of you know, there were a number of technical issues during the event. If you feel like you should be on the list below, but do not see your name, please email info@reachincorporated.org **

Samantha Acunto
Gary & Robin Adler
Jamie Adler
Leonard Adler
Priscilla Adler
Matt & Natalie Alpert
Mike Ambrose
Anonymous (6)
MaryBeth Apriceno
Joseph Bates
Claire Blumenson
Erin & Andrew Brent
Dynesha Brooks
Charlie & Marie Brown
Roann & Tom Brown
Bevin Butler
Leigh Ann Caldwell
Rosie Canizares
Jennie Carey
Randi & George Carr
Kathy Chamberlain
Lisa Christy
Sarah Comeau
Chantelle Cunningham
Raj Darolia & Laura Herring Darolia
Ariann Dershaw Bernstein
Alma Edgerly
Sadie Ellner
Steve Elmendorf
Revi-ruth Enriquez
Matt Essman
Jane & Wally Evans
Eddie Ferrer
Debbie & Joe Fletcher
Josh Friedman
Alejandro Gace-Artigas
Jacqueline Gjurgevich
John Grant
Randi Greenberg & Justin Kieffer
Amy Gusek
Ann Marie Habershaw
Laura Hayman
Diane & Mike Hazel
Donna Hecker
Mark Hecker
Brian Hecker & Alison Pettine
Scott & Beth Hecker
Bob & Genette Henderson
Mike & Beth Herring
Annie Hoffman
Adam & Rachel Hollowell
Lanae & Mike Holmes
Julie Holt
Patricia Hoppey
Meredith Hurt
Taylor Jacobs
Arash Jahanian
Jess & Paul Jameson
Jen & Chris Raszkiewicz
Steve Johnson & Cheryl Bowden
Deva Jones
Meissa Jones
Adrienne Jubb
Julia Judson-Rea
Scott Kelrick
Hilary Kline
Allison Labovitz
Catrina Leak
Paul Leder
Doris & Charles Leeper
Catherine Lewis
Loree Lipstein
Felix Brandon Lloyd and Jordan Lloyd Bookey
Sean & Leslie Loughlin
Anh & David LyJordan
Judy Madden
Lisa & Jon Marcus
Jennifer Marron
Pam Mirsky
Marianne Montalvo
Lynn Montalvo
Lindsey & Chris Moore
Crystal Moore
Jake Moore
Emily Murgia
George & Cathy Murphy
Cheryl Nagelberg
Julie O’Sullivan
Daniel Okonkwo
Beth Orbison
Brian Ovalle
Jusna Perrin
Bethany Robertson
Jack Rogers
Kristi & Peter Ryan
Dianne & Lior Samuelson
Susan Sawyer
Darrell Scott
Francine Serafin
Kaity Shaw
Maureen Smith
Emily Smith
Michael Smith
Connie Souder
Elizabeth Spayd
Dave Sperandio
Dita Verheij
Dawn Vermilya
Eric Waldstein
Meghan Walters
Jen & Michael Werner
Caitlin Wilkinson
Ginny & Geoff Warren
Ashley Wolfington
Greg Wyant
Mike & Missy Young
Eric Young & Linda Fink
Ed Zubrow

On July 1, Reach launches a new fiscal year. With a growing staff and the addition of a third program site, this will be our most aggressive fundraising year to date. We recently approved a budget of $458,400. Today, we begin our journey toward that number.

We do realize that, for #DoMore24, every area nonprofit will be asking you for money on the same day. So, why Reach? This seems like an appropriate time for a top ten list. So, here it goes…

10. This week, Reach learned that we will be included in the 2013 – 2014 Catalogue for Philanthropy, a listing of the best small organizations in the DC Metro Area.

9. When asked about her proudest moment from this year, Marchelle (a 9th grade tutor) said, “I’m not embarrassed to read out loud anymore.”

8. In three years, we have distributed more than 500 books to our tutors and students to read during school holidays. This keeps our kids reading and maintains the gains experienced during our school year program.

7. Joyce, a third-year tutor at Perry Street Prep, was one of only 25 high school juniors from across the city to be selected for Urban Alliance’s highly competitive internship program at the World Bank.

6. Reach has been chosen as an Echoing Green fellow, a Social Innovation Rockstar, and is (currently) a finalist for the Claneil Foundation’s Emerging Leaders Award.

5. Our elementary school students are on pace to see 1.5 years of reading growth per year of participation – growth equal to that produced by highly effective teachers!

4. Rashaan says, “The people at Reach…I can talk to them about anything. We’re like one big family.”

3. Our tutors are on pace to experience almost three grade levels of reading improvement per year of program participation. Teaching creates the most powerful learning.

2. On Saturday mornings, Leonard, a 3rd grade student, sometimes asks, “Is it a Reach day?” His grandmother reports that she has to tell him, “Boy, it’s not even a school day!”

1. 85% of DC public school students get to high school reading below grade level. The problems start in elementary school. You may see two challenges. We see one solution.

We recognize you have many choices. On June 6th, we hope you’ll support Reach’s effort to produce confident grade-level readers and capable leaders in the District of Columbia. With your help, we can unleash the potential of our city’s teens to address youth literacy, one of DC’s most pressing social challenges.

Thanks, as always, for your support.
Mark

For several months, tutors have been working on a “Tutor Read” during training sessions. To push the development of their comprehension skills, we brought a more challenging text into our work with tutors. The book, Tattoos on the Heart by Father Gregory Boyle, highlighted Father G’s work with Homeboy Industries, a program that works with ex-gang members in LA.

Kyare, working with Talia and Kayla

Today, at the end of our reading, Kyare was reading aloud. We read about Jason, a homeboy who had been involved with drugs and gangs for much of his life. Always trouble, it had taken him a long time to seek something better for himself. But, in time, he did. He left the life, got a job, and started building a family. In the book, Father G recounts a conversation in which he and Jason are discussing the christening of Jason’s new daughter. Shortly after the conversation, Jason is gunned down – his past finally caught up with him. He doesn’t live to see his daughter baptized.

And, though we’re not a religious organization, Father G’s final thoughts in this particular chapter really resonated with me, especially as I heard them coming confidently from Kyare’s lips. Father G, preparing for a funeral/christening says:

I landed on a gospel that I wanted to use at his liturgy. Jesus says, “you are the light of the world.” I like even more what Jesus doesn’t say. “One day, if you are more perfect and try really hard, you’ll be light.” He doesn’t say, “If you play by the rules, cross your T’s and dot your I’s, then maybe you’ll become light.” No. He says, straight out, “You are the light.” It is the truth of who you are, waiting only for you to discover it.

Often, we want our kids to change so we can see the good in them. At Reach, we see the good in them and smile as we watch them change. Seeing the good can’t be conditional. Thanks to Kyare, and Father G, for the reminder.

Thanks, as always, for reading.
Mark

Marchelle hard at work.

After seeing our most recent newsletter, our staff members felt that they had so much left to say about Marchelle’s progress, so I decided to write her mother a letter. Because we’re so proud of Marchelle’s growth, we decided to share that letter here.

Ms. C,

This week, we highlighted Marchelle’s work in our newsletter. I hope she had the opportunity to share that with you – I know she was given copies by me and at least one proud teacher!

After our newsletter was sent out last week, we had a staff meeting. I want you to know that we spent significant time talking about the way your daughter has made each of us so proud this year. The way she has grown is the reason we do this work.

Since the beginning of the year, Marchelle has become a much more enthusiastic participant in Reach tutoring sessions. Working with groups of students, Marchelle can often be seen taking control of sessions in a very impressive way. Her students love working with her, and we can’t help but smile when we see her in action.

Though we have been excited about Marchelle’s growth as a tutor, the entire staff is even more proud of Marchelle’s growth as a student and a person. From the beginning of the year, Marchelle has been open about the fact that reading hasn’t always been easy. Many people would give up, but she has always been brave enough to address this issue. She knows it’s important, and she’s doing the necessary work.

While Marchelle was quiet at the beginning of the year, she now raises her hand constantly – she always wants to participate. It is clear that she has experienced a huge jump in reading fluency. And, like the best shooters in basketball, Marchelle is no longer knocked off track by mistakes. When some of our tutors make mistakes, they get upset and frustrated. When Marchelle makes a mistake, she moves forward and tries again.

Marchelle's first day as a tutor.

During a recent session, tutors were asked to come up with a goal for the remainder of this school year. While many tutors focused on small goals, Marchelle confidently stated, “I want to grow by at least one more grade level before the year ends.” The work she’s doing is not easy, but she’s showing the positive attitude and maturity necessary to become a very successful student. And, because of that, she’s shown as much reading growth as anyone in our program’s history.

We have been so proud of the incredible progress she has made this year. Her effort and attitude make each day a joy. The entire Reach team is so excited to continue helping her grow. Thank you for letting us be a part of her life. We are honored to work with your daughter.

Sincerely,

Mark Hecker
Executive Director
Reach Incorporated

So a couple questions kept coming up:

• How can we better show off our tutors?
• How can we allow our tutors to become instructional leaders by making public the work they do during tutoring sessions?
• How can we allow their work to touch more elementary school students?

We think we’ve found the answer. On June 8^th, on the grounds of Eastern High School, we will proudly host our first ever Literacy Carnival. Our tutors, supported by volunteers, will facilitate literacy-based games aimed at children Age 3 through Grade 3. With everything from letter awareness to poetry writing, we’ll have an activity for every child to enjoy! A couple examples…

• The Spell & Splash: You may have seen a dunk tank at a carnival before, but have you ever had to earn your throws by spelling words correctly? I don’t think so. Come experience our carnival game with a twist!

• The Speed Scrambler: How many words can you make using the tiles in the picture below? Participants will be given 2 minutes to make as many words as they can!

At each game, tutors will support younger readers, giving kids the opportunity to earn tickets for their game play. And, what will they do with those tickets? Thanks to a generous donation from First Book-DC, we’ll be giving away almost 1,000 books at The First Book-DC Prize Pavilion!

In addition to First Book-DC’s generous support, we’re also excited to host The Story Time Stage Presented by Zoobean, where some special guests will come to share their favorite children’s books with eager listeners.

And, parents will be able to learn about local resources at The Comcast Parent Resource Center.

Those schools with the highest representation might event be able to earn prizes for their schools! So, save the date: June 8^th, 10am – 2pm. You could even get involved as a game sponsor or event volunteer – if interested, I’d love to hear from you at mark[at]reachincorporated[dot]org.

Thanks, as always, for reading.
Mark

Now: Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts

Recently, our tutors were discussing what they would change about their schools, if given the power. School uniforms were a common theme. In this book, a young boy grows sad when his grandmother is unable to afford the popular shoes all the other kids are wearing. Tutors will be able to gain a new perspective on the school uniform debate, and students will be challenged by comprehension questions created by their adolescent tutors.

In addition to the story, students will be working on contractions. Tutors will create a version of Memory, the childhood game, to ensure that students can match contractions with the words combined to create them (for example, “isn’t” must be matched with “is not”).

Next: The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper

In the next few weeks, we will challenge our students to compare and contrast similar stories using a venn diagram. We’ll start by exploring The Little Engine That Could, a well-known and popular story. The repeating language will allow struggling readers to experience increasing confidence as they read the text.

Students will also tackle The Little Blue Engine by Shel Silverstein. Similar to the better known book, Silverstein’s poem takes an interesting twist at the end:

He was almost there, when — CRASH! SMASH! BASH!
He slid down and mashed into engine hash
On the rocks below… which goes to show
If the track is tough and the hill is rough,
THINKING you can just ain’t enough!

After reading both pieces, students – with guidance from their tutors – will have the opportunity to use the venn diagram to compare and contrast the two stories.

Next Year: Jenny Sue Kostecki-Shaw:

As we move toward the end of the year, we’re already thinking about how to put great new stories in the hands of next year’s participants. We’re excited about using this story to make writing a bigger part of next year’s programming. In Same, Same But Different, two young boys – one from American and one from India – become penpals. The boys learn about other cultures through the exchange of letters.

Next year, we hope to secure 60 – 70 volunteer penpals. At the beginning of the year, our students will choose a penpal from a map of the world – we’ll recruit penpals from all over the globe! Then, just like the story, they’ll begin a writing relationship through which they’ll learn about another place (and build writing skills along the way).

For those of you interested in being a penpal next fall, email me at mark@reachincorporated.org. We’ll follow up with details in August/September!

As we grow and learn, our programming continues to get stronger and more engaging. Using real books and relevant themes, we’re building readers and leaders, and we’re having a great time.

Thanks, as always, for reading.
Mark

There’s something quite intimidating about program data. Data has no heart. It doesn’t care how much we love our kids. Once we’ve determined what we’re trying to accomplish, data simply tells us whether we’re getting it done. You earn no additional points for the sincerity of your effort.

As we review our data at the halfway point of his program year, we’re excited that our current data indicates that our work is making a difference. Our tutors have seen reading improvement of more than one grade level in just four months. Their students have also shown significant improvement, advancing much more quickly than would be expected without this individualized reading support.

And, in this “data driven” world, that’s where many of the conversations stop. The numbers say our program works, so the world should give us money to reach more kids. End of story.

But that ignores the real value of data. While the larger trends are important, it’s the deeper exploration that promotes real learning and programmatic improvement. So, let’s look at three great results and three areas of concern:

Great Results:

• The growth in our tutors’ decoding skills is exceptional. At both sites, we saw average improvement of more than one grade level in just four months. A number of tutors saw improvement of three grade levels in a semester!
• We did see a correlation between program attendance and reading improvement, indicating that our program adds value beyond that of in-school instruction for both tutors and students. Some students saw reading growth of more than a year in just one semester!
• Some of our most outstanding results came from our strongest tutor-student relationships, indicating that individual relationships and engagement play a major role in student success.

Area of Concern:

• For tutors, the improvement they experienced in decoding was significantly stronger than improvement in reading comprehension.
• We have much room for growth in improving the consistency of student attendance.
• We need to quicken the pace of student growth to get all participants to proficiency by the end of 3^rd grade. While our students are moving in the right direction, those with the most significant challenges need to move more quickly in that direction.

As we move forward, we have also identified a number of important ways that we can use data to evaluate organizational progress. For example, we will continue investigating the relationship between program attendance and reading growth. As our work improves, we would expect this correlation to get tighter, showing that we continue to add value beyond that created during school day instruction.

Our mid-year evaluation showed us that our model, based on solid theory, is demonstrating very promising results. As important, the data uncovered some areas for improvement as we continue this difficult work. By celebrating our successes and using data to improve programmatic weak spots, Reach Incorporated will become a stronger organization. Surface-level reading of program outcomes may position organizations for fundraising success, but deeper analysis is required to achieve exceptional programmatic results.

And that, in the end, is why we evaluate our programs, right?

Thanks, as always, for reading.
Mark

Our response: Why or? Choose and!

Because we’re a young organization, it’s unlikely that members of the DC Council know about Reach. We want to change that to ensure they’re aware of the promising results being achieved by our tutors and students. So, we’re sharing with you the letter that we’ll send to council members later this week.
—-

Council Members,

In recent weeks, I have been pleased to hear remarks from multiple members of the council who clearly understand the  complex relationships between literacy, truancy, and academic outcomes. The council is rightly seeking solutions that respond to the complexity of the challenges we face.

I’m excited to share with you the work being done by Reach Incorporated. Since 2009, we have recruited and trained struggling 9th grade students to be elementary school tutors. Using this unique approach, our participants have seen impressive improvements in reading ability. Of equal importance, our participants attend school regularly, improve performance in the classroom, and stay in school. We’re able to achieve all of these things by making our tutors and students active participants in their own education.

During the first semester of this school year, we have seen exceptional outcomes generated by exceptional young people. Our students are on track to grow by more than one grade level in reading. These outcomes, matching those created by above average teachers, are being produced by high school tutors. More impressive, the tutors themselves are on track to see reading growth of 2-4 grade levels in a single academic year. And, though we recruit tutors with significant reading challenges, our tutors remain in school at levels far surpassing school and city averages.

Currently, our program is small. We serve approximately 85 participants at two program sites – one in Ward 5 and one in Ward 6. In the next three years, we plan to grow 300% with a focus on expansion into Wards 7 and 8. We will grow relatively slowly to ensure that program quality does not suffer as the organization grows. Though young, Reach has already been recognized by Echoing Green as one of the world’s most promising social innovations – Echoing Green is a venture philanthropy firm that has provided initial funding to 500 organizations, including Teach for America, City Year, and College Summit.

We’ve found this early success for three reasons: Instead of attendance, we talk about engagement. Instead of achievement, we talk about learning. And, instead of efficiency, we talk about justice. We have also been able to achieve these outcomes without dismissing or suspending a single participant from our program. As we continue the complex conversation about truancy and literacy, I hope we can learn from Reach’s tutors and students. When we give our young people engaging opportunities to create change – when we give them real responsibility for real outcomes – we will be amazed by what they accomplish.

Each member of the council has an open invitation to visit our program and learn from our young people. They would be happy to share their work with you. You will find Reach to be an important part of the comprehensive approach needed to give our kids the education they deserve. In recent remarks, Chairman Mendelson said that, to successfully address truancy, we’d have to “do something remarkable with the 9th graders or…improve literacy at the lower grades.” At Reach, we are choosing to do both.

Thank you, and I look forward to hearing from you about this important work.

Sincerely,
Mark Hecker LICSW, Ed.M
Executive Director

—-

I’m passionate about my work. It’s rare that this passion creates anger. But, most definitely, that happened last week when I read the EdWeek blog post of Tom Vander Ark, a Venture Capitalist working in the educational space.

Never before have I seen such a clear indication that the “Ed Reform Movement” is built on the maintenance of strict sectors. Mr. Vander Ark not only fills his writing with factual inaccuracies, but he makes it clear that he thinks of charter schools and educational technologies as replacements of, not supplements to, our traditional system of education.

It is worthwhile for us to start by identifying the public system within the three-sector framework often used on this blog. Traditional public schools fall under the responsibility of government; they have an obligation to serve every child that walks through their doors.  Many charter schools, academic support services, and enrichment programs are traditional nonprofit organizations; these groups have an obligation to their mission, and they must produce results to please funders. Lastly, some charters, some academic consultation models, and most of the educational technology sector fall in the category of for-profit; these organizations have an obligation to produce financial return through sales. These three groups, by their nature, do not work well together. They have different interests. Collaboration requires thoughtful strategy.

While I’d love to ignore Mr. Vander Ark’s inaccuracies, I think it important to outline a few here.

• In a quote that opens his post, he quotes a veteran DC educator talking about the great improvement of DC NAPE [sic, it’s actually NAEP] scores.  Reality: Since 2005, DC NAEP scores have shown improvement, but I’d struggle to call it considerable. In 2005, 11% of DC 8^th grade students read at grade level or above. In 2011, that number was 15%. With 15 years of charter school magic, shouldn’t we see more growth? During that same period, those students reading at the below basic level (functionally illiterate) fell from 56% to 54% – hardly considerable.

• Mr. Vander Ark goes on to credit charter schools with the excitement surrounding education reform in DC. To demonstrate success, he points out tremendous charter school growth and that “DCPS enrollment is flat.” Reality: He’s absolutely right that DC charters are growing incredibly fast. He fails to mention that only one-third of those schools rank as Tier 1 schools on the DC Public Charter School Board’s own performance framework – including only one of the four he specifically mentions in this first paragraph. It should also be noted that DCPS enrollment is not flat. This year, it started ticking up, reversing a decades-long trend.

•  Mr. Vander Ark then goes on to say that Chancellor Henderson is simply carrying out the priorities established by Michelle Rhee, all with the support of Rhee’s team. Reality: Turnover has been significant. And, to be fair, it was Henderson that released the recent strategic plan, a strong statement about DCPS’ plan moving forward. To imply that she is simply Rhee’s puppet is entirely unfair.

Mr. Vander Ark then goes on to brag about charter graduation rates (which one might expect to be different given their control over student entry and exit points) while noting that charters work with a higher poverty population (again, expected given the fact that charter don’t dare compete with traditional schools in DC’s richer enclaves). He also lists all the great reforms coming – a term used liberally given that many of the organizations/products he labels great are either currently being piloted or are yet to launch. Many organizations have learned the hard lesson that replication in DC is no easy task.

I could go on, but I hope the point has been made. A growing subset of the private education sector – both nonprofit and for-profit – is founded on the idea of destroying the government’s role in education, not acting as a strategic supplement. Worse, as Mr. Vander Ark typifies, the for-profit sector has the ability to bend and stretch the truth without any real accountability. And non-profits (disclosure: I run one, and we battle this on a regular basis) have an obligation to produce results for funders. Whether we want to admit it or not, this creates a significant pressure to work with those students who will produce those needed results. It is a factual reality that the government-run traditional public school system is the only institution with an obligation to every child. They have a much more difficult job than the rest of us – charters, nonprofits, ed tech companies, etc. The traditional public school system does not have access to the pressure release valves the rest of us enjoy.

This is why I don’t envy Chancellor Henderson. To this point, she has taken the high road – lauding effective charters and the for-profit companies that effectively support DC students. Unfortunately, she’s often walking alone on that road. I want Kaya to fight. I want her to publicly acknowledge that many in the “Ed Reform Movement”, something of which she’s a part, are trying to destroy our traditional public school system. We have to fight back. Education serves not only a utilitarian purpose with economic repercussions, but it serves as the foundation of our struggling democracy and the basis of hope in communities in need of transformation. DC Public Schools are a big part of the growing excitement in this city, but their high road posture allows other sectors to win the marketing game – right now, it’s not even a contest (though it has been fun to follow #WeRdcps on Twitter). It’s like two fishermen standing on a dock discussing their shared interest in a strong fishing industry while one saws a hole in the other’s boat.

And, though this is a separate blog post entirely, it should be noted that we haven’t yet even mentioned the bigger issues in the DC education landscape. Our nation’s capital has the largest achievement gap and largest wealth disparity in the country. We’re building a system where success is defined by getting out of your neighborhood, forgoing an opportunity to have education transform neighborhoods. With one of the country’s most active Ed Reform communities, we continue to build structures on a little-discussed foundation that is crumbling at our feet. The potential is here; the shared strategy is not.

At UnSectored, we talk of creating true partnerships across sectors. We want people to consider the larger goals and to determine how different sectors might contribute significantly to those larger goals. This requires introspection (knowing your strengths), sacrifice (of resources, ease, and/or profit), and credit sharing (oh, the horror!). That, if done well, could create an Education Revolution.

For now, we’re stuck with reform.