Rennie Center: 2019 Conditions of Education in the Commonwealth

This year's theme is "Student Voice: How Young People Can Shape the Future of Education" with the keynote address by Adria Goodson of the Pahara Institute, which (per its website) "identifies, strengthens, and sustains diverse, high-integrity leaders who are reimagining public education, so that every child in America has access to an excellent public school."

Goodson: this year's report argues that students should have a voice in their learning decisions and in the policies that shape it
in line with what we see happening across the world
"raising their voices and using their feet to spark action on issues they care about"
"bold innovative leaders and commitment" to deep dialogue
"genuine tradition of radical thought and action...of Black people in this country"
"powerful, deep, river that spans centuries"
"the lessons of the past from these elders and the movements they stewarded...are vital" to us today
technical and human aspects of education
ah, and now we're getting a tie into Mass Parents United "one for some" campaign
ed reform leaders "are really interogating the choices of ed reform"
reference to Harvard Graduate School
"just have to engage in it" and collective conversation
"real lived experience of those experiencing it"
"organization resistence...failure to look beyond our own limited"
"get more proximate to the problem"
"build educational systems with young people"
"this next wave of reform in education has to come from young people of color"
"not transactional or...tokenizing to people"
multiple levels and multiple perspectives
"we should be engaging all of the people in the system...a lifetime journey, not something that's one and done"

Chad d'Entremont: take this year to redo data dashboard to add non-academic indicators

Student speakers: Maya Mathews, student member of the Mass Board of Education, and Newton North student; Carla Duran Capellan, Middlesex Community College student
Mathews: my experience has shaped the person I am
have been in both traditional classes and ones that amplify student voices
relates experience of teacher not recommending her to a higher math class in fifth grade, as teacher said she lacked confidence
a little moment that has a major impact on a student
"we have a very short but meaningful time with students before they graduate"
"there's already plenty of doubt growing in hallways"
"need teachers to encourage us to use our voices"
depth and breadth of learning is elevated beyond belief when student voice is amplified
says her history teachers at Newton North "are probably the reason that I am the huge academic policy junky I am"
"my favorite teacher once told me 'you can plant an entire garden with just a single seed...and yes, I am a sucker for those cheesy one liners'"
Duran Capallan: moved from DR when she was young: learned she didn't have a voice because she was an immigrant, didn't speak English, adults always seemed to discourage me
history class worked "to make actual civic change" through Generation Citizen
advocated for more cultural competency in advisory to prevent bullying
work on the root causes of xenophobia; "it was up to us, and the work was real."
wanted to see what more I could, since seeing the change
volunteers each Friday in her history class in high school to support Generation Citizen
"so many empowered young people like me are out there advocating for what needs to be done"
"trust students actually have the ability to make that change, and then let them lead"

Next up: panel moderated by Bianca Vázquez Toness of WGBH: Amanda Fernández, Carlos Santiago, Joan Wasser Gish
and I am about to run out of battery...
Gish: importance of relationships, reshape individual trajectory, but are learning more and more can fundamentally reshape larger group trajectory
Toness asks about Latino students in the state: Santiago uses example of remediation and student success
"looking at everything we do from an equity lens"
"if you don't demonstrate failure first you're not going to progress"