Quality Education: On the Ground
Advancement Project has worked with its community partners to push for broader educational justice in communities throughout the country. For example:
TUNICA COUNTY, MS
- In 1999, concerned African-American residents of Tunica County contacted Advancement Project to request assistance with challenging the local school district’s plan to build a state-of-the-art public school in the middle of a new development that would serve only wealthy white students and not African-American students who comprised a majority of the district's school population. It was clear that the construction of this all-white school would make the existing inequities worse and strengthen the hold of structural racism in that community. Along with our partners, Concerned Citizens for a Better Tunica County and Southern Echo, we pushed the U.S. Department of Justice to oppose the construction of the planned school and garnered support of national civil rights organizations, the local Congressional representative, and the Congressional Black Caucus. We also intervened in the existing school desegregation case on behalf of the African-American community and gained national attention (CBS Evening News, New York Times, and Washington Post) through our communications efforts.
- This strategic legal, political, and media support from Advancement Project, coupled with community organizing, resulted in a positive outcome – the state-of-the-art school was built closer to the African American community making it accessible to all children in the county.
DENVER, CO
- In Denver, the members of the youth group Jovenes Unidos noticed that, in many schools, students of color were not being provided with the same academic opportunities as their peers. They also observed that when faced with such low expectations and meager educational options, many Black and Latino students became frustrated and dropped out.
- Members of Jovenes organized to demand the high standards and high-level instruction they need to succeed. In order to close the achievement gap and raise academic achievement for all students, Jovenes worked with Advancement Project to identify the academic supports and interventions that are necessary to ensure that all DPS students are prepared to succeed in K-12 and beyond. Advancement Project and the students developed recommendations that the students presented it to district officials.
- We continue to work with Jovenes to ensure that their vision of a school district that provides high-quality educational opportunities to all of its students is realized.
GREENSBORO, NC
- Advancement Project has been working in partnership with the Beloved Community Center (BCC) in Greensboro to mobilize parents and students around issues of educational inequality. Historically, school officials have not been responsive to the concerns of students and parents of color, so Advancement Project has assisted BCC with obtaining critical education data, understanding the barriers that students are facing, and developing and implementing strategies for reform.
ALEXANDRIA, VA
- Advancement Project has been working with the parents and youth of Tenants and Workers United in Alexandria to advocate for improved educational opportunities for low income children and children of color since 2005. Our joint report documenting our research findings, Obstacles to Opportunity: Alexandria, Virginia Students Speak Out, found that Alexandria City Public Schools has effectively created a two-track school system: one for a small number of predominately White students who are actively prepared from an early age for college and successful careers; and the other for the majority of students of color who are not expected to excel and encounter substantial obstacles to achieving their goals.
- Advancement Project is continuing to work with our partners to see that the recommendations offered in the report are implemented in the district. Currently, we are working with the district on a proposed policy called “Personalized Educational Action Plans,” under which every student would have an individualized course of study to meet his or her goals. These plans would: provide individualized attention to students, ensure all students have access to high-level academic opportunities, create an improved academic “safety net” for struggling students, and improve collaboration among students, staff, and parents.
- As of Spring 2009, the district has agreed to implement all of the major elements of our proposed plan. In addition, Tenants and Workers United is in the process of negotiating a formal partnership agreement with the district to work on the implementation of the new plans and to ensure the community voice is heard throughout the process.
