Ras Baraka’s Blueprint for excellence in Education

There is nothing more important to the future of our city than the development and education of our youngest residents, the children of Newark. My campaign, “Believe in Newark,” is based on the principle that the people of Newark, working collectively and in a coordinated way, have the ability to transform our city to ensure that all of our children have the opportunity to succeed. Newark is a city where poverty and racism still matter. All the evidence tells us that even under these conditions students can still learn and excel. More than two-thirds (70%) of our children grow up in lowincome families struggling to meet basic needs. While poverty and racial isolation are highly correlated with low academic achievement, this correlation should not suggest that Newark students have low cognitive abilities or deficits. Our children are not the problem; the environment we create for them is largely responsible for their academic performance and other outcomes in life.The city of Newark creates and shapes the climate in which children, families and schools succeed or fail.Children need support, nurturing, and preparation at every stage of life, from birth until the time they enter the world of work. It is our duty as their guardians to provide their caregivers with the opportunity for fostering their development throughout their life course. To fulfill these responsibilities I have created a plan that mobilizes the city’s resources, institutions, foundations, community organizations, and community members to create an environment in which children, adults, and our schools will thrive.
The principles of empowerment and collective action are at the core of my proposed strategies for economic development and public safety. These principles are also at the heart of my strategy to improve educational opportunities and outcomes for all Newark residents.
Working together to develop and implement creative new ways to address the inequities that exist in how our systems deliver services and programs to residents in Newark is paramount to addressing the environmental effects of poverty and racism in our community.
This comprehensive strategy addresses the needs of students, embraces the cultural diversity that children bring to school, and supports school leaders and staff because these factors are integral to increasing student achievement. It is built around an organized systems approach based upon using and capitalizing on the resources that influence and shape the school environment. The strategy is holistic, comprehensive, and bold in its approach to galvanizing the assets in Newark to work in the interests of our children, our families, our neighborhoods and our schools.
If all of our children are going to succeed in school we must leverage every resource to uproot the patterns of racial inequality that continue to harm all of our residents, particularly families and children. This Blueprint to Achieve Excellence is a strategic and sustainable plan to integrate communities, schools, and families that creates a model of achievement for our city. The Mayor of Newark should be a leader in transforming our schools. This is true despite the fact that ourschools are presently under state control, not under the authority of either the elected Mayor or an elected Board of Education.
I will be the real “Education Mayor

 

Posted by on May 5 2014. Filed under Community News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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