10 th Annual Education Summit

10th Annual Education Summit A Decade Rooted in Raising Achievement and Closing the Gap!!! The Journey Continues… September 13, 2008 Dr. Forrest D. Toms, Sr., Associate Professor Leadership Studies Program NC A&T State University )

HOW THE JOURNEY STARTED AND WHERE WE HAVE BEEN )

Community Change Process“Tracks” NAACP Issues Retreat Priorities > Education June ‘97 “The Call” Leadership Academy June ‘98 Education Summit June 99 Quantitative Data Education Achievement “Close the Gap” Core Group “Movers and Shakers” > Educators > Parent > Faith community > Business > Elected Officials Focus Groups Transitioned To Concerned Citizens T.V. Interviews Campaign speeches Quantitative Process (Data) Meeting of the Minds with Leadership Forrest D. Toms, PhD., June, 2005

Community Change Process“The Junction” Community Process Superintendents Engaged Commissioner Engaged > Data Presentation > Leveraged Political Environment Meeting of the minds >Commissioner Representatives > School Boards & Superintendents Closing the Gap Planning Committee GroupCore Closing the Gap Forums Black Male & Female Forums Interviews March - April 2000 Quantitative Process Educated Core Group & Community Public Awareness Within Community Between Communities Forrest D. Toms, PhD., June, 2005

Community Change Process Close the Gap Planning Committee “Additional Engines” (CIS Universities, Public Schools, Parents, Business, NAACP… Summit 2000 Published Report Actions Plans Created Activities Planned Feedback Process Developed Goals Gathering of the Village - Partnerships - Advocacy - Commitment ProcessMemorandum of Understanding - Feedback via Written Reports & Presentations - Movement Validated - Benchmarks December 2000 Gap Group Forrest D. Toms, PhD., June, 2005

Closing The Committee Set and achieved 2005goals CORE GROUP Closing The Gap: Then & Now . Educational Summits Memorandum of Understanding Closing The Gap Initiative • A Gathering of the Village • Distinguished • Image Awards • Leadership Academies • AA M/F Forums • Mentoring • Afterschool • Youth Summit Forrest D. Toms, PhD., June, 2005

Organizational Functioning Alignment of Human and Social Capital • Work /Study Teams • Shared Responsibility of Work Loads Leveraging Commitment & Resources Closing The Gap: Tomorrow . Capacity to generate and implement new Initiatives based on data & experiences • Tactical Use of Talent • Core Group Members • Leadership Graduates • Community Organizations • Move Leadership from one stage to another • Development of Financial Vehicles • Effective Utilization of Resources • Connect programs to resources Forrest D. Toms, PhD., June, 2005

Where Are We Going? What Will It Take (What Must We Do Different) To Get There? What Will It Require of You? )

RACG COMMISSION, 2008 • A rising tide will lift all boats but their physical relationship to each other will not change without some additional intervention. • We must create new traditions in this case and go beyond the routine . . . and in some cases, beyond our comforts if we are to succeed in this endeavor.

Leadership • "Leadership is the energetic process of getting people fully and willingly committed to a new and sustainable course of action, to meet commonly agreed objectives whilst having commonly held values"

Leadership and Reflection • Reflection is the process of stepping back from an experience to ponder, carefully and persistently, its meaning to the self through the development of inferences; • Learning is the creation of that meaning from the past or current event(s) that are used to guide our future behavior

Leadership and Reflection • Reflection is a form or mental processing that we use to fulfill a purpose or to achieve a anticipated outcomes applied to relatively complicated or unstructured ideas for which there are no obvious solutions

RACG COMMISSION, 2008 Acknowledging the problem and doing something about it are two different things. )

What assumptions do we start with about why certain conditions exist, and why? • “You can’t keep doing the same thing and expect different results” • What does the data suggest about secondary indicators of closing the gap? • AIG • Dropout • Low numbers of minority teachers/personnel Worsley, J. D. & Zhu, T. (2008)

What assumptions do we start with about why certain conditions exist, and why? • “We have to dig deeper and wider to get better at addressing historical underperforming and underrepresented area” • Is the leadership recognizable and consistent around closing the gap at the: • Board level • School administration • School–level • Community Level If not, what other voices need to heard to have a greater impact

Alignment of Resources and Effort • Is there a planned program involving the overall community stakeholders. • Is the Board of Education Policies, Practices and Leadership aligned with Closing the Gap efforts? • Is the Closing the Gap’s Committees’ goals and practices aligned with the data, information and evidence ? • Are individual school based plans and practices aligned with system-wide goals; with the school board and with the Closing the Gap Committee’s findings? )

RACG COMMISSION, 2008 While coming to grips with our failures in this area and searching for an acceptable approach to dealing with the challenge, it is helpful to recognize that the issue is not really so much about the gaps that exist as it is about the undeveloped academic potential of thousands of young people who are present for instruction in classrooms across the state. And disproportionately, they are minorities. We can no longer afford to avoid the discomfort often associated with recognizing that ethnic culture (race) is somehow associated with this failure. )

What will we have to do differently to create the change we want? • Planning Committee • School Board • System-wide & School-based Leadership • Community Stakeholders • Community Organizations )

10 th Annual Education Summit