Trust Sponsors Leadership Newark's Education Day
The day began with a panel of young Newark education leaders from a variety of areas: Kariema Muhammad, a teacher at 13th Ave School; Carlos Lejnieks, the CEO of Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Essex, Hudson and Union Counties; Jeremiah Grace, the executive director of PENewark and Nakia White, a member of the NPS Advisory Board.
The panelists shared their passion for education and their beliefs regarding the current and future challenges of education in Newark. The morning continued with a presentation from Newark Trust Executive Director Ross Danis, who provided a framework that explained the basic challenges of educating our children in the 21st Century. Ross also spoke about ways in which participants could challenge our own understandings and biases of teaching and learning.
The participants then split into three groups and visited one of the three schools. In the late afternoon, the groups reconvened and shared four challenges that were presented to them at each school, as well as one success story that should be scaled up and shared within the Newark school community.
Challenges varied from issues of staffing to low student support services, to low resource materials and lack of autonomy in school governance decision making. The primary success stories were related to innovative teaching and learning methods.
The feedback from the fellows was extremely well-received, as many said they felt their experiences in the schools had a deep impact on their thoughts of education reform in regards to theories of action and their applicability at the school level.
Leadership Newark is a 2-year fellowship program for qualified professionals committed to the Greater Newark community. The program provides a forum for emerging leaders to debate and discuss public policy issues as they move towards developing solutions and potential programs which could better the community.
The Trust was thrilled to be a part of the Leadership Newark experience, and we look forward to staying connected with the 2012 class as they continue with the fellowship.
