Blogs on All Grades

I'm always surprised when I speak with people who expect schools to innovate without support from the outside. Every innovative program I have been involved with has included strong partnerships with businesses, nonprofit organizations, and other community-based organizations. With a shared vision and purpose, partnerships between schools and the community have resulted in some powerful programs and practices.

Over the years, we have seen drug abuse spread throughout our schools, even at the elementary school level.

When single mom Kelly Stern moved to Hawaii in 1990, she did not know the local public school system was poorly rated in educational quality compared to those in other states across the nation. Private schools were financially out of her reach, so Stern reached out to other families in similar situations.

I am just back from a conference in Mitchell, South Dakota, where I was sharing some of what we have learned in Maine as well as things learned from working with other one-to-one laptop efforts across the country. Because South Dakota is, like Maine, largely rural, the 350 or so educators attending the conference were receptive to my message.