Today was my first day as an Education Pioneer Fellow for the Fund for Educational Excellence!!

As the only local public education fund in Baltimore, The Fund is house to 3 main divisions:

 -District fundraising/development

 -District Innovation

 -Analysis and Engagement

The Analysis and Engagement division of The Fund, the division I’m primarily involved with, spearheaded a number of initiatives in partnership with Baltimore City Public Schools over these past few years. They are as follows:

1. The Fund aims to initiate programs that will decrease the amount of time students spend in high school. The goal is to identify at-risk youth who could stand to benefit from obtaining their degree under 4 years, At risk youth was operationally defined as over-age & under-credited students.

 – Some questions I have regarding this intervention is, at what grade and age will this intervention begin? What are the barriers to student participation in this project? Can it be related to the reasons why the students are currently at-risk for dropping out (i.e. External factors such as familial issues, poverty, neighborhood violence, etc.)? If so, how does this initiative plan to overcome this issue?

2. Another initiative by The Fund includes leveraging community resources to encourage students in areas of chronic absenteeism to attend schools. After a meeting with one of the program managers, I realized that this intervention had already been implemented, wrapped up, & completed. I will be meeting face to face with the director of this initiative on Wednesday and I hope to gain more insight of the programs successes and failures.

Until then I have made a list of some questions that came to mind,

  -How were volunteers selected? What was is it about the messages these volunteers left with parents and students that was supposed to ingnite interest in students and motivate them to attend school? Is the immediate effect, if any, sustainable after the intervention (without the calls from local volunteers)? Any efforts to investivate longitudinal effects of the program?

3. The third initiative, which I believe falls under both the A & E and Innovations Division is about School Choice within the Baltimore City Public School System. providing technical support for charters and traditional public city schools involved in the school choice program for Baltimore families.

After a staff meeting today, I was told that this initiative is comming to  an end and the the Charter School Coalition will be taking over as the manager of this project will be moving on to a position in the federal department of education (I need to keep her as a contact, as I hope to work for them one day!).

-And ofcourse I do have questions, first being the fact that I need to learn more about the program. What sort of technical assistance was provided to these school partners? And what about the program was so inticing to the Charter School Coalition?-Was it due to the success and efficiency of the initiative?

4. The fourth, and I think, second to largest project currently under way (after the Community project-to be described in detail in my next blog post), is the 21st Century Building plan. This initiative hopes to upgrade school buildings to help foster a more positive learning environment for the students. DC recently upgraded and renovated school buildings (mostly high school) within the district and I think this is a worthwhile project for City Schools to invest in.

In conclusion, my first day was AMAZING! I realized just how much The Fund actually does for Baltimore City, and I am excited to be a part of such an impactful organization. I look forward to the rest of my time with The Fund as an Ed Pioneer Fellow!