Opportunity to Learn Campaign Means Opportunity to Succeed
The National Opportunity to Learn Campaign, headquartered in Boston, is sponsored by the Schott Family Foundation.. This is an important effort to attract community agencies to coordinate efforts to change the learning experience of children who live in poverty and/or who experience ongoing acute crises.
The byword – achievement – gap has come to imply that failure to learn is the fault of a student, a teacher or a principal, or all of these. Opportunity to Learn implies that the community and the federal government have responsibilities to our children. If we could only minimize testing and maximize the opportunities for our children to have adequate food, health care, and teachers trained to listen as well as teach our children who live in poverty, we would turn around education in our country today.
Here is what happened in Mustang Arizona as reported by Poverty and Our Schools. The student population in Mustang is between 1200-760 students with a 95% poverty level, and mostly non-English speaking children. The school has become an effective place of learning by involving the community.
Great care has been taken to ensure each child learns English by developing individualized programs. By partnering with Scottsdale Health children have health care, and there is a free dental clinic on the school campus. Food is put in children’s lunch bags by local food pantries to take care of holidays and weekends, and the free lunch program serves the children during the day. Extended-day learning time is provided by local afterschool programs including the Boys and Girls clubs (also on campus) and by the federal 21st Century after-school program. This is only a part of what is done to make the opportunity to learn effective in Mustang AZ.
What is done in or near your community? Becky Richardson, President. Promise the Children
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