Use cases

Imagine one parent asked to weigh in on improving her child's school. "Things seem fine," she says. "I can't think of what I would change." Then she goes to a Network that shows her examples of children speaking two languages throughout kindergarten; of youth doing media-centered internships allowing them to prepare for 21st century careers; of teachers and 3rd graders learning mathematics through the arts. Suddenly she has a sense of what is possible. She comes to the parent meeting with links to examples.

Imagine another parent struggling with a Special Education policy in her district that seems to put Latino students, like her own son, disproportionately in restricted classrooms. What is done elsewhere? she wonders. Through a friend, she hears about the Network and logs on in her public library. She connects for the first time to parents who have learned their civil rights; they connect her to a local branch of a national disability advocacy organization that assists her with advocating for an IEP affording her children in-class special needs services.

Imagine these two parents finding one another when searching for a school that successfully serves children with disabilities, through the arts. Imagine them sharing struggles and successes, and questions.

Imagine a community organizer finding a school board member to share his ideas for lowering suspensions districtwide; imagine a young person reporting out his own experience of the charter school association getting media attention in his district; imagine a teacher, frustrated with the level of math teaching in his building, finding and approaching a principal elsewhere who has successfully implemented a program that engaged an entire faculty in enhancing their math instruction. Imagine many young people, organizers, and teachers finding each other to discuss shared experiences of improving education.