education (Photo credit: Sean MacEntee)
Susan recently told me I should look at a program called Diplomas Now which has been making great strides in education. Not fifteen minutes afterwards I heard a radio story about them and about the fantastic results they have brought to pass here in my city of New Orleans.
A little research later and I became a big fan. Take a moment and watch this video and you’ll understand why.
Diplomas Now: A Secondary School Turnaround Model from Diplomas Now on Vimeo.
So many of the shots in that video and the people in them are from my community here in NOLA. Like many natives of the city, I have always had a low opinion of our schools and state of education. After all we always seem to be fighting Mississippi for the very bottom spot when those statistics come out. My jaw dropped when I started looking into their results and found things like a 51% drop in violent incidents in NOLA classrooms.
Their work, which unifies and coordinates three separate non-profits, has produced solid results not only in my city but also in places like Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
As we try to address the topic of juvenile justice education is indispensable. Many of the most effective programs for reintegrating kids into the community are based on skill training and education, and it’s importance prior to encounters with the justice system cannot be overstated. To see such positive results, particularly in “lost cause” schools like so many of the ones down here, is heartening.
Education provides kids the tools for success. It really is that simple.
Related articles
- Saving the Secondary School: Diplomas Now (humaneexposures.com)
- Impact on education funding in proposed budget (mainedoenews.net)
- Graduation Rate Hits Record High For High School Students: Government Report (huffingtonpost.com)
- Study: High school grad rate highest since ’76 (kfwbam.com)
- Inmate Speech Delivered at Madison Correctional Institution’s Graduation Ceremonies Held by Smart Horizons Career Online Education (prweb.com)
