Seek Common Ground (SCG) Program Analyst and Research Coordinator Lydia Burns sat down with members of SCG's Student Action Network for Equity to talk about how students are organizing against classroom censorship and for educational equity. Panelists included high school junior, Mira Ugwuadu (Wheeler Name Change), high school senior, Tala Saad (Kentucky Student Voice Team), and University of Georgia sophomore, Julian Fortuna (Georgia Youth Justice Coalition).
This video introduces K-12 Family Guides, created by Seek Common Ground in collaboration with experts at Student Achievement Partners, to help families--and those that support families-- understand more about what students should know and be able to do by the end of each grade in literacy and math. This information, and tips and strategies for engaging kids and working in partnership with teachers, is especially important now as families support their children during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Video created by Next Day Animations.
Kauser Razvi, Senior Director of Program Management and Innovation at College Now - Greater Cleveland, sat down witih Seek Common Ground's Chief Common Ground Officer Michael Gilligan to talk through equitable design thinking principles and how it can be applied across a wide-range of contexts.
Recorded: August 19th, 2021
Zakiyah Ansari, (Advocacy Director & New York City Director), and Stevie Vargas, (Upstate Campaign Coordinator) from the Alliance for Quality Education sat down with Seek Common Ground's Chief Common Ground Officer Michael Gilligan to share insights and best practices on organizing at the local and state levels. Zakiyah and Stevie also provided useful resources to help other advocates with organizing campaigns and provided deeper dives into how AQE has helped transform public education funding in New York State.
Recorded: August 10th, 2021
Seek Common Ground (SCG) Chief Common Ground Officer Michael Gilligan sat down with Kentucky Student Voice Team (KSVT) Managing Partner Rachel Belin and two members of KSVT, high-school students Audrey Gilbert and Connor Flick. The talk included an overview of KSVT's organizing structure as a youth-led organization, how they conduct multigenerational collaborations, and their efforts to co-design more just and equitable education systems.
Recorded: August 4th, 2021
Dr. Pamela Cantor, Founder and Senior Science Advisor at Turnaround for Children, sat down with Seek Common Ground's (SCG) Chief Common Ground Officer Michael Gilligan in a discussion that centered on the need for whole child supports for individual students, learning environments, and how child development science can tell us how to reimagine our education system.
Recorded: July 22nd, 2021
Kevine Boggess is the Education Policy Director of Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth, a San Francisco School Board Member at SFUSD, and a fellow project leader in Seek Common Ground's (SCG) ARPA Action Accelerator. Kevine sat down with SCG's Chief Common Ground Officer Michael Gilligan to have a conversation centered around recommendations for how advocates can more effectively engage with school boards, American Rescue Plan (ARPA) funding and spending, and current issues around culturally responsive education and teaching.
Recorded: July 20th, 2021
Ian Rosenblum, Acting Assistant Secretary, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education for the U.S. Department of Education sat down with Seek Common Ground CEO Sandy Boyd to discuss the American Rescue Plan Act and what advocates should know as they work with state and local leaders to prioritize spending to meet their community’s needs.
Recorded: July 14th, 2021
Delia Pompa, Senior Fellow for Education Policy at the Migration Policy Institute, sat down with Seek Common Ground’s Chief Common Ground Officer Michael Gilligan in a discussion centered on how English learner (EL) assessment is a civil rights issue, as well as Delia's lessons learned from decades of experience in the field. Recorded: July 13th, 2021
Chad Aldeman, Policy Director of the Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University sat down with Seek Common Ground’s Chief Common Ground Officer Michael Gilligan in a discussion centered around resources and insights regarding ESSER/ARP resource allocations.
Recorded: June 29th, 2021
In the first of Seek Common Ground's Learning Community TALK series, Dr. Landon Mascareñaz of the Colorado Education Initiative (CEI) shares details on CEI’s MAA and ARPA Accelerator projects, his approach to the Learning Community, and principles of Open Systems.
Recorded: June 16th, 2021
Seek Common Ground (SCG) Chief Common Ground Officer Michael Gilligan and SCG Networks Manager Tom Picasso walk through the Roadmap at SCG breaking down "The Understory," SCG Thinking & Practice, and more insight into Programming, as well as speak on the cross-cutting nature of having concurrent action accelerators.
Recorded: June 9th, 2021
Seek Common Ground is facilitating three Action Accelerators this summer— Ohio Whole Child Action Accelerator, Measurement, Assessment, and Accountability Phase III Action Accelerator, and American Rescue Plan - K-12 School Funding Action Accelerator. On June 3rd, we hosted an introductory watch party featuring representatives from all 22 of our Action Accelerator participating organizations.
Recorded: June 2021
Learning Community members from the Covid-19 Community Led Covid-19 Response Action Accelerator share their experiences of collaborating with Seek Common Ground. Reflections centered around project funding, participating in the learning community of fellow organizations and amplifying marginalized voices.
Seek Common Ground serves independent state- and community-facing education advocacy efforts to promote consensus-driven coalition building that honors the power of local, authentic agenda setting to drive sustainable educational excellence and equity.
Recorded: Feb/March 2021
Learn about Seek Common Ground's Ohio Whole Child Action Accelerator including how to submit an expression of interest and eligibility requirements. Launching in May 2021. To find out more and submit and submit an expression of interest, visit https://seekcommonground.org/ohio-aa.
Recorded: March 30th, 2021
Representatives of participating organizations from past Action Accelerators share their experiences of collaborating with Seek Common Ground. Reflections centered around project funding, participating in the learning community of fellow organizations and amplifying marginalized voices.
Seek Common Ground serves independent state- and community-facing education advocacy efforts to promote consensus-driven coalition building that honors the power of local, authentic agenda setting to drive sustainable educational excellence and equity.
Recorded: Feb/March 2021
While each of the six organizations--Advance Illinois, Council for a Better Louisiana, The Education Trust-New York, Expect More Arizona, Ohio Excels and Tennessee SCORE—developed a unique project that sought to inform and engage families in their state around assessment and accountability issues, there were a number of learnings that emerged across projects. This is noteworthy because the conditions (political, and otherwise) in each of the states was quite different and yet, there were common themes.
Dia Bryant, Interim Executive Director of THE EDUCATION TRUST - NEW YORK, shares insights and key takeaways from her participation in Seek Common Ground's Measurement, Assessment and Accountability Phase II Action Accelerator which took place from September to December 2020.
Recorded: February 12th, 2021
Jessica Ramos, Director of Community Engagement at ADVANCE ILLINOIS, shares insights and key takeaways from her participation in Seek Common Ground's Measurement, Assessment and Accountability Phase II Action Accelerator which took place from September to December 2020.
Recorded: February 17th, 2021
