An Interview with Oregon Representative John Lively

by Rafael Otto | Oct 9, 2018 | Podcast, Oregon Policy, Policy Trends

As we prepare for the 2019 legislative session, we spoke with Oregon Representative John Lively, a democrat representing Springfield, District 12. He has lived in Springfield for more than 50 years but was born in LaGrande and grew up in Wallowa. He has served on the Springfield City Council and as the city’s mayor and is headed into his seventh session for the Oregon legislature. Last year he began serving on the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Education where budget recommendations are made for the education portion of the state budget. He is also a member and chair of the House Committee on Early Childhood and Family Supports which is focused on programs for children age 0-5.

In this interview, we discuss his experiences working on behalf of children and families and how that work has evolved over the years. We also explore the role of Oregon’s Early Learning Hubs in supporting early learning efforts, economic factors that impact family stability, the state revenue forecast for the next biennium, and much more.

Black Student Achievement in Portland: A Conversation with Kali Ladd and Ron Herndon

by Rafael Otto | Sep 26, 2018 | Podcast, Successful Students, Equity

In this segment, we speak with Kali Ladd and Ron Herndon. Kali is executive director and co-founder of KairosPDX, a nonprofit organization that houses a public charter school in North Portland. As an organization, Kairos is dedicated to closing opportunity and achievement gaps for historically marginalized children. Ron is the long-standing director of Portland’s Albina Head Start with a background in activism and leadership advocating on behalf of low-income families and children.

We discuss the public charter school at Kairos, which is currently housed in a building owned by Portland Public Schools (formerly Humboldt Elementary School) and has been at risk of losing its lease with the district. At the center of the story is black student achievement and the historic experiences of black children in the district and in Oregon.

Today, Portland Public Schools has the largest number of black students enrolled in Oregon—nearly 4,500 children—accounting for nearly 10 percent of the district’s student body. For the top 10 districts in Oregon enrolling black students, nine of which are in the Portland metro area, black student achievement in English Language Arts and Math falls well below state targets. Additionally, achievement gaps between black and white students are significant and persistent from third to eleventh grade. In Portland Public Schools, for example, 22 percent of black students meet benchmarks in English Language Arts in grades three to five compared with 73 percent of white students. This is the largest black-white achievement gap in English Language Arts among the top 10 districts enrolling black children.

At the root of the problem, Herndon says, “I think not only in Portland Public Schools but certainly throughout the country, there’s this perception that black children come in to the system as damaged goods, that they come from families that are filled with deficits and there is the expectation that they won’t do as well. And unfortunately, frequently, children will meet our expectations.”

The Black Students in Oregon report, originally commissioned by Black Parent Initiative in 2009, was updated and released in 2017 based on a request by KairosPDX. The updated report uses 2015–2016 data and documents persistence disparities and achievement gaps for black children. The report says that “the goal of closing the achievement gap continues to elude Oregon schools.”

Ladd, with her Reggio Emilia-inspired approach to elementary education, says the value of a program like Kairos for Portland Public Schools and Portland’s black community is tangible. “We’re having an impact and our data shows we’re getting results. Black students as an aggregate are the lowest performing students right now in Portland Public Schools. If we can improve outcomes for those students, many other students will benefit. I definitely feel like there are elements of the model that can be replicated regardless of the cultural makeup of the student body. It’s important to be culturally specific whatever the culture group is your working with, because that’s part of the identity and sense of self.”

SMART Helps Foster a Love of Reading in Young Children

by Rafael Otto | Aug 21, 2018 | Early Works, Podcast, School Readiness

In this podcast, we spoke with Chris Otis, executive director at Start Making a Reader Today, also known as SMART, and Michelle Gilmore, SMART’s senior program manager. SMART is a nonprofit organization focused on helping kids learn to read and getting more books into the hands of young readers. We learned more about the organization, and their work as part of the Summer Bookworms program at Earl Boyles Elementary School.

Circle of Security Gives Parents, Caregivers, and Educators the Tools to Help Children Build Secure Attachments

by Rafael Otto | Jun 27, 2018 | Benefits of Preschool, Parents and Families, Podcast

In this podcast, we speak with Glen Cooper, one of the founders of Circle of Security, a program that helps parents, caregivers, and early childhood educators develop tools to form secure attachments with children and understand how to meet the needs of children who have experienced trauma. Having learned that Circle of Security was being used as part of a pilot program for mothers at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility, we were curious to learn more about how the program was developed. Glen, who has extensive training in family system therapy, object relations theory, and attachment theory, worked with colleagues Kent Hoffman and Bert Powell to combine those theories into an approach that allows parents, educators, and caregivers to identify and address the underlying causes of challenging behaviors in children. In this interview, Glen also addresses the unique challenges facing incarcerated parents and how Circle of Security is being used at Coffee Creek and elsewhere to support parents who are in prison and their children.

In Early Works, Data Empowers Parents to be Key Decision Makers

by Rafael Otto | May 21, 2018 | Benefits of Preschool, Early Works, Podcast, Program Evaluation

For our 23rd segment, we interviewed Dr. Marina Merrill from Children’s Institute (CI) and Dr. Beth Green from Portland State University (PSU). Dr. Merrill is the senior research and policy advisor for CI and leads the organization’s research on prenatal through third-grade issues, evaluation, data collection, and analysis. Dr. Green is a research professor and the director of early childhood and family support research at the Center for the Improvement of Child and Family Services at PSU. Our discussion focused on the Early Works initiative, a 10-year initiative working in two Oregon communities: Yoncalla Elementary in Yoncalla which is in Douglas County and Earl Boyles Elementary in Portland in Multnomah County. The project was set up to explore and demonstrate a new approach to education and healthy development for young children and began in 2010.