Lift One Lift All
Advancing Opportunities for Colorado Schoolchildren
Lift One Lift All
Advancing Opportunities for Colorado Schoolchildren
Mark Your Calendars for Greeley Equity Summit -
December 2, 2016 at the University of Northern Colorado
Lift One Lift All with Greeley-Evans School District 6, the Colorado Statewide Parent Coalition and the University of Northern Colorado will host our first Equity Summit on Friday, December 2, 2016 at the University of Northern Colorado. We will bring parents, community members, and educators together to explore equity in education. Check back for more detailed information.
Here’s a great article announcing the summit and highlighting one of our leaders, Jesse Tijerina, Greeley-Evans School District 6 Director of Cultural Excellence and Parent Engagement. Jesse Tijerina Article >
INTRODUCTION
Every student in Colorado is constitutionally guaranteed a quality public education that provides the knowledge and skills needed to engage meaningfully in our 21st-century society and workforce. Unfortunately, Colorado law and school funding provisions have led to wide disparities in school quality across our state, denying many students, particularly English language learners, children with disabilities, and low-income students, equal access to the teaching and learning they need to succeed.
To fulfill our promise of a quality public education, every school district, whether rural or urban, small or large, must have adequate resources to fully meet the learning needs of all students.
Lift One Lift All serves as a gathering point for grassroots organizations, parents, educators, businesses and advocacy partners working to achieve school equity. The network provides a platform to share information, support and strategy, empowering local voices to enter the policy conversation and take action to improve educational quality for all children.
GUIDING PRINCIPLES
- Educational equity means:
- Every school has sufficient funding to provide the quality teachers, supports, services and facilities needed for student success.
- Every student has a meaningful opportunity to meet state standards.
- Increased funding for under-resourced districts will improve student outcomes.
- Effective interventions for at-risk students require additional resources.
- Local voices from all communities (both rural and urban) are essential to shaping more equitable education funding policy.
- Individuals and organizations have greater impact when they share and coordinate their efforts.
WHAT WE DO
Connect grassroots organizations, advocates, educators, parents, and the business community, who may have different interests but share the common agenda of ensuring educational equity.
Engage historically under-represented voices in the education policy process through support of grassroots activism.
Facilitate the work individuals and organizations are undertaking throughout the state; support members to become even more successful in their efforts.
Equip members with evidence-based research, press materials, statistical data and other resources pertaining to Colorado education and school finance in support of advocacy efforts.
Inform parents, communities, lawmakers, business leaders, taxpayers and other stakeholders about inequities in Colorado public schools and the urgent need to improve access to high quality educational opportunities for all Colorado students.
Reframe the conversation about school improvement and accountability to include recognition of success and the importance of replicating and scaling success through more equitable distribution of resources.
OUR PARTNERS
Children’s Voices: Lift One Life All is a project of Children’s Voices, in partnership with the Education Law Center. As network facilitator, Children’s Voices builds membership; engages strategic partners; gathers reliable, research-based data and materials; and maintains the network website.
IN THE NEWS
The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)
May 27, 2016: The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), presents an important opportunity for local voices to influence the future of public education in Colorado. This federal law, which replaces No Child Left Behind, shifts significant decision making authority away from the federal government, providing each state with more flexibility to distribute funds, design accountability and evaluation systems, and devise supports for struggling schools. Here in Colorado, the state education department has also enacted new graduation guidelines, which will apply to the current 7th grade class. It is up to local districts to design the graduation requirements to comply with these new guidelines.
IN THE NEWS
GET INVOLVED
EVENTS