Even amid the current difficult and unstable situations for educating children, there are efforts to aim high.
This is good and valuable. I wish there were more indications that administrators, teachers, parents and civic leaders are aiming high. It seems like a lot of effort connected to schools is focused on just holding things together while dealing with COVID-19 protection steps, and not so much on making academic progress while doing likewise.
But is this a time to settle for less? Especially among those who most need to do better, from circumstances associated with low rates of success, there is always urgency to aiming for better. I would argue that in current circumstances, when the risk of time being lost is so high, it is all the more important to be undeterred.
So permit me to spotlight several signs of unwavering effort to reach big goals.
All-In Milwaukee. Allison Wagner, this young organization’s executive director, says that fewer than 10% of students from the City of Milwaukee go on to earn a two- or four-year college degree.