Tammy-Lynne Moore
Michael F. Shaughnessy 

1. First of all, what is the Give Kids Good Schools, or GKGS Campaign, and how did it come about?

Give Kids Good Schools is a multi-year, national campaign dedicated to engaging Americans in improving public education in the United States.  The goal is to guarantee a quality public education for every child in the nation.

The fact of the matter is that 48 million children – nearly 90 percent of our nation’s youth attend public schools in America.  We know from six years of polling and focus groups and from our work in communities across the country, Americans truly value their public schools, but believe too many children attend schools that don’t provide the resources and support students’ need to succeed.  They know their public schools could be doing better, but feel like they don’t have the information or power to make a difference.

2. How is GKGS trying to build its constituency?  What types of improvements does the campaign try to make – are their criteria that communities must meet in order to participate?

The campaign is building its constituency through an “air” and “ground” strategy.  The air strategy includes media partnerships, public service announcements and advertisements.  We have also launched www.GiveKidsGoodSchools.org, the campaign’s portal to timely and interesting facts, tools and turn-key materials about America’s public schools.

The ground strategy of the Give Kids Good Schools campaign is being initiated by the work PEN does with Local Education Funds across the country.  Local Education Funds (LEFs) are community based organizations that work in communities with large numbers of low-income and minority groups – both in rural and urban settings. LEFs are nonprofit organizations that work with, but are independent of, their local school systems. We are also working with many partner organizations that have their own local networks and hope to enlist millions of individuals who also want to Give Kids Good Schools.

There are no criteria that communities must meet to participate in Give Kids Good Schools.  It is our hope that communities across the country will do everything they can to work together to give kids good schools.

3. Why isn’t the public more involved in the maintenance and improvement of the public schools system? Is it that people are just too busy with their own lives? 

According to the focus groups conducted over the past year, there are combinations of challenges facing the public’s reluctance to get involved in public school issues.  Americans just don’t feel empowered or informed enough to discuss the issue.  They feel  they don’t have the information or the tools they need to help make a difference. 

Americans are frustrated because they continue to ‘vote for education’, but things don’t seem to change. Yes, people are busy, but we have taken this into account in the things the campaign asks them to do and made it easy for people to take action.

Give Kids Good Schools is dedicated to arming citizens with information and tools that will be useful for improving public education in communities through its website www.GiveKidsGoodSchools.org.

4)What would your recommendations be to communities interested in proactively improving their schools?

First, we recommend that interested campaign participants log onto the website www.givekidsgoodschools.org and sign the pledge (www.givekidsgoodschool.org/pledge) to publicly acknowledge their commitment to improving America’s public schools.

Second, we encourage people to Learn, Vote and Act on behalf of public education.  

• Learn what a “quality public education” is and follow education issues more closely in their communities and nationally;

• Vote for issues that make quality public education a top priority and make informed electoral choices; and
• Act on behalf of quality public education by participating in Give Kids Good Schools Week education activities

On that same web site, people can find out what eight things make up a good public school, find out how a particular public school is doing in their community, discover the five things to know about American public schools, frequently asked questions about public schools, key issues facing public schools and find out what’s hot in their state regarding public education. 

Once people are able to get a better view of what’s going on in their community, they can follow up with their local education fund and/or other concerned individuals or groups in their community. 

5) What kinds of changes in public schools can we expect to see as a result of the GKGS campaign?

Specific changes in public schools will vary by community.  By visiting www.GiveKidsGoodSchools.org, individuals can learn what is needed to have high quality schools, they can learn how their own schools are doing, and they can decide for themselves where their schools fall short and what kind of changes are necessary.  Then they can use tools on the web site to press for these improvements by contacting elected officials, writing to local newspapers, becoming involved with local organizations and participating in Give Kids Good Schools week in October.

6)  Can you tell us about some of the success stories that have resulted from GKGS?

Give Kids Good Schools was just launched on Monday, August 27, but we can say that the public engagement work urged by Give Kids Good Schools has had great success.  There are a few case studies featured in PARADE Magazine – we have provided a summary below, however, you may access the full article through this link: http://www.parade.com/articles/editions/2006/edition_08-27-2006/Better_Schools

Chattanooga, TN:  This city was home to nine of the worst elementary schools in the state.  Only 18% of third-graders were reading at or above grade level and nearly all the students were poor. Today, 74% of all students test as proficient or advanced in reading and the once-failing schools have performed better than 90% of all the schools in the state.

Long Beach, CA:  Just a few miles from Beverly Hills, Long Beach had the country’s third-highest youth poverty rate and the majority of students at the Stevenson-YMCA Community School receive lunch.  With the help of the YMCA, the Stevenson school was named a “California Distinguished School”.  The Y has helped run an after-school program and links the school with community leaders and members to enlist help with literacy skills, conflict resolution and parental involvement.

Bridgeport, CT:  Five thousand students attend public high schools in this city and speak more than 60 languages, but this state’s largest city was struggling to send kids on to college.  A mentoring program was created by Bridgeport Public Education Fund that would pair local college students with high school students for at least an hour per week.  Since the implementation of the program in 1988, nearly 3,000 Bridgeport students have participated in the program and 95% of those went on to college.

Cleveland Heights, OH: The Ohio High School Transformation Initiative turned Cleveland Heights High (which was on the state’s “Academic Watch” list) was transformed into five small schools within the building, each with its own office, principal, guidance counselors and teachers.  Today the school is rated “Effective” on the annual Ohio report card.

Mobile, AL:  Alabama’s largest school district was in lots of trouble and was scheduled to be taken over by the state. Business leaders joined civic leaders to push for a new property tax to fund schools and the tax was passed.  Additionally, the Chamber of Commerce created an apprentice program that brought students into local hospitals and clinics to learn about health care.

7).  On the one hand, many schools, according to the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, need serious overhauling.  On the other hand, many people – inside and outside the education system – feel that NCLB needs some serious overhauling.  How does GKGS work with schools to meet the requirements set out by NCLB? 

Public Education Network has held 18 hearings in 10 states between 2004 and 2006 to hear from the public – students, parents and community members – about how NCLB is affecting them.  We specifically sought input from these audiences because the effects outside the school are different from those inside and are important for policy makers to hear.

Not surprisingly, the public agrees with the law’s goals and even the notions of assessment and accountability.  But they do not agree with how some provisions of the law are implemented and they do not believe the schools can do the job alone.  Schools need the support of the entire community.  So this public input on NCLB gave further impetus for the Give Kids Good Schools campaign.  By acting to support their public schools, Give Kids Good Schools activists will be helping schools to meet NCLB requirements.  The reports on the NCLB hearing can be found on the PEN website at the following link: http://www.publiceducation.org/pubs_NCLB.asp.

8).  What role (if any) does the GKGS campaign play in bringing about changes at the state and national levels?

As with changes in public schools, (your question 5) the public can use the tools on www.givekidsgoodschools.org to alert state and federal officials of the changes they believe are necessary to give kids good schools.

9).  Based on your experiences thus far, what is wrong with public schools today, according to the American public and what is the public’s definition of a good school?

One of the primary “complaints” made in the focus groups was that the quality of education a child receives is based upon their zip code – literally where families live.  Children in some neighborhoods have modern facilities, enough books, reasonable class sizes and others do not. This seemed an “injustice” to the American public.  They believe that kids should receive a quality education regardless of where they live and that every child can learn if given the opportunity.

The following eight characteristics define a good school:  high expectations for every student, parent and community support, qualified teachers in every classroom, rigorous curriculum and fair assessments, sufficient resources that help all students achieve, safe, healthy and supportive learning environments, schools and classrooms equipped for teaching and learning and strong school leadership.

10)  How many schools have already benefited from GKGS?  Have the improvements affected these schools’ Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP)?

As noted in our answer to question number six, the Give Kids Good Schools campaign itself has just been launched but, the public engagement that under girds the campaign has benefited millions of students.  Members of the Public Education Network (of which Give Kids Good Schools is a part) alone reach 11.5 million children in 16,000 schools and there have been academic improvements in many communities as a result of their work.

11.  Does the campaign focus on improvements for certain types of students / situations?  For example, improving the quality of education for students with special needs?  Gifted?  The inclusion classrooms?

This campaign is dedicated to improving the quality of public education for all of America’s kids – regardless of their special circumstances.  The campaign is dedicated to making sure that the students who attend public schools receive a quality public education. 

12) What question have we neglected to ask ?

I’d just like to add that the heart of the campaign will be the annual Give Kids Good Schools week.  This year it will take place during October 16-22.  During this annual week, community conversations, education forums and other locally-driven events across the country will provide opportunities for individuals to take action and discuss new ideas about what communities can do to Give Kids Good Schools.  Together these activities will kick-off an ongoing national dialogue about public education and send a clear message that quality public schools for every child are a top priority. More information about Give Kids Good Schools week can be found on the www.givekidsgoodschools.org web site.