Ednovate, a network of innovative public charter schools, has partnered again with the University of Southern California (USC) Rossier School of Education to establish a groundbreaking teacher training residency program. This program, which will be called the USC Ednovate Teaching Fellows program, is supported in part by a $250,000 grant from the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing.

One morning in late May of 2019, I sat down for my annual role as a panelist for our Positive Multigenerational Change (PMC) Capstones. This event could seem a little American Idol-ish as our seniors put months or years of work in front of their peers and community and are asked tough questions. For me, I try not to channel Simon Cowell and try to be more like Randy: positive and supportive.  

Every year around the holidays, as I sit down to dinner with family or friends, I inevitably get asked the question, "So what are charter schools anyways?" I usually am happy to entertain the question, as there is a lot of information out there, some true and some not true.

Community colleges are an awesome resource for students in our communities. Offering free tuition for the first two years to those who go full time, they are a low-cost way to receive an AA degree and transfer to a 4-year college. They are also great for taking dual enrollment courses while in high school to earn college credits before even starting college. But it’s important to select your college knowing all the statistics surrounding them, and go into any college choice with eyes wide open.

It's November, and we're already just about halfway through the school year. And if you're in eighth grade or the parent of an eighth-grader, it's time to start thinking about the right high school for next year. How did that happen so fast? It probably seems like just yesterday that you were buying glue sticks and backpacks to get ready for kindergarten. And now it's textbooks and bigger backpacks...and about time to think about what you and your family want in a high school--to get ready for success after graduation.

It was day that took our students farther down the road to a great future, with an Ednovate school working as a team to create opportunities for our students.

Three years in, and I continue to be a believer in the power of personalizing the learning experience. After 10+ years working in traditional environments, I would never go back. However, not all things are sticking; in fact, some things aren’t, but that is for another blog post.