One of the richest countries in the world is falling behind in the classroom. This has been the mindset behind educational reform proposals which hope to curb the downward trends — trends that suggest the American education system is in need of significant investments, both monetarily and intellectually, if students are to have equal footing in an increasingly competitive global community.
Civic engagement of communities is the first step to effect large-scale changes. Since 1916, local nonprofit City Club of Portland has placed its focus on civic engagement and community awareness. According to the City Club of Portland’s website, the organization works to examine the issues affecting the Portland community, and through nonpartisan community service and education, the nonprofit works to engender citizen involvement in the “betterment of their community.”
This month, the City Club of Portland, through its Agora Steering Committee, is hosting a series of forums titled “Schools Making a Difference: Portraits of Excellence, Engagement and Equity.” The forums, a fusion of films, panel discussions and audience dialogue, are dedicated to looking at the different ways education systems can succeed in an economically troubled world. Each forum is designed around public discourse and will showcase stories of local and global educational successes that aren’t recognized by the media.
“I heard a former member of President Obama’s cabinet say recently, ‘confidence is the best stimulus.’ We chose our films, schools and panelists to offer a robust dose of confidence and optimism to the citizens of our region: through the efforts of outstanding teachers and educational leaders, often in the face of substantial challenges and limited resources,” Carol Witherell, co-chair to the committee that created the event, said. Working with education for most her life, she earned her doctorate in educational psychology at the University of Minnesota. She has enjoyed nearly thirty years as a faculty member in graduate school programs at five colleges and universities. She said the most exciting schools she visited have designed learning experiences with students rather than for students, and she hopes through these films and panels an atmosphere for learning will transform educational plans and policy.
“And yes, funding is paramount,” Witherell said. “We will fall farther and farther behind if we continue to disinvest in our nation’s greatest asset and opportunity, both—the schools that educate our children and prepare them for the world.”
The first forum was held Jan. 25 at the Mission Theatre in Northwest Portland and featured the film Lessons from the Real World, which spotlights project-based learning schools around the Portland region. A panel, composed of filmmaker and professor emeritus at San Jose State University Bob Gliner and local education professionals, held a discussion following the film.
“We had 95 people at our first forum. From all signs—audience members staying with us to the end and participating with lively, thoughtful questions in the panel-audience dialogue—we think it went quite well,” Witherell said.
Brea Gregory, who graduated from the University of Oregon with a bachelor’s in education, is familiar with the event. “There are no greater qualities for educational investment than from those who are willing to work together to achieve success for students of all backgrounds.”
The second forum is scheduled for Wednesday, Feb. 8 at the Mission Theatre and will look at education from a global lens by asking the question: “How well are we educating our students for the globally connected world of the 21st century?” This forum looks at the film Two Million Minutes, which follows six high school students from the U.S., China and India, and how they spend the two million minutes of time between the start of 9th grade and high school graduation.
Guest commentator and panel moderator for this forum will be President of the Oregon Business Council and Director of Employers for Education Excellence Duncan Wyse. Again, the panel will include local education professionals and audience participation is encouraged.
Forum three is titled “Lessons from afar and close at home: What can we learn from schools in Finland and Reggio Emilia, Italy?” The Hollywood Theater in Northeast Portland will host the event on Monday, Mar. 5, showing the film, The Finland Phenomenon: Inside the World’s Most Surprising School System.
“How is it that Finland students excel year after year on the Programme for International Student Assessment tests?” asked Witherell. This forum will look at how Finland’s school system is so successful, why the Reggio Emilia model works and how American schools can adopt some of the methods to create a strategy for success.
“Our panel for this forum includes Susan Mackay, director of pedagogical learning for the Children’s Museum and Opal School within the museum, which is designed on the Reggio Emilia model; Xavier Pierce, a graduate of Opal School now in his junior year at Wilson High School and Liza Finkel, associate dean for Academic Affairs and professor of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Portland State University’s Graduate School of Education,” Witherell said.
The fourth forum, scheduled for Wednesday, Mar. 14, will also be held at the Hollywood Theater. It will focus on the questions: “How important are the arts and civic education for our students’ current and future lives? What role might technology and social media play in the arts and civic education?” This forum will showcase the film Paper Clips, which portrays children at a middle school in Whitwell, Tennessee while they attempt to collect six million paper clips in representation of the number of Holocaust victims. Panelists have yet to be decided for this forum.
This series of forums is co-sponsored by 13 other organizations, including: I Have a Dream Foundation, Portland Public Schools, Institute for Democratic Education in America, Lewis and Clark College Graduate School of Education and Counseling and Portland State University Graduate School of Education.
Space and seating is limited, so reservation is required to attend. Students, faculty or staff interested in attending any of the upcoming forums should contact Amy Harris at the City Club of Portland by email at amy@pdxcityclub.org, or via telephone at 503-228-7231, ext. 110.