Our Issues,
Our Advocacy
In our work we see many people with a deep passion for children. Often people and faith communities are already doing services such as after school care, backpack drives and food pantries. These programs are important yet rarely address the underlying systemic issues that cause families and children to not have what they need. We come alongside communities to help them to do advocacy for public education that gets are the root causes of injustice. Advocacy is strategic and organized actions that have a goal of systemic, scalable change.
Sometimes systems are hard to understand. Think about a car. There are thousands of parts in it. Most of them we aren’t thinking about on the regular - especially when the car is working! But all of a sudden, something doesn’t work and we start learning all about the radiator, the fuel injector, the transmission, and deep in the summer...the AC compressor! Just like these intricate parts of cars, we often don’t think about systems until it’s July and we are sweating uncontrollably as we are trying to figure out how to get what we need for students as they get ready to return to school. If we want to get what we need out of systems, we need to understand how they work so that we can improve them.
The Expectations Project is here to help people and communities understand and get what we need out of the public school systems.
Early Childhood Education
Every child should have access to a high quality preschool that prepares them for kindergarten and beyond. Early childhood is critical for brain development, biologically and emotionally. Investing in early childhood education has long-lasting positive effects on children and their communities.
High Standards and Expectations
The conversations about students and standards/expectations are often grounded in racist (or sexist or ableist or other toxic) ideologies. At The Expectations Project, we encourage our advocates to not put limits on children.
Quality Teachers & Leadership
Teachers are highly significant to the quality of education a child receives. School leaders set the tone for school cultures, the best among them recruiting and retaining the most effective teachers. We need policies that support teachers leading their students in culturally responsive and asset-based ways - and that allow teachers to sustain and thrive in their field.
Access to Quality Schools
All parents should have access to a high-quality public school to send their children to, regardless of their zip code, income level or racial/ethnic background. A family’s income level often determines where a family lives and where you live often determines what you have access too. We need policies that address how schools are funded and what families have access to which schools.
Trauma-informed schools
Childhood trauma impacts the part of the brain that is responsible for both cognitive and emotional development. Studies show that more than 50% of Black and Brown children have experienced at least one adverse childhood experience but many teachers know that in their schools the percentage is closer to 100%. We need policies that support trauma-informed responses to student behaviors, including less criminalization and more counselors.
Racial Equity
Any policies that we champion should take into account racial equity, so that we do not further marginalize our students in need of adults seeing them and responding to them with dignity and respect for their whole being. Our school system was founded for the sons of wealthy white landowners and that legacy can still be felt in our schools. We are working to ensure that every child knows they matter at school.
