The COVID Slide Last week, I watched a powerful webinar from Ohio State’s Wexner Medical Center about health inequity and COVID-19. One of the first speakers, Dr. Nwando Olayiwola, started to talk about vulnerable populations but quickly corrected herself. She called them, “populations that have been made vulnerable.” What a difference such a small change… Continue reading The COVID Slide
What will be your story? It’s not always easy to measure the impact of family and community engagement efforts. Some aspects of education — like test scores or report card grades — (notwithstanding the wide variety of controversies around their use) are pretty straightforward to measure. They’re already quantified. They’re known entities. We can tell… Continue reading What will be your story?
How COVID-19 is Bringing Inequality to the Forefront For the past few weeks, one image has been recurring in my mind. I keep picturing the living conditions of a student whose home I visited a few times when I was working as a community school coordinator in Baltimore. This student had struggled at other schools… Continue reading How COVID-19 is Bringing Inequality to the Forefront
Adapting for Improvement in Light of COVID-19 I naively said to my family a few weeks ago that I was lucky that my business wouldn’t be affected in the way that so many restaurants and other small businesses are by the pandemic. I couldn’t see then, but it has become incredibly clear since that every… Continue reading Adapting for Improvement in Light of COVID-19
How Muay Thai Helped Me Re-Think Evaluation I’ve been training in Muay Thai (kickboxing) for a few years. I am always learning something new and being pushed outside of my comfort zone … and I love it. However, I am and have always been a perfectionist. It’s something I’ve struggled with my whole life:… Continue reading How Muay Thai Helped Me Re-Think Evaluation
Resolving Data Fears in Evaluation I had some great conversations this week with colleagues about establishing a culture of data in organizations and training organizations who are new to evaluation and data. These conversations reminded me about one of my favorite old blog posts, that I originally wrote for the National Association for Family, School, and… Continue reading Resolving Data Fears in Evaluation
My Most Powerful Reads of the Decade I love to read. Curling up with a good book and getting lost in the story for hours is pure bliss for me. Of course, adulthood prevents this from being a regular occurrence, but I still treasure the time I spend reading and the lessons I learn from… Continue reading My Most Powerful Reads of the Decade
What I Learned from a Not-So-Great Year I know I’m in good company when I say that I’m not sad to say goodbye to 2019. I also know that the challenges I faced this year pale in comparison to the experiences of so many others whom I have read or heard about throughout the year.… Continue reading What I Learned from a Not-So-Great Year
Telling Community Stories to Affect Change It’s funny where the most interesting and engaging conversations can happen. At the gym last week, I had a few random, but passionate conversations with other members of the educational (and martial arts!) community about youth experiencing trauma and how it impacts their ability to participate in school, learn… Continue reading Telling Community Stories to Affect Change
Evaluating Our Thanksgiving Dinner This was an unusual Thanksgiving for my family. My parents have always hosted Thanksgiving at their house; it is one of the few family traditions that remains since my Grandma passed away. All was set to continue as usual this year, until last week, when my Grandpa — the effervescent, 89… Continue reading Evaluating Our Thanksgiving Dinner