Posts in Category About IDEA

Introducing IDEA’s New Podcast: The Landscape

"So what's going on with education in different parts of the country? What should I be paying attention to?"

Those are two questions that the IDEA staff often hears from people in our network. They know that we rack up loads of frequent flyer miles traveling to conferences, school tours, and other gatherings focused on reinventing education. That means we have an ear to the ground in a lot of different places.

Executive Director Scott Nine wins the top traveler trophy so far. Over the past several months, IDEA has taken him to Atlanta; Jackson, Miss.; Boston; New York City; Providence, RI; Seattle; Washington, D.C.; and Puerto Rico, just to name a few. He's met with government...

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Posted on Jul 25, 2011 - 10:12 PM by Melia Dicker

Takeaways From Our First Year

Over the next few weeks, you'll see changes to IDEA's website and blogs. We are constantly learning and this next iteration of our site reflects some of our takeaways from our first year.

Here are a few personal takeaways from the year that I hope to live out:

1) Share more of our learning in public.

The IDEA team traveled over 200K miles and visited with young people, thought leaders, policy-makers, foundations, parents, and organizers from across the country. That has done a lot for our thinking about how to spur transformative change. We want to share more of that with you - and not just the finished pieces - but the unfinished thoughts and the complications. Personally, this...

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Posted on Jun 27, 2011 - 12:00 PM by Scott Nine

As much to myself as to you

I've spent much of the last five days making sense of the two days I spent in DC last week and the last six months of my work with IDEA.

In two days of meetings, I met with the staff of three Congressmen, two Senators, two folks in the Department of Education, the adviser to the education advisers of the 75 largest cities in the US, the interim director of the national PTA, the leaders of the National Youth Rights Association, and the head of policy and advocacy for the organization that brings together many of the state schools' foundations.

I've been obsessed with understanding the educational landscape. Who has the power to convene the kinds of conversations many of us want to see...

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Posted on Feb 04, 2011 - 06:26 PM by Scott Nine

Lights. Camera. Help. Film Festival

Two weeks ago I received an exciting call from Juan Carlos Pineiro Escoriaza, a talented film-maker who directed, shot, and edited IDEA's launch-time video, "Make Your Voice Heard." He had just got word that our video was selected by the Lights. Camera. Help. Film Festival as one of 33 films to be shown during the festival out of 235 that were submitted! Here's a bit about the festival from their website:

"Lights. Camera. Help. The Nonprofit Film Festival is the world's first film festival dedicated entirely to nonprofit and cause-driven films. This 3-day event gives films-for-a-cause the attention they deserve by putting them up on the big screen in a theater setting."

The festival...

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Posted on Aug 03, 2010 - 09:01 AM by Dana Bennis

Introducing Me

Well hello IDEA readers and bloggers!

I have to confess this is a teeny bit nerve-wracking as it's my first time blogging for someone else. Usually it's a ramble about stuff that I hope someone will eventually read. This time, I pretty much know it's being read. By you!

So let me tell you a bit about me, because this is really a segue to another post that I would like to add after this.

I was born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica and I am now living as a resident of the archipelagic island nation of The Bahamas. I am a passionate unschooling mother of two and an unwavering advocate for what I believe is every human being's birthright to organic learning/self-directed education....

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Posted on Jul 01, 2010 - 12:59 PM by Cian Sawyer

You Say You Want a Revolution…

I am a teacher in New York City working in a very poor community with mostly youth of color. Every day I see the effects of centuries of racism and class oppression show up on my students' faces. On some days I have hope that we will be able to create a just future and I want their schools to be better. Some days are harder and I think the only way out is for their schools to be destroyed. What does IDEA have to offer me?

Anonymous Teacher - The Bronx, NY

Thank you for the question. First of all, I do not have an answer for you. Your question very much hits home for me, and the best I can do in this situation is to tell you how I have figured out to live with those conflicting thoughts...

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Posted on May 10, 2010 - 09:10 AM by Jonah Canner

IDEC 2010 Kicks Off in Israel

Once per year, democratic educators from all over the world gather for the International Democratic Education Conference, or IDEC (gotta love all the acronyms). The conference, which Yaacov Hecht started in Israel in 1993, switches continents every year. IDEC 2008 in Vancouver, B.C., brought together a group of educators that became the founding team of IDEA -- Dana Bennis, Jonah Canner, Scott Nine, and myself (among others) -- and we've all come to Tel Aviv, Israel, for IDEC 2010. The Institute for Democratic Education, the Israeli organization that is a model for IDEA, and the Kibbutzim College of Education are cohosting on the college's campus from April 6 through the 13th.

This year's...

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Posted on Apr 07, 2010 - 04:52 PM by Melia Dicker

Painting The Landscape

Think “landscape” and you might visualize an expansive nature scene, or maybe the nitty-gritty workings of the political landscape. Perhaps you think of the act of landscaping in terms of developing a park or other area. For the purposes of this blog, the landscape metaphor refers to all of this and more.

The Landscape is a blog for IDEA staff, board, and advisory board members to reflect on the bigger picture in education today, from philosophy to practice and policy to pedagogy. We'll report on exciting ideas, schools, and changes toward the development of a more deeply democratic educational experience for young people. We'll also share stories from our personal experiences as...

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Posted on Nov 23, 2009 - 10:28 AM by Dana Bennis

Welcome to IDEA!

Welcome to IDEA!  We’re very excited that you’re here. Make sure to check out our welcome page for a summary of who we are and what we do.

IDEA is a national effort to unite education with our nation’s democratic values.  We believe that young people ought to be active co-creators of their own learning and valued participants in a vibrant learning community.  This is democratic education in action, which as you know is sharply different from the reality experienced by most young people and educators throughout the country. 

Yet we know there are countless teachers, young people, parents, education leaders, youth workers, policy-makers and others who believe in the power of democratic...

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Posted on Nov 16, 2009 - 01:09 PM by Dana Bennis