A New Dawn in Public Education: Angelea Bass, Superintendent for Instruction, Partnership for LA Schools

I am truly blessed to be a part of a new dawn in public education. The Partnership for LA Schools is going to be a turning point.

Sometimes we think we have to put reform as an entity in and of itself, but it’s an ongoing evolution of great things to come. For the first time we’re going to engage the entire community in the quest for academic excellence. We don’t just want to improve the scores. We want to accelerate achievement for all children.

I visited schools in the Partnership and as I went to classrooms I saw that, without exception, our children are brilliant. They’re excited about learning. They’re here. They’re ready. They’re resilient. We have to be ready for them.

Teachers are working hard and doing their very best. We have to be able to support these teachers who want to come here everyday, and give them the resources that they need.

Our schools have all the right ingredients – great students, great teachers, great principals wanting to do their best. So I wondered why so many of our schools are failing.

From 30 years working in schools I know that each school is different and I know we can change things. In San Diego we had to work differently because the old ways weren’t working. We looked at individual schools’ needs and strengths and were able to turn schools around.

We can do this work. We know we can do this work and our children’s future depends on it.