Weeks 7 & 8

So this is what it feels like to be a "summer intern"......

I have decided to combine weeks 7 and 8 together as my final blog post for the summer. The reason for this is because the last 2 weeks have been fairly slow, with me working on projects in the office and wrapping up any loose ends before I leave.

Last week (week 7), was a very quiet week considering that I was pretty much the only person in the office. Augustus was away in West Virginia, Jason was in San Francisco, and Jim was in Colorado. John came into the office most of the days, but he would usually trickle in late, and I would be left to work on my projects alone. So the major project I was assigned to accomplish for the last 2 weeks of my fellowship was a project on comparing the ESEA recommendations put out from various education organizations to Knowledge Alliance's recommendations. Augustus had left me a list of about 35 prominent education organizations, so it was my job to search their websites for recommendations or contact them for direct information. The Department of Education put out a blueprint back at the beginning of the year, which gave organizations a sense of what ESEA reauthorization would look like under the Obama administration. After the release of such documents, it is standard here to give organizations a 90 day "comment window" in which they can make their comments and recommendations to the administration. Since most organizations truly believed ESEA would be reauthorized before the end of 2010, most of the groups I was asked to look up did have their recommendations posted online.

So the first couple days of the week were spent printing out these sometimes lengthy comments sheets and emailing key government relations contacts at the various organizations for their recommendations if I could not find them online. Out of the 35 groups I was able to gather 23 comments pages. The next step was to then read through each recommendation piece and highlight all of the comments that matched Knowledge Alliance's 8 priority proposals. This was obviously a time consuming task because after I highlighted as much information as I could in all 23 proposals, I then went through and created a spreadsheet that pulled direct quotes and placed them in one of the 8 priority categories. I was pretty proud of myself for being able to accomplish all of this before I left on Friday for South Florida, especially considering that it was completely done through self-motivation as I was alone at the office.

The rest of the week was spent summarizing news blurbs for the Knowledgeable Source, which this week, I wrote 4 pieces that made it in. I wrote about Google's new anti-net neutrality stance, Tom Vander Ark's claim that i3 grants won't actually lead to innovation, modern day carpetbaggers (aka- companies who are now claiming that they are school turnaround experts so that they can get government money), and a piece on the predictions of who will win RttT round 2 in early September. I actually really enjoy working on these news summaries, and wish that I had been given this responsibility earlier on in the summer. I guess this week will be my last chance to assist with these efforts.

This week (week 8) has so far been off to a very similar low-key start. I actually didn't come into work on Monday because I was flying back from Ft. Lauderdale with Kevin after an amazing birthday weekend. Tuesday began with me attending a symposium on Education in the Media, with panelists of education reporters for Education Week, USA Today and the Washington Post. This was a very relevant and timely symposium to attend considering that over the weekend, the LA Times ran a pretty groundbreaking education piece that publicly released the names of teachers and their test scores. I am not opposed to LAUSD using value added systems (test scores) as one way to evaluate teacher effectiveness, and don't really have a problem with the LA Times reporting on the results, although I do have an issue with releasing the names of teachers. This would not be such a problem if tenure did not exist, but now, parents are going to be outraged if their kids are placed in these publicly ousted "ineffective teachers," and there is nothing the principal can do about it since the teachers have lifetime job protections. Anyways, this symposium was helpful, since it does not seem like members of the media take a lot of time to teach organizations how to best represent themselves in the media, as well as to take the time to listen to many people's qualms and ideas about how education is currently being represented in the public sphere. The rest of the day was kind of a follow-up day where I responded to emails, added some new ESEA recommendations to my chart and talked with Augustus about what the rest of the week would look like. I also helped Augustus come up with a summary list of which priorities to comment on from Sec. Duncan's new document outlining the administration's priorities for discretionary funding. It was good to see that 2 of the priorities had to do with ensuring that sound research and evidence is utilized during the innovation and implementation of education policies and practices. The rest of the week is basically going to be the final wrap-up. I have an exit interview with Augustus on Thursday, and an exit interview with Jim on Friday. Jason will be returning from San Francisco, and Wednesday will be a birthday celebration day, with lunch at an Indian Buffet and then Happy Hour at the Mad Hatter. (Augustus' bday is Aug. 14th, mine is Aug. 15th and Jason's is Aug. 17th). Pretty random, huh? Also, Thursday will be my official goodbye lunch since Augustus will be out of the office Friday, and what better way to celebrate than with another trip to my favorite burger place, Spike's Good Stuff Eatery.

All in all, I could not have asked for a better summer fellowship, and I feel very lucky for having had the opportunity to meet all of the people in my office, as well as numerous contacts around the city, and country, really. I cannot thank Augustus and Jim enough for the exposure that I got this summer, particularly to the process of lobbying, as well as to insight on how to run a trade organization that deals with various members and interests. The amount of just raw policy knowledge I accumulated this summer is astounding. Education policy is SUCH A COMPLEX issue, and I still do not necessarily know how I stand on every single issue because I really truly can see both sides to most stories. I am encouraged at the bipartisan support that I have seen in education policy, but also discouraged by the newfound divide occurring between "reformers" and "formula supporters."

This experience has also definitely confirmed what I thought I already knew- that policy is absolutely what I would like to do with my life. This is exciting since I never really thought I had a "niche" for a career. You know, some people want to be doctors or lawyers or writers, and it is very easy for them to imagine what a career in one of those venues would look like. With me, I didn't ever think that there would be a job that I could have that would combine my interest in politics, helping others and specific interests such as education or health. Now I know that a policy job does just that.

Lastly, one other important realization I came to this summer is that this experience has really renewed me to want to become a much better and more dedicated teacher to my students this year. I think it was very valuable to step away from the classroom mentality for a summer and remind myself what it was like to work with adults, and realize that it is very rewarding to work with students. I have come to really appreciate the role that I have in being a leader, and can't believe I would ever say this, but I really now appreciate how busy I am during the school year. It's not that I wasn't busy this summer, but I definitely have become accustomed to having a never-ending to-do-list and loads of responsibility, and those are 2 things that may not always come with an office job, especially when you are an intern.

So, I guess folks, that wraps up this summer experience. I have really enjoyed my time blogging, and am very thankful that I slogged through it and made myself recap my experiences every week because I know it will be very easy to forget day-to-day details once I return to LA. Thank you to anyone who actually took the time to read this, I hope it gave you a detailed (way too detailed, I know) look into what I was able to observe and accomplish with my time here at Knowledge Alliance. Who knows, maybe I will start to blog regularly, although I find that pretty unlikely once I'm back in the swing of things this school year. Thanks again for reading, and as always, your support!!