Our world today is changing at an astonishing pace. Some people are pleased with the rapidly changing landscape, others not so pleased. Whatever your feelings concerning the nature of these changes, you are not alone if you are struggling to cope with them.

When community members feel disoriented by, or possibly even angry about changing cultural norms, fingers are sometimes pointed at schools with the “achievement gap” often singled out as a source of problems in education.

This puts educators like you in an awkward position. Though you do have a say in your community, you probably do not wield enough influence to allow major input concerning the rules and regulations that descend upon you and your school district from dominant cultural attitudes and political agendas.

The focus of mainstream school reform is on the schools, as it should be, but frequently with a pitifully thin knowledge of what goes on within schools themselves – the dynamics of classroom life – or of the social or economic history of the neighborhoods in which schools are embedded. – Mike Rose of the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies

We Understand What Being Backed into a Corner Feels Like

Poverty in local families with students, imbalances in school district financing, students (and parents) who require institutional support far beyond what local schools can provide… these and a myriad of other social issues create community expectations of educators that are generally impossible to meet. This may then lead to public blaming of teachers and administrators for failure to address conditions both in school and out, even though these conditions are outside the realm of educational control.

As one exasperated educator was heard to remark: “Teachers are too often talked about and too rarely talked with when important education issues arise.”

All of this difficulty creates a school environment that is often unnecessarily chaotic, stressful, and disheartening.

The Edge is concerned about the public’s waning regard for teachers and what they do. Recent years have brought a plethora of reform efforts, but nothing seems to work. The basic problem of resource allocation to schools in different communities still varies widely and remains generally unchanged. Limited budget increases – or even budget cuts – result in staff reduction and therefore larger class sizes, placing heavier demands on teachers.

Bringing Relief to Your School Community

The Edge of course cannot increase your school’s funding, but we can help avoid adding to your school expense burden. Our services are offered free of charge as a public service (though donations are gratefully accepted.)

We additionally cannot directly induce the community at large to hold more realistic expectations of your school, but we can help change for the better an often difficult social environment in a school. And by witnessing improvements in performance, self-esteem, and emotional well-being of their own students, parents may begin to understand the good you’ve been trying to accomplish all along. They may then be motivated to offer more support and understanding to local educators and schools.

Is it too good to be true? See what students and educators have to say about us.

We Help Schools Overcome…

Please allow us to join with you. Let us help to make things easier for you, for the kids, for all of us. Call, text, or e-mail us today to discuss hosting a free Edge workshop at your school.