Why is the group that you chose to research important?

This group I chose to research is important because they help improve education quality and access to individuals and families who have been a victim to systemic inequalities in the state of Washington. This one particularly caught my eyes because even though I reside in Washington State, I haven’t came across this organization so I was intrigued to research into it.

Brief History/Organization’s Purpose:

This organization was founded in 2001 by local Washington residents in an effort to help support students in getting equal rights and opportunities for their education system in order to excel in their careers. They have influenced many of the landmark funding and policy decisions that were made in improving the education system in Washington on behalf of the students. The purpose of this organization consists of increasing Washington State’s student achievement to the top 10% in the nation, eliminating inequalities by addressing racial, economic, and social disparities in academic achievements, and increasing the number of students earning college degrees to 70%.

Whom do they serve?

This organization serves students and families all across the state of Washington to reduce the disparities of economical, racial, and social status for more educational equalities. They advocate for resources for the needs of students as well as mobilizing families, youth, educators, communities, and businesses to understand the public education system and remove barriers of systemic inequities. They also provide accurate and timely information to the media, voters, and policymakers regarding Washington State’s public education system.

The programs offered are:

• Welcoming, safe, and inclusive school communities
• Establishing equitable resourcing structures centered on the need of students
• Addressing the student mental health and social-emotional wellness crisis
• Students receiving special education services
• Students with disabilities are general education students first and must be supported and included

What could they do better?

This organization could add a tab on their website regarding the programs they offer and more information regarding those programs. In reviewing their jobs and internships tab, they mentioned they are not recruiting at this moment, so they could have more internships and recruit more people.

Was information about the program accessible/red flags?

The information for this program was very accessible and there wasn’t any red flags to be noticed by researching the website. The only thing that I noted was that it was very difficult to find the programs offered by this organization.

What other organizations are doing similar work?

Another organization that is doing similar work to League of Education Voters is Communities in schools of Washington. Their mission is to surround students with support from communities and empowering them to stay in school to succeed in their lives.

Resources

“Putting Students First.” League of Education Voters, 10 Feb. 2022, https://educationvoters.org/. 

In the realm of education and discussing the systems in place to support learners the conversations are usually confined to schools and classrooms. There are hundreds of organizations dedicated to helping students succeed in these environments especially when they are part of inequitable situations, however there is very little support for students outside of the schooling system. With the rising number of families choosing to or being forced to homeschool it is surprising to see the lack of organizations established to help these people. Many times, students with disabilities do not have adequate space in the classrooms and must resort to doing their education at home. Similarly, families of first-generation immigrants might need to offer their kids extracurricular help to fill the gap created by language and cultural barriers, but do not have the resources or knowledge to do so. There are also gifted students or athletes who end up leaving the school system because it does not meet their needs but have very little ways to even learn how to begin homeschooling without paying for it. In this way homeschooling organizations can be beneficial, but most of these situations are often overlooked so finding non-profit groups in place to help them is very important.

In the blog we will be looking at an organization that works toward funding non-profit homeschool organizations through the help of the community. They are working toward providing support for innovative groups aimed at growing the cultural impact of homeschooling and minoritized groups. Their main goal is to enhance networks that strengthen these homeschooler’s learning. It was established in 2019 as branch of a larger national homeschool organization alliance, and has grown to impact families all around the world but more specifically here in America.

The Homeschool Community Foundation is looking at funding smaller nonprofits who benefit the every growing homeschooled population. While they do not directly provide aid to these families they are creating a network that can cover more areas than each specific organization. For example, this November they help fund a group was looking to provide help in Spanish for first generation Hispanic families. It included conferences, radio programs, and website full of information for free. In a world where most of this homeschooling information would cost money it can be a great help these families who may already be living in equitable circumstances.

One area this organization could improve on is providing direct connections to those groups. By creating a platform that highlights all these resources it could become the main place families begin their search for aid. When we have to sift through the internet looking for these groups in can hard especially in internet is fully reliable. If this website where to link to all these other websites it would build that bridge between those in need and the support, they are funding.

When looking at this website it is well put together with a coherent goal throughout each webpage. They made it very easy to see what they were doing and how we can participate and communicate with them. All of there work was laid out in articles about each origination including financial and business applications. It left little room to questions their intent and impact on the homeschool community. For these reasons we can assume this is a group we can support.

While they do provide direct aid as some other groups, it seems that their impact can spread to a wider group of students. There are other groups who have free education they are limited to select areas and do not connect with other groups. For instance, the K-12 program offers free online public education to families in Washington that can lead to high school diplomas, however it does provide that for anyone in other states. There are also group like The Center that have memberships needed for there services. Unfortunately, there are no other groups that do not require some amount of money for their aid, and this is truly the root of the problem. 

References:

Holden, MA. Homeschool Community Foundation. (2020, November 30). Retrieved February 11, 2022, from https://homeschoolcf.org/

Washington. K12 WA State LP Home. (n.d.). Retrieved February 11, 2022, from https://start.k12.com/national.html?st=WA&product=public_schools_generic&leadsource=sem&vendor=acronym&utm_source=Microsoft%2BBing%2BAds&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=WA%3EMPS%3ESEM%3ENonBR%3EHome%3EBing%3EPUB%3ECatch_All%3EText%3EEnglish&utm_term=homeschool+program&ad_group=WA%3EHome%3EHome%2BAccredited%3EHomeschool%2BAccredited%3ECatch_All&lead_source_detail=Microsoft%2BBing%2BAds&keyword_match=p&s_kwcid=AL%212165%2110%2181501378356268%2125506162087&ef_id=472d21ae82891942cdbe4054435f4c4f%3AG%3As&msclkid=472d21ae82891942cdbe4054435f4c4f

The Homeschool Center. The Center. (2022, February 9). Retrieved February 11, 2022, from https://thecenternp.org/the-homeschool-center/