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I was anxious to read the December/January issue of the Phi Delta Kappan because the cover promised a focus on how we can use technology to improve teaching and learning, a field I’ve been immersed in for some time. But once I delved into the issue, while the technology articles were interesting and represented a variety of viewpoints, I was really excited to see the article on the Kalamazoo Promise. Full disclosure here: my good friend and colleague, Jim Bosco, professor emeritus in the Education Department at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, had told me about this project several years ago as it was kicking off. The article details the progress of a project that promised a fully paid college education for any Kalamazoo public school student who graduated with an academic record strong enough to be selected for admission to a state-supported institution of higher education. Jim was excited about the project and his enthusiasm was infectious. Here was a community that focused first on the outcome they wanted….every student proceeding to post-secondary education….not how the school district was going to ensure students took advantage of the “carrot.”

The Promise changed the city and the public schools of Kalamazoo from the day it was announced in November 2005. It prompted diverse stakeholders to work together to figure out what a district needed to do to enable as many students as possible to take advantage of the scholarship program. The community created a logic model outlining short-term, intermediate, and long-term outcomes and the resources, both human and otherwise, necessary to achieve the outcome steps. The reform process in Kalamazoo Public Schools is different because the changes were motivated by the promise of continued education for any student but the steps to achieve the outcome were initiated from within the district and had widespread support from the community….everyone felt ownership of the project. Students and teachers helped evaluate the effectiveness of district reform activities in reaching the desired outcomes and interviews with staff at all levels in the district along with parents, students, and representatives of the community put the survey findings in context and gave insight into course corrections that were needed. Changes were put into place at the school, classroom, and student level. The article in the Kappan summarized the project well, but to read more about the Kalamazoo Promise and how it operates, visit www.kalamazoopromise.com.

What Kalamazoo, Michigan, has learned is that a key ingredient for successful change is hope. Hope wasn’t something anticipated in the outcomes logic model, but it surfaced repeatedly in discussions with community members, school personnel, and students. Academic optimism unleashed the aspirations of parents and students. For me, the story of the Kalamazoo Promise was a reminder that, yes, new and emerging technologies hold great promise for improving the teaching and learning experience for students and teachers; however, ultimately, a school district’s success is tied to the people who invest themselves in the schools…..parents, students, educators, and community members. We’re all responsible for the health of our local public schools and it takes all of us to provide the same promise to our students that the community of Kalamazoo promised theirs.