Blog

By Susan Shaffer
October 9, 2015

As summer ends, and the school year is underway, it seems a perfect time to reflect. I have been in education for a long time. As my calling and career, I have always believed that education is the key to ensuring equity and excellence for all students. The wisdom of the civil rights era reminds us of the power of collective will to implement our skills and abilities to achieve equity and social justice. We educators must transform educational polices and teaching practices to meaningfully address the world our students live in.

Here at MAEC, our mission as a capacity building organization is to promote excellence and equity in education to achieve social justice. This mission requires that it become common practice to embrace and establish equity-based excellence. We must implement instructional models and programs that are flexible and adaptive enough to accommodate all kinds of learners…. in all settings. We believe this approach will produce better outcomes and success for all, regardless of the range of differing characteristics and life circumstances of those learners.

Our vision is that school systems are most successful when they practice and foster deep democracy, authenticity, collaboration, and empowerment. They build on the strengths and address the needs of students and their communities from early childhood through higher education. Evidenced-based practices can work when we build trust among people and institutions and a sense of collective investment in the future of our young people, our schools, and our communities.

We know this is not easy. However, we also know from experience about the power of relationships. We benefit greatly from the success of our partnerships. Only by working together are our goals for 21^st century students possible… and their successes sustainable.

Our hope is that this website will inform you on the issues that MAEC staff are working on every day – equity, youth development, English Learners, early childhood, Family, School, and Community Engagement (FSCE), positive school climate and culture, STEM, and school transformation. We highlight our projects, services, and events and will soon provide you with important resources – including tools, manuals, reports, and e-learning opportunities.

The information that we present here reflects our deep belief in the power of equity to transform education, when all students matter.

Susan Shaffer

President, Mid-Atlantic Equity Consortium, Inc.
Executive Director, The Mid-Atlantic Equity Center