SFER National
Summit
NOLA 2013
General Themes
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Community Organizing
Tension between SFER at the national and
individual chapters
Increasing collaboration with other groups
How to respond with criticism
Learning how to run a non-profit
Increasing diversity
Tension Between SFER National and
Individual Chapters
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PDs were fired/quit without warning
Political reasons for some states having PDs
while others don't
criticism of the lack of communication
between national and state SFER
Lack of a clear stance to get behind
SFER National refusing to admit their
political agenda
Acknowledgement of political action over
knowledge of issues
What Should We Take from These
Tensions?
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The network SFER provides is amazing
BUT SFER is a vehicle to promote education
reform, not education reform itself
SFER will be most effective by collaborating
with other established groups and people
already in the field
SFER's ability to become more inclusive and
communicative will determine its success
We must remember how old SFER is and
who it was started by
Communication solutions going
forward
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Weekly emails from Catherine and Alexis.
Reviving the yammer group.
Resource Groups
SFER Voices
Looking at formats for weekly/monthly calls so
everyone can be a part.
Student leadership council (new)
Individual Skype session
More about Diversification of Base
"The movement is tone deaf to the real things
people are going through. It gets too
technocratic; if we can just fix this... a
magical solution will take place. People of
color, people who have the most to gain
from ed reform aren't in the discussion! The
disadvantaged people need to be a part of
the conversation! Space for people to talk
in the first person, not the third person.
Connecting across barriers of race, class,
privilege!"
-Chris Stewart, African American Leadership
The Road Ahead
SFER/TFA: known as white organizations. How
do we include more minority people into
this movement? These are “nice”
organizations. It’s going to be difficult to
get people to join right away.
How do we make this happen?
What Should our Chapter Take from
Summit?
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Work toward better communication with
national SFER--skype call on 4/8
Learn from and collaborate with other
groups on campus
Understand and prepare to deal with
criticism of national SFER--examine
negative press
Diversify our base--reach out to students
with different experiences
Work to understand sensitive issues that
affect education--class, race, healthcare,
The Road Ahead - Improving SFER:
St. Olaf
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Emphasis on the “why” tasks are important
(flyer example)
Feedback is important!! How could we
measure feedback in our St. Olaf chapter?
Surveys? Giving AND getting feedback.
During meetings: establish norms/meeting
structure. How are we going to spend our
time together?
Think about successful events (PP.. H4H)
INPUT!
Importance of Storytelling
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Story of self – summarizes what you're doing
in this movement. Doesn’t have to be short
or quick. You telling someone WHY you're
doing this work
Purpose of story of self--using for
recruitment
You never have only one story of self – the
story of self should shift.
Practice with a partner!