Metro Philadelphia Education Power Players

Kelly Richards brings with him almost three decades of library experience to the Free Library of Philadelphia, having most recently served as director of the Muskegon Area District Library in Michigan and as president of the Michigan Library Association. He is learning about Philadelphia and its wonderful neighborhoods through the residents, restaurants, and community organizations. Kelly earned a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice from Ferris State University, and a master’s degree in Library and Information Science from the University of Pittsburgh. 

What is something you have learned from your students?
At the library, people can improve their lives, learn new things, be comfortable, and have fun. Because it’s the people’s university, and one of just a few places that is still free to enter, our patrons have taught me the power of public service and access to information and resources.

What was your favorite moment or experience in your own education?
High school was pivotal in helping me create lifelong connections with my peers. As we went through classes, activities, and situations, having a support system was crucial. Through career changes and moves, we still remain connected regardless of how much time has passed.

What conditions do you think are necessary for a safe and effective learning environment?
Having a caring and knowledgeable staff, engaging and interactive programs, and accessible information is necessary for favorable learning conditions. One of the top priorities of the Free Library is expanding access to safe spaces and programs at our 54 locations throughout Philadelphia.

How do we ensure those without privilege have equal access to quality education and opportunity?
Keeping libraries open and prepared to provide the level of service that the communities need. The Free Library is a source of educational, professional, and personal enrichment available to everyone. We have Wi-Fi and computers for Internet and electronic database access. We also have language access services for English language learners, an instrument lending library, culinary programs, job seekers assistance, quilting classes, and so much more.

Dorothy Roberts is a professor of Africana studies, law, and sociology at the University of Pennsylvania, and founding director of the Penn Program on Race, Science, and Society. An acclaimed scholar of race, gender, and law, she is author of Killing the Black Body: Race, Reproduction and The Meaning of Liberty; Shattered Bonds: The Color of Child Welfare; Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, and Big Business Re-create Race in the Twenty-First Century; and Torn Apart: How the Child Welfare System Destroys Black Families—And How Abolition Can Build a Safer World.

What is something you have learned from your students?
Students’ life and work experiences can contribute valuable insights for class learning and discussion.

What was your favorite moment or experience in your own education? 
Learning that I could do research and write about topics related to social justice and that my academic work could be useful to people interested in building a more humane world.

What conditions do you think are necessary for a safe and effective learning environment?
Creating a space where everyone–students and teachers alike–treats each other with respect as valued participants in the learning experience.

How do we ensure those without privilege have equal access to quality education and opportunity?
Generously fund high-quality education for all, including all the resources needed for learning. This will require radical change not only in education systems, but in all inequitable systems that shape people’s opportunities. 

As CEO, Pearl Schaeffer designs and directs arts education programming for Southeastern Pennsylvania schools and communities. She oversees after-school programs that are sponsored by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, and is a regional director for Pennsylvania Council on the Arts’ state-wide AIE Partnership. Pearl also researches the impact of arts on K-12 education through US Education Department grants. She co-designed the nation’s first Teaching Artist Certificate program, and taught English and dance in K-12 schools and at Temple University and the University of the Arts. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Education from Drexel University and a master’s degree in Dance from the University of the Arts. 

What is something you have learned from your students?
Over the course of my teaching career, students have helped me gain perspective, patience, and humility. They have taught me that the best way to impact their learning is to meet them where they are and set them up for success by arming them with the academic and social tools to navigate life’s challenges. My students remind me every day that the teaching profession demands a deep commitment and responsibility to do the best by each and every child and family. Often, I have learned as much from my students as they have learned from me.

What was your favorite moment or experience in your own education? 
My most memorable personal educational moments were those I experienced during my graduate studies in dance. I had the privilege of performing on the Merriam Theater stage in numerous modern dance choreographies and reconstructions of dances with members of the Isadora Duncan Dance Company and the Martha Graham Dance Company, and with original members of the Humphrey/Limon Company. My summers were spent demonstrating for dance classes at the University of Hawaii in West Oahu, and taking classes at Volcano House on the big island. What an experience to dance under daily rainbows. These were joyful, passionate, treasured times.

What conditions do you think are necessary for a safe and effective learning environment? 
A hallmark of PAEP’s work is creating safe and effective arts learning environments that encourage individual social, emotional, and intellectual growth. The arts explicitly align skills and concepts inherent to creative processes with the development of social-emotional competencies. The arts provide students of all ages an opportunity to develop and hone their self and social awareness, self-management, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making. Our programs are designed to create accepting, nurturing, and anxiety-free environments where creative expression can take place. These conditions then set the stage for effective, enduring learning and individual self-actualization.

How do we ensure those without privilege have equal access to quality education and opportunity?
PAEP promotes life-long arts learning for pre-K-12 students, seniors, and special populations. Equity, diversity, and inclusion are fundamental to how and for whom PAEP shapes and delivers free quality programming. We ensure equal access and inclusion to after-school and summer arts programming for inner-city youth, teaching artist residencies, and virtual online arts lessons for youth and adults taught by PAEP-trained master teaching artists. PAEP provides services to more than 10,000 individuals and families annually.

Virgil Sheppard serves as the president of Hope Partnership for Education, an education center in North Philadelphia that encompasses an independent middle school and an adult education program. Prior to Hope, Virgil served as the national school partnerships director for City Year, where he was responsible for developing a partnership strategy that maximized school and student outcomes. Virgil holds a bachelor’s degree from Temple University and a master’s degree from Cheyney University. He is also a Pahara Next Generation Fellow. Virgil serves on the boards of Independence Charter School and Joyful Readers. 

What is something you have learned from your students?
I have learned from my students the value they add to their own educational experience and how that improves our practice as educators. The practice of including students in conversations that impact their educational experience and providing choice when applicable has helped me become a better leader and it helps prepare them for the future

What was your favorite moment or experience in your own education?
My favorite moment in my own educational experience was graduating from college. I am a first-generation college graduate, and any accolade that I have achieved is thanks to the love, care, support, and sacrifice of my parents. To see how proud they were during graduation made the day very memorable!

What conditions do you think are necessary for a safe and effective learning environment?
First and foremost, a space where students feel seen and heard. A space where content is relevant to the student body and intentional connections to everyday life are made. A space where students are allowed to make mistakes and learn from them. A space that has high expectations and high levels of support for teachers and students.

How do we ensure those without privilege have equal access to quality education and opportunity? 
This is truly a civil rights issue. I think a good starting point is to develop and adopt a fair funding formula that takes into account some of the challenges that can exist in underprivileged communities. I know this has been a long fight and a fight I support.

Dr. Jamie Shuda is the director of outreach, education, and research at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine. In 2002, Dr. Shuda and Dr. Steven Farber co-founded Project BioEYES, a nonprofit program providing learning opportunities in science to underserved K-12 students in Philadelphia and Camden, New Jersey. BioEYES has served over 65,000 students since its inception. Dr. Shuda earned her master’s degree in Elementary Education from Drexel University, and an EdD in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from Temple University. 

Janine Spruill’s love for movies began as a kid. During her senior year at Temple University, she founded a grassroots initiative to bring digital media and film education and production to young people living in underfunded communities in Philadelphia. Over the last decade, she transitioned the grassroots initiative into Lil’ Filmmakers Inc., which is now a thriving nonprofit media company that provides the youth with access to industry-standard media technology and education and funding for youth-led media projects. Additionally, Lil’ Filmmakers Inc. offers training for career pathway opportunities to hundreds of young people across the Greater Philadelphia Area. 

What is something you have learned from your students?
Over the last two decades, I have educated over 3,000 young people from different walks of life, different communities, and different life experiences. I learned that young people need to feel seen. I realize that youth who do not feel seen or valued may grow up and become unfulfilled adults. So my rule of thumb, every kid coming through my door will feel like they matter here.

What was your favorite moment or experience in your own education? 
As an educator, sometimes you have a moment when you wonder if anyone was listening to your lessons. One day, eight of my teens and I were on location. They were setting up to shoot a scene for their movie. The youth ran the show, and I give them space and agency. I walked over to the director and camera operator. I’m checking the camera, asking the usual questions, when I realize everyone was giving me a blank stare. Finally, the director says, ‘Ms. Janine, we know. We got this.’ They didn’t need me–they were listening to my lessons!

What conditions do you think are necessary for a safe and effective learning environment?
I work with young creatives. Many of them tend to be slightly sensitive or insecure. Creative people process the world a bit differently. My approach is threefold; first, I set expectations by communicating what I expect from them and having them communicate what they need from me. Then, you have to be yourself–our programs and projects help youth find that inner voice and learn to use it. Finally, teamwork makes the dream work–you can’t make a movie alone, so youth must learn how to connect and collaborate. Learning to build healthy relationships starts with you. This is how we make our space safe.

How do we ensure those without privilege have equal access to quality education and opportunity? 
I founded Lil’ Filmmakers because I knew kids from disenfranchised communities were left behind in digital media education. I built the organization solely to provide young people equal access to quality education and opportunity. Unfortunately, it’s hard to change a system that is intentionally designed to fail particular populations of people. So we have to circumvent the broken system by building our own.

Lisa Sun is the head of school at The Philadelphia School, a preschool to eighth grade progressive school focused on joyful learning, strong academics, and developing the whole child. Lisa sits on the board of directors for the Pennsylvania Association of Independent Schools and serves as a faculty lead for the National Association of Independent Schools’ Fellowship for Aspiring School Heads. Her writing has been published in The Baltimore Sun and NAIS’ independent school magazine. Lisa lives in South Philadelphia with her husband and two children.

What is something you have learned from your students?
I’ve learned to be brave from my students. Young children are not afraid to try new things and take risks. I’m constantly inspired by my students and their willingness to take on new challenges–to try, to fail, and to try again. Their resiliency and bravery encourage me to be bold when I encounter setbacks or embark upon unknown challenges. 

What was your favorite moment or experience in your own education? 
I developed a love of reading from my fourth-grade teacher, Ms. Fox. She would read aloud to the class every day–these were my favorite parts of the school day. She read books from all genres, and she instilled in me a deep love of literature. The stories and poems she read opened up new worlds and adventures, and I learned the power of the word. The library was my favorite destination, and I would spend hours reading stories about people whose lives were so different from my own.

What conditions do you think are necessary for a safe and effective learning environment?
Children learn best when they feel safe, known, and appreciated. Classroom routines must include opportunities for students to connect with one another and their teacher–time for children to share their stories and opinions with one another, to develop trust, and establish a respectful classroom community. When the teacher models kindness and respect, students will mirror that in their interactions with one another. Creating a culture of kindness and respect within a classroom community allows students to feel safe and supported in their learning process.

As the executive director of the Alliance for Decision Education, Dr. Joseph Sweeney leads a movement to make Decision Education part of all K-12 school curriculums in the United States. Previously, he was a professor of strategic leadership at Jefferson University and Columbia University. He spent 14 years as an award-winning teacher and as head of upper school at the Springside Chestnut Hill Academy, director of innovation and mathematics chair at the Haverford School, and mathematics department chair at the Malvern Preparatory School. Dr. Sweeney began his professional career in information technology.

What is something you have learned from your students?
For me, teaching was an eye-opening gift. My one key takeaway was how powerful it was for students to feel that they have agency over their own lives. So much of what we do as teachers and as parents is directing their actions, their intake of information, and their behavior. But when young people are given the opportunity to make their own decisions, especially when they have support to guide them in their thinking, they take ownership of their actions, feel more invested in their futures, and become more engaged in their own education.

What was your favorite moment or experience in your own education?
I changed schools a lot because of my parents’ work. At times, I was ahead of my new classmates, especially in math. The first time, I did little work. The next year, my teacher recognized I could do more and had me teach. It was a powerful experience because it pushed me to do more. She realized that just because someone is getting 100s, that does not necessarily mean that they are getting a good education. You need to find the edge of a student’s proximal learning–sometimes slowing down and providing scaffolding. Other times, giving them more challenges and opportunities.

What conditions do you think are necessary for a safe and effective learning environment? 
Students need to feel physically and psychologically safe. But they also need to feel safe making decisions and making mistakes, because that is when they learn to take agency and responsibility for their lives and actions. We need to give them that opportunity, and not just with small matters. When students make decisions they feel matter, they become engaged, especially when in an environment where they can make mistakes, update their thinking and get feedback. That is why I am so passionate about Decision Education–it enables and fosters that agency.

How do we ensure those without privilege have equal access to quality education and opportunity? 
Although we may wish otherwise, the education system is not the panacea for all the challenges we face. Educators can advocate for change, but should also recognize that our opportunity is to start with whatever hand the student is dealt and help them maximize their outcomes based on their values. We can do that by helping them make the best decisions possible. This will enable them to shape their own outcomes and improve their lives.

John Swoyer has been the CEO of the MaST Schools Network since 2011. He manages three Title I schools and serves over 4,500 students across multiple campuses and zip codes in Philadelphia. John is known for creating academic engagement through innovative learning spaces, and helped define the STREAM academic model which is inclusive of differentiated and blended learning models. He has also led MaST to receive a US Department of Education National Blue Ribbon Schools Award in 2017, has opened two new schools, and has seen the waitlist for the school grow to over 28,000 applicants. 

What is something you have learned from your students?
Our MaST students never cease to amaze me in both their creativity and in their ability to extend their minds to think through solutions to solve current issues. Students are resilient, which was proven by the challenges of COVID-19. One thing that I have learned through our maker space program is the ability for our kids to think outside the box and dedicate themselves to problem-solving. Summary: Don’t ever doubt a young mind–they will always come up with a solution to a problem the world has yet to solve!

What was your favorite moment or experience in your own education? 
Personally, I love to create and envision what learning can look like and education has taught me that through project-based experiences. I had a course in college called entrepreneurship where I had to create my own business and learn how to build on a model and concept while also bringing others along into the business and marketing and shaping the model. This has helped shape my thinking in education because you are forced to pivot and recreate the learning environment in new ways with the hope of supporting an individual pathway of success for each and every child.

What conditions do you think are necessary for a safe and effective learning environment?
The school model has to start with a vision of academic success, as well as social and emotional support. This begins with great teachers and support staff who care and have a common mission of supporting all kids and making sure everyone is included. Next, you need parents and community support as well as systems and supports in place to help build a culture. We want MaST Schools to be an exciting, safe environment where school feels like an open invitation for creativity, engagement, and learning, a place kids want to be and get excited to come to each day.

How do we ensure those without privilege have equal access to quality education and opportunity?
We must educate and create equal opportunities to quality education by creating options that allow students to find themselves within the school system, whether that be in a club, activity, sport, or committee, and across every classroom. This is also about allowing students to have a voice and opinion while creating options for support that allow them to be exposed to and accepting of other people’s views. Finally, providing opportunities through resources, information, and experiences is key.