The Building Bridges Initiative

Writing a new education story with parents at the center

By Maya Martin Cadogan

October 3, 2023

Our stories are our power.

As the founder of Parents Amplifying Voices in Education (PAVE), a 6,000-person-strong organization where we build grassroots power to center education policymaking on parent perspectives and priorities, I have seen firsthand how our public narrative and shared stories can change perception of issues and drive outcomes in policy.

The most effective advocacy is shaped by our own stories—the “self”—our stories as a collective—the “us”—and our stories of the challenges we must rise to meet—the “now.”

Public narrative

These were the lessons that one of my graduate school professors, Marshall Ganz, popularized in his work on public narrative. And understanding our stories is vital for all of us committed to creating the kinds of public schools that our students need and deserve.

As we look back on the efficacy of the “education reform era” and envision how we can support our students and their schools throughout the deeply challenging recovery from a devastating pandemic, we must re-center our collective work in our stories of self, stories of us, and stories of now. We’ve gotten so busy doing the work that we forgot that we need to first share why we do this work, agree for whom we do it, and make a commitment to what we all want to accomplish.

That is why the Building Bridges Initiative is so important to the movement to improve public education: It starts with our stories.

Story of self

We, the members of the Building Bridges Initiative, each came to this work with our “stories of self”—individually invested in the resources and supports all children need to get a great education. And that individuality was clear from our differences: we are Republicans, Democrats, and Independents; we are racially and ethnically diverse; and we hail from all corners of America’s map. We are intentional in not glossing over the breadth of experiences we each brought to this coalition. Rather, we named, respected, and honored those differences as the source of our collective strength—no small feat in today’s highly polarized times.

Story of us

Despite our diversity of thought and background, we all signed on to A Generation at Risk because we are united by the belief that public education should be centered on all of our kids. That is our “story of us”—the story of who we are as leaders in education in 2023.

Our final report articulates three key values:

• The fundamental belief that every student has a right to fulfill their utmost potential and a conviction that our schools and society should be doing much more to make this aspiration a reality.
• A belief in public education as a critical player in preparing citizens to effectively participate in our democracy and as a critical engine of social and economic mobility in America.
• Deep respect for the role that educators and parents play in supporting student success.

As a parent and the leader of an organization whose membership is primarily Black and Brown parents and caregivers, these values resonate with me deeply. 

Story of now

Building Bridges is also a starting point for our diverse national coalition to reestablish our “story of now” for these difficult times.

The call for a responsive education system made in our reportis a more nuanced and people-centered approach to education reform than when I first started in my role as a leader in D.C.’s charter schools in 2009. In our collective understanding today, and as we write in the report, a responsive system means one that is “firmly centered around students and their needs”; provides families “true information, power, and agency to understand, support, choose, and advocate for their children’s education”; and sets forth a richer definition of student success that engages a “broader set of providers—inside and outside of schools.”

Because we focus on parents at PAVE, I was excited about this new approach that embeds within those elements of a more responsive system three key parent needs we should continue to center:

• Access to information about schools and students that is understandable, useful, and actionable.
• Access to choices in education that empower students to receive an education that matches their unique needs, dreams, and interests.
• Access to resources and supports that allow students, parents, and communities to thrive.

At PAVE, centering these needs has allowed us to grow into a diverse and dynamic organization—one that is founded and led by parents, and that is successful because of our parent leaders’ partnership with students, teachers, school leaders, policymakers, and elected officials. For our movement to succeed, we must name and acknowledge all of our people, understand their roles and responsibilities, and lift up their needs and aspirations. The Building Bridges Initiative’s call to action does that by including all of those key stakeholders, laying out our shared commitments to progress for kids, and identifying how our system can guarantee real educational access and opportunity for all. 

What’s next

Going forward, I look forward to seeing the broad engagement approach the Building Bridges Initiative pioneered deepen and flourish. I hope to see and be part of other genuine dialogues from grassroots to grasstops—where parents, educators, students, community leaders, and advocates come together to forge new paths forward. Only through that kind of respectful dialogue and discovery will we truly be able to deliver on our promise to our kids. Only when we weave our millions of stories of self into a tapestry that tells a story of us and gives us a roadmap to a story of now will we catalyze real change. Our public education systems desperately need us to tell these stories in ways that are powerful and undeniable—and unapologetic about what our kids need and deserve.

Across political and geographic differences and across race, class, and identity, we can build new bridges. We can write a new story. A story in which every child has what they need to learn, grow, and thrive in our schools and throughout their lives.

The end.

Maya Martin Cadogan is the Executive Director of Parents Amplifying Voices in Education.