Students for Education Reform expands movement to 20 campuses

Students for Education Reform (SFER), an advocacy and awareness organization dedicated to mobilizing the next generation of leaders to close the educational achievement gap, will open new chapters at thirteen colleges, just six months after its incorporation as a non-profit. SFER announces this news on the same day the SFER Princeton chapter welcomes U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to the Princeton University campus, where SFER was founded.

In the fall of 2010, SFER added six new chapters to the national network including Harvard College, Yale University, Colby College, Brown University, Haverford College, and the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. New chapters will open at Columbia University, Cornell University, Duke University, Florida State University, New York University, Ohio State University, Pennsylvania State University, Stanford University, State University of New York at Geneseo, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, University of Georgia, University of Texas - Austin, and Whitworth University.

"College students have an incredible amount of energy for education advocacy, and as the stakeholder group to have most recently completed the U.S. K-12 education experience, we offer a unique perspective that puts students first," said Executive Director Catharine Bellinger.

Students For Education Reform chapters run a series of educational and advocacy events on their campuses, including regular student-led dialogues about education policy; speaker events; film screenings; visits to high-performing low-income schools; and engagement in local education politics. SFER chapters also facilitate summer internships with leading education reform
organizations for their members.

“Students understand the pressing nature of this issue and are eager to use their talents to promote meaningful reform. SFER now gives us an outlet to be active in the education reform arena,” said SFER University of Minnesota – Twin Cities president Joe Francaviglia. “We, as undergraduates, are poised to become professionals and leaders in public education. We care about the future of this field,” added SFER Princeton president Katelyn Gostic.

The non-profit is entirely student-led and advised by a growing board of directors. Founding board members include Justin Cohen, president of the School Turnaround Group at Mass Insight; April Chou, partner at NewSchools Venture Fund; and Nancy Poon Lue, Principal at The Advisory Board Company. “We are excited about SFER’s critical role of bringing student voices into the dialogue and cultivating the next generation of leaders toward improving public education for all students,” said Chou.

SFER will launch its national advocacy agenda in September. "Our advocacy strategy will center around demanding policies that support three key factors to closing the achievement gap: great teachers, great standards, and great options," said Alexis Morin, Director of Operations for SFER. "Involving students in education advocacy is essential to making sure all voices are being
heard in these very important discussions,” said Evan Stone, Executive Director of Educators 4 Excellence, an independent teachers’ organization in New York City. There is currently no other national group that engages students as stakeholders in education policy advocacy.

"As a student that was statically supposed to fall into the achievement gap, I want nothing more than to give future generations the same opportunity that I have been given. I had many teachers and mentors that helped guide me on my journey to college and now it’s my turn to fight for students the same way I was fought for," said Macy Olivas, president of SFER’s newly announced Whitworth University chapter.

SFER plans to operate chapters at over 100 college campuses by 2012.