A 30-year educator in the Compton Unified School District, Inge is a and . 

He also taught Lamar’s 7th-grade English class at Vanguard Learning Center, where he shape Lamar’s academic foundation, introducing him to poetry, nurturing his ability to think critically and developing his passion for language. Now, Lamar’s an award-winning, internationally renowned hip hop artist.

Back in the classroom, Inge used to talk to Lamar about the importance of using his platform to drive change – an idea that would resonate throughout the rapper’s career. Lamar’s journey from Compton to earning and a reflects values that deeply resonate with Inge’s classroom philosophy: hard work, creativity and ability to balance education and talent. 

Now, joining the list of achievements is Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show performance, which Inge says is “a salute to Black history and an opportunity for millions of people to witness Lamar’s dynamic artistry.” It a bigger audience than the game itself, is officially the most-watched halftime show performance of all time and the first show with a solo rapper to , according to the Apple Music.

Inge spoke with ����Ӱ��’s Trinity Alicia about how Lamar’s academic foundation laid the groundwork for his storytelling success and how it continues to inspire his students in Compton.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

When it was announced that Kendrick Lamar would perform at the Super Bowl, what was your first emotion?   

I had a great feeling of joy to know someone who has honestly put in the work gets to be at the level he’s at and the stage he was going to be on. The city felt good. My students felt good. It was a circle of joy.   

Everyone was so happy for him because it was a chance for millions of people to see just how dynamic this person really is. It was a perfect example of how putting in hard work gets you great outcomes. It gave me a sense of pride to know he worked hard to be rewarded with this opportunity. He deserved to be there.  

How did you feel when you saw the halftime show?

My initial feeling was that it was a message he was trying to send to both America and to the hip hop culture in itself. There was a lot of thought put into each aspect of the show, and I’m proud of how it all came together because he did exactly what I know he’s supposed to be doing — teaching and sending messages to others. It was an awesome feeling for me as his former English teacher.   

What do you see as the major themes in his performance? Do you think there’s particular significance that those themes were performed at that particular Super Bowl in our current political climate?  

The major theme I saw in the Super Bowl performance was to wake up and understand what’s going on from an African-American perspective and a people of color perspective. The different stages, different colors, different movements, each song and each skit he did — even down to Samuel L. Jackson’s performance — it was so clear that everything was intentional.  

It was a teachable moment for those who wanted to look more deeply at what exactly Lamar was saying. And to me, it all made sense because I know he loves to debate — not so much a matter of right and wrong — but the meaning behind things and why it impacts people. So I feel he went into this wanting people to analyze and discuss the performance.  

Do you see parallels between your role as a Black male educator and what Lamar does with his art?   

Yes! I see one great parallel between what Lamar does and what I do — and it’s something I used to talk to him about — which is using your platform. I have a platform in the classroom and he has a platform on the stage. My platform is to give students wisdom, encouragement and understanding of what the future could look like for them. On stage, Lamar’s platform is to express what it feels like to live in an inner city, for those who have never been to an inner city, and to give people hope. A lot of his music deals with hope. It may not come in the way people expect, the music may have some colorful words every now and then, but at the end of the day, it’s about expression. I’m very happy he’s using his platform to share hope and not expressing negative aspects of hip hop that can sometimes come from the big stage.  

This Black History Month, are there any teachable moments that can be extracted from the halftime performance?  

The art of creativity. African-Americans were historically stripped of their creativity when brought over to this country, and here we are in the present where I feel the renaissance is coming back out and through hip hop — which is a creative outlet on its own — in music.  

When I saw all of the intentional choreography, I felt Lamar used the halftime show performance as a whole to salute Black history and I believe it was presented from the standpoint of how, from the beginning of our existence in this country, our poise and livelihood as Black-Americans flourishes when we are being creative.

Tell us about Lamar as a student. What unique qualities did he exhibit as a student, if any? Was there any indication early on that he had exceptional potential? 

One of the things I remember about him is that he was very quiet, which may be a little strange for others to hear considering this megastar can get on stage in front of hundreds of thousands of people to perform song after song. But when I taught him in the seventh grade, I felt he was academically sound for his age and just needed someone to push him in the right direction. 

I spent a lot of time instilling in Lamar that vocabulary is super important. When my students go out and speak in public, I want them to be prepared to use language comparable to their age group. So for his assignments, I would circle words on his paper he could improve on and give him a thesaurus to identify synonyms for those words to deepen his vocabulary. I told him I wanted him to have a little shock level because there is an understanding that people from Compton are not going to have the best profile. But I remember telling him I wanted him to be able to show people through his speech that he is sharp, strong, an academic … and not someone who is only successful on YouTube and on social media. 

How do you help students connect to their creativity and writing with activism and social justice? How do you think this shaped Lamar as the artist we know today?   

Connection with students is extremely important to me as an educator. I believe in this connection because it helps me understand how my students operate and I’m able to have a plan on how to individually impact each one of their lives both in and out of the classroom.  

It’s also very important for me to understand culture. I need to know what’s going on at home and their environments because I am aware I can’t teach everyone the same. When students believe in you just like you believe in them, you create a family dynamic in the classroom. I have always been a family-oriented teacher and once I have a student in my class, they are family forever. 

In that same dynamic with Lamar, he understands that people are going through things and wants to create music that makes people dance, but also invites listeners to think about their surroundings and to remind them there is a light out of the struggle if they work hard.

In your classroom, how do you encourage students to imagine, create and push boundaries in their own work? How do you believe Lamar’s schooling and upbringing in Compton translate into his character and art in the current political climate?  

One thing I do in my class when we are doing any type of creative writing, I tell students I will take the boundaries off of their assignments. That means if an essay or poem they’re writing causes them to say a word that isn’t deemed appropriate for school — as long as they don’t say it too many times — then it’s okay because I want them to say what they truly feel. Poetry is all about the five senses, and that in particular is not something I need to teach, but I just like to remind them of this so that when they are writing, they can reflect on their experiences and emotions. What I don’t want them to do is mute themselves so that what they’re writing isn’t what they feel.

I encouraged Lamar in the same way. At that time, many of my students were coming to school very angry and if something causes trauma, frustration or an inertia of energy building up, students have to be able to get it out. Expanding the boundaries in class was the thing that helped. 

Lamar’s music, especially in his later albums, has been known to be deeply shaped by themes of social change, inequality, activism and criticism of politicians. Do you think you saw the beginnings of this in his early writings in classroom assignments or discussions? 

I didn’t really see writings of social consciousness from Lamar. When you’re in the seventh grade, you’re typically going off of what the teacher is assigning. But I remember his passion for writing was unique and different from his classmates. Some of his writings were a little more thought-provoking. What happens is when you’re focused on writing and passionate about your writing, as you get older and start to see more outside of your city, surroundings and community, you will start to see gaps. When you start to see gaps, when you start to feel frustration. When you start to feel frustration, you start to express it. 

With Lamar, he expressed his feelings in class through his writing and does the same thing as an artist. Now, we are here today with someone who is expressing a full emotional closet, from his joy to his insecurities to his trauma throughout his music.

Compton Unified has recently been ranked first in reading performance, surpassing pre-pandemic levels in both math and reading, according to the Ed Recovery Scorecard. Given Lamar’s rise from Compton to global recognition, how do you think his journey can inspire students in fostering the art of storytelling? 

One thing I feel that our students of today can be inspired by Lamar’s journey is to understand the art of working hard and being passionate. Even though students are doing well, they need to continue to work hard.

Sometimes social media waters down the art of working hard to achieve goals. Since I know Lamar personally, I have the ability to give students a bird’s eye view of what it takes on a day-to-day basis to earn Grammys and to be the first hip hop artist to be given a Pulitzer Prize winner, which is no small feat. 

I give my students an understanding of how many hours it could take for Lamar and his team to make one song or the amount of songs he writes that fans will never get to hear on the radio. This is about a lifelong journey of trying to do your best in every aspect of your life. 

I use Lamar as a [symbol] of hope because he came from Compton. And while my students may not become a Kendrick Lamar, perform on stage or emerge into a world-renowned artist, I want them to understand what it takes to get to a level of success to be world-renowned in other industries and professions. 

What’s something that most of the world probably doesn’t know about Lamar?  

I’m most proud of the person Lamar is off stage. I love the man he’s become and the person he is striving to be.

When I taught him, he enjoyed being around his friends and sat next to his cousin in my class. Now, I can see the same regard for relationships in his life. He likes to be present with family. He doesn’t mind being vulnerable with himself and others he trusts in order to share about the insecurities he’s working on. It’s why I feel his music is very genuine … it’s debatable, you can talk about it and you can teach it. There are so many emotions that can be translated from his music. 

I don’t know how I would feel if I taught an artist and the nature of music was very negative and went against everything I believed as a person. But I thank God I get the privilege of being associated with someone who is out here, making an impact, making music that gives people hope and encourages them.  

Philadelphia students could head back to classes before Labor Day for the next two years, according to proposed academic calendars the district released Tuesday.

The pre-Labor Day start for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 calendars will allow for longer spring and winter recesses as well as additional cultural and religious holidays throughout the year, district officials said this week.

Superintendent Tony Watlington also confirmed Tuesday that district schools and offices will be closed on Friday for the Philadelphia Eagles celebratory Super Bowl parade.

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“We look forward to celebrating the Eagles’ victory as a community, and we hope that our students, staff and families will do so safely and responsibly,” Watlington said in a statement.

The question of whether to start before or after Labor Day has rankled families and district leaders , in part because many Philly schools do not have adequate air conditioning. That has forced some buildings to close or dismiss students early due to excessive heat .

This school year, the first day back landed before Labor Day, and 63 schools without air conditioning dismissed students early, during the first week of classes. However, school started , and heat closures still impacted students’ learning time that first week.

Watlington said at his this year that over the past three school years, the number of schools without air conditioning has shrunk from 118 to 57 thanks in part to a

Shakeera Warthen-Canty, assistant superintendent of school operations and management at the district, said their academic calendar recommendations this year are built off of a survey and several in-person feedback sessions.

The majority of parents and caregivers who responded preferred a post-Labor Day start, the survey found. But students, teachers, school staff, and community members reported they overwhelmingly preferred starting the school year before Labor Day.

Some 16,400 parents, students, school staff, principals, and community members responded to the survey the district sent out last September, Warthen-Canty said.

Respondents also said they wanted more frequent breaks for longer durations to accommodate family vacations, as well as time to rest, support mental health, and prevent staff burnout.

State law says districts must have a minimum of 180 student days, or a minimum of 900 instructional hours for elementary school students and 990 hours for middle and high school students. The district’s collective bargaining agreement with the teachers union also requires 188 teacher work days, as well as a minimum of 28 professional development hours.

The district officials’ calendar recommendations will for a vote before they are enacted.

If approved, winter recess would be seven days in 2025-26 and eight days in 2026-27, while spring break would be five days both years.

In addition to the five state and national holidays (Memorial Day, Independence Day, Christmas, Thanksgiving, and New Year’s Day), Philadelphia school district school holidays in 2025-26 and 2026-27 would include:

• Labor Day
• Rosh Hashanah
• Yom Kippur
• Indigenous Peoples Day
• Veterans Day
• Martin Luther King Jr. Day
• Presidents Day
• Lunar New Year
• Eid al-Fitr
• Good Friday
• Eid al-Adha
• Juneteenth

This school year, both Indigenous Peoples Day and Veterans Day were school days.

As for how the new calendar may interact with Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker’s commitment to : Deputy Superintendent Jermaine Dawson said this week the district has ensured any expansion of that program will work “alongside our calendar of school days.”

This story was originally published at Chalkbeat, a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.

At Santa Fe High School in New Mexico, two football players following an accusation that they held another teammate down and sexually assaulted him. In Orange County, California, reports surfaced of at least who were sexually assaulted by their teammates at Santa Margarita Catholic High School. Mead High School, in Spokane, Washington, fired their coach after filed a lawsuit alleging that white teammates assaulted them. 

Studies show that of all high school students experience hazing, with 25% of respondents saying that it took place in a sports setting. Dr. Elizabeth Allan, the founder of the research group StopHazing, as “any activity expected of someone joining or participating in a group that humiliates, degrades, abuses, or endangers them, regardless of a person’s willingness to participate.” 

Hazing is most common in large groups like sports teams, where individuals are attempting to establish their position within hierarchies shaped by norms of traditional masculinity. These rituals can range from an unspoken tradition of requiring freshman athletes to carry the water bottles of seniors to sexually abusive behavior. 

Researchers fear that in severity and frequency, with sexually degrading acts emerging more often as a shortcut to humiliate and disempower a student. Despite their prevalence in sports, it is vital to recognize that hazing and sexual violence are not inherent to sports; they take hold when a culture of abuse is allowed to thrive.

As a sexual violence prevention educator who has facilitated workshops on building healthy sport cultures, I know firsthand that sports don’t need to be this way, especially when school districts and coaches prioritize efforts to create healthy and inclusive cultures on their athletic teams.

My journey as an advocate  began when I was a captain of the Melrose High School track and field team in Massachusetts. , a local nonprofit with a mission of raising community awareness of domestic and teen dating violence, has worked closely with the Melrose Public Schools to implement prevention programs at the middle and high school levels since 1998.

In my senior year, I was selected along with other sport captains to participate in a gender violence, sexual harassment, and bullying prevention program called (MVP). The program follows a model in which the social capital and leadership skills common in high school athletes are leveraged to promote a culture of respect and inclusion.

Facilitators lead participants through discussions of realistic scenarios covering a variety of abusive behavior they might witness as bystanders and discuss how they can safely and realistically intervene. Participants also learn how gender stereotypes and dominant cultural expectations of masculinity – such as telling sexist jokes, catcalling, harassing girls and women, and making homophobic remarks – contribute to a culture where sexual violence and hazing are allowed to thrive.

Such partnerships with community-based nonprofits can help schools tackle these issues. But, buy-in from coaches is critical as well.   found that 86% of coaches agreed that hazing was an issue in their community, but only 40% had a clear set of standards around appropriate behavior or how and when to intervene when hazing occurs. The study also found that six in 10 of coaches personally experienced hazing when they played a sport, which may lead them to normalize these behaviors unless they are provided with proper education and resources on how to build healthy team cultures.

Given that many high school coaches are volunteers or receive minimal compensation, they cannot be expected to drive change without the support of school districts and policymakers. In 2024, the Virginia Senate took a significant step by requiring the development and implementation of a research-based anti-hazing education program in all high school health and physical education classes statewide. 

This builds on Virginia’s earlier efforts in the anti-hazing space, particularly Adam’s Law, passed in 2022 in honor of Virginia Commonwealth University student , who died in a fraternity hazing incident in 2021. Adam’s Law mandates hazing prevention education at all Virginia colleges, grants legal immunity to bystanders who intervene, and requires universities to publicly report hazing incidents online.

In his last weeks in office, then-President Joe Biden signed the , which requires universities to collect and publicly report data on hazing incidents. While this will improve transparency and awareness, the high number of violent hazing incidents in the past year’s high school football season shows the need for earlier intervention, as modeled in Massachusetts and Virginia.

School districts can reinforce their commitment to hazing prevention by implementing clear policies that include education for both coaches and athletes on what constitutes hazing, how to intervene safely, and how to foster team traditions and school spirit in ways that promote inclusion rather than harm. Additionally, athletic directors should establish anonymous reporting mechanisms that empower athletes to speak up safely and enforce zero-tolerance policies with well-defined consequences for hazing.

Sports have the potential to teach young people the value of teamwork, resilience in the face of challenges, and principles of lifelong physical fitness. But to truly fulfill this potential, all stakeholders in youth sports—policymakers, school administrators, athletic directors, coaches, and parents—must treat hazing, sexual violence, and abusive behaviors as the urgent, preventable issues that they are. 

If you have experienced sexual violence, hazing, or any form of abuse in a sports setting, you are not alone. is a no-cost call, text, and chat service for athletes, coaches, parents, and anyone in sports communities who has questions or concerns about abuse or mental well-being in athletics.

For starters, experts suggest, get the kids back into school. Routines matter in the raw aftermath of trauma.

Child health experts say the shooting that killed a mother and wounded several children at the close of Kansas City’s celebration of the Chiefs’ latest championship likely left kids traumatized. Whether they were near Union Station or, for some, just hearing the news.

Schools quickly made social workers and counselors available Thursday and put out advice to parents on how to help children return to a sense of normalcy and safety.

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Some children, the experts say, need to talk about their concerns. That, the experts say, needs to be balanced against dwelling too much on what happened or trying to force conversations that could go wrong.

Wednesday’s violence came after clinicians saw a troubling mental health hangover from the pandemic.

“Rates of anxiety and depression doubled for young people,” said Dr. Shayla Sullivant, a child and adolescent psychiatrist with Children’s Mercy Hospital. “Now we have more kids that have experienced trauma.”

Multiple school districts told The Beacon that they’re turning to what’s familiar — like going right back to school — to help restore calm after a calamity.

When disaster strikes, “it comes from a place that we didn’t expect, and we don’t know how to deal with that,” said David Smith, a spokesperson for the Shawnee Mission School District. “Being able to connect people, kids, to the familiar, to the routine, can be helpful and give them a comfort that the world is returning to the world that they know and (where) they feel safe.”

Adults matter, too. Parents and teachers, Smith said, need to recognize and seek support for their own distress “in order for us to be there for our kids.”

The shooting marked a “community-level trauma,” said Damon Daniel, president of the Ad Hoc Group Against Crime, even in a city that saw a record 182 homicides last year.

“We live in a city where we’re not strangers to violence,” he said.

His group worked with prosecutors and other organizations to offer counseling on Thursday at the Kansas City United Church of Christ in Brookside. He said it’s time to talk with professionals and not to lean on isolation, substance abuse or more violence to cope.

“It’s a very complex problem. It’s not one solution,” Daniel said. “There’s no silver bullet to this.”

For starters, public places might never feel the same to some people after the Union Station shooting. Chris Williams, a counselor with Heartland Therapy Connection, said teenagers and young adults might be particularly damaged by the trauma.

“There are no public places they can look at and be, like, ‘I’m safe here,’” he said. “More and more children are on guard, looking out.”

He said survivors can experience extreme post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms, such as paranoia or fear of loud noises, and will look to adults for assurance.

“We’re losing that ability to tell them it’s gonna be OK,” Williams said. “There are no safe spaces.”

Kansas City Public Schools Superintendent Jennifer Collier emailed parents urging them to address the trauma directly.

“While our instinct may be to shield them from the harsh realities of the world,” she wrote, “it’s essential to proactively address their concerns, especially with our older students who are more likely to seek information independently.”

The district was still sorting out Thursday how many students were close to the shooting even as it suggested parents limit their children’s exposure to news coverage.

Kansas City, Kansas, Public Schools also enlisted counselors and social workers and told parents that their kids need someone to turn to.

“People deal with pain and tragedy differently,” district spokesperson Edwin Birch said. “The main thing is just being available.”

At Wichita’s USD 259, the largest school district in Kansas, administrators strove to return to the routine.

“Children are pretty quick to move on to the next thing,” said Stephanie Anderson, who works in the district’s counseling services. “They don’t dwell on stuff like this, unless they hear adults dwelling on it.”

That, she said, needs to be paired with candor.

“(Don’t) sugarcoat it or don’t create fear,” Anderson said.

She and other experts suggest parents look for routines breaking down in the aftermath of the Super Bowl parade. Is your child having trouble sleeping? Has their appetite dwindled? Are they crankier than usual?

An adult’s ear can prove especially helpful, said , a clinical psychologist specializing in children and adolescents at Laurel School’s Center for Research on Girls in Shaker Heights, Ohio.

She said trusted adults — family, mental health professionals, school staff — need to be available. Cordiano said younger children may prefer to process their emotions about the parade shooting through art, and older children will need someone to confide in.

“When they have those places to talk,” Cordiano said, “it can help them cope.”

The more comfortable kids feel to talk, she said, the better to keep them grounded and feeling safe.

“When we shut it down,” she said, “it makes it too big or scary.”

Yet exposure to leaves some psyches damaged for a lifetime. Starsky Wilson, president of the left-leaning Children’s Defense Fund, said gun violence can heighten children’s risk of abusing drugs and alcohol or weigh them down with depression and anxiety.

“The normalization of gun violence in society can desensitize children to the impact of violence and contribute to a sense of helplessness or resignation about the problem,” he said in an email to The Beacon.

Wilson said, in turn, that can make it harder to feel secure, form relationships or thrive in school.

“When exposed to violence,” he wrote, “school-aged children tend to exhibit lower academic grades and increased absenteeism.”

This story was compiled by Scott Canon based on staff reporting. Suzanne King contributed.

This first appeared on and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: info@missouriindependent.com. Follow Missouri Independent on and .

In September 2019, Florida took an enhanced approach, becoming to require Child Trafficking Prevention Education to all K-12 students. This is a powerful rule which recognizes the higher incidence of human trafficking in Florida (our state ranks third in the nation for reports of trafficking, behind ) but also the close association between trafficking and histories of child sexual abuse among trafficking victims.

Sex trafficking often surfaces wherever large groups of people congregate in high-population areas that also serve as hubs for international travel. One such venue is Los Angeles, California, the site of Sunday’s Super Bowl. Law enforcement authorities have in conjunction with several past Super Bowls, though the association between Super Bowls and elevated sex-trafficking . 

What is undisputed is that sex trafficking destroys lives and its victims are much more likely to have The statistics bear out that crisis: 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 13 boys will be sexually exploited by the age of 18 and 70 to 90 percent of children who end up being sex trafficked have been . But we can do something: nationwide, mandatory, school-based, personal safety education would reach millions of students, both preventing child sexual abuse and stopping trafficking before it starts. 

The focuses on kindergarten through fifth grade personal safety education. So, what is child sexual abuse education and exploitation prevention education for this population? First, it is not sex education. These two endeavors (sexual abuse prevention, sex education) are often confused. In the Stay KidSafe! program we are not teaching about puberty, reproduction, and safe sex. We are teaching children that as individuals they are valued, that they have the right to be safe from harm. They learn that trusted adults exist — a carefully chosen teacher, grandparent, mentor or older sibling — to whom they can turn for help, and when and how to do so. These are protective skills, useful for a lifetime.

For many people, including adults, the words child sexual abuse and child exploitation are frightening. This is understandable. It is the unthinkable — the most heinous crime against our children. However, teaching personal safety to children need not be scary. In fact, personal safety education is most effective when taught from a place of empowerment, not fear.

When reviewing curricula for children on the topics of sexual abuse prevention and child trafficking prevention, it is imperative to seek programs that engage children on their level, and focus on skill-building, self-reliance and empowerment. The Stay KidSafe! K-5 program does not use the words abuse, sexual, grooming or trafficking. These words are for grown-ups. Children can, though, certainly learn that there are healthy body boundaries, the difference between a safe touch and an unsafe touch and how to access help from a trusted grown-up.

Stay KidSafe! is available free for all qualified educators, both in the state of Florida and throughout the nation. Everything required to teach the lessons is available on the foundation’s . Designed for the classroom teacher or school counselor, the program typically finds a home within a school’s social-emotional learning curriculum. Each new skill is introduced by . Most importantly, both the students and facilitators find the lessons engaging and fun. Each lesson provides children an opportunity to use — an inner voice that helps them make safe, smart choices and an assertive outer voice that keeps them and their friends safe — and discuss personal safety in an age-appropriate way via meaningful, non-frightening scenarios.

The program fosters a common culture of safety within each child’s school, classroom and home. This is key. Personal safety skills are taught and practiced repeatedly, year after year, with each new skill building on the last. That language becomes a part of each child’s vernacular, making it easier for them to communicate with adults about their everyday safety, both in person and online.

Children are our most valuable and vulnerable population. According to the CDC, child sexual abuse constitutes in our country. Broad primary prevention is needed to combat this crisis. The Stay KidSafe! program does this by building skills of resilience. When children learn protective skills, self-awareness and communication, and are given the time and guidance to practice problem-solving using these skills, we are building their resilience — their ability to manage challenges they face and access help when needed.

While the program addresses child sexual abuse and exploitation for elementary-age, the education and skills provided get middle school students ready to learn about sex trafficking and how to prevent it. Educating adults as well as children is central to making our society safer for all children, so the foundation provides similar education and skills to parents and educators. This includes the knowledge, awareness and tools to recognize, respond to and report sexual abuse and trafficking, such as state and local guidelines and mandates pertaining to known instances of sexual abuse and trafficking.

The more we are all knowledgeable about how offenders and traffickers operate in our communities, the better we can recognize and prevent their harmful behaviors and protect our children. We encourage everyone to join the nationwide movement to end child sexual abuse and exploitation.

Football reminds us of the nature of finite games — contests where there are fixed rules, a clear endpoint and easily identifiable winners and losers. On the other hand, an infinite game has one goal: to keep playing. Because of that, infinite players focus less on what has happened and more on what is possible. That mindset helps leaders effectively overcome challenges.

An election is a finite game. Democracy is an infinite game. The global pandemic is a finite match. Eliminating institutionalized disparities that are exposed during crises is an infinite one. 

Infinite challenges require as much innovation as they do ongoing attention. They require the ability to look at problems in a different way, to see opportunities to upend systems that never really worked for everybody anyway. Where are the bright spots? How can we highlight lessons learned? At , we leverage power in numbers — using data that reveals how students are succeeding and how systems are supporting or impeding that success, like the amount of funding per student in a school district. Such information illuminates the nation’s most pressing challenges, lays the foundation for tough conversations and brings communities to the table to act together. Community leaders accomplish more when they use data to guide small tests of change, innovate and then scale what works across systems — like housing, health, and education — that impact opportunity for young people.

Here are three things that I believe communities can do to put people of color and children living in poverty on a better path:

1. Use shared measurement systems at the community level to hold each other accountable for results. Leaders need more than a broad, common agenda; they need agreement on ways success will be measured. For example, in Norwalk, Connecticut, the community committed to making sure every child entered kindergarten ready to learn. , part of the , engaged 23 community partners to use the same tool to screen early childhood development to ensure that kids are on track. The shared measurement system and collaborative improvement strategies resulted in an increase in the number of children starting kindergarten ready to learn from 67 percent (2018-19) to 74 percent (2020-21).

2. Invest in data to redefine what’s possible. Data should be both quantitative and qualitative — there should be measurable results that also reflect the experiences of the community. It should be disaggregated to help shift practices, resources, policy and power to dig deeper into the roots of inequitable systems and to better understand what the target should be. For example, education shouldn’t ultimately be about credentials or prestige; it should be about creating economic mobility. In central Texas, research used data to understand racial, ethnic and income-based discrepancies in student math achievement. It found that disparities begin in fifth grade, with students of color and those living in poverty taking regular math classes rather than opting into advanced courses. Schools adopted a policy to automatically enroll middle school students in advanced math classes, and the community invested in highly qualified teachers. Central Texas now leads the state with the highest percentage of students completing Algebra 1 by eighth grade, at 40 percent. Among Black and Latino fifth graders with the highest math performance, the difference in Algebra 1 enrollment compared with their white peers has been reduced by 75 percent and 50 percent, respectively.

3. Develop an abundance mindset. More federal funding from the American Rescue Plan, information and technology are available now than ever before. It is time to invest in communities rather than merely deploying stopgap measures that stifle systemic change. For example, the city of Milwaukee recognized the impact of high turnover rates among early childhood professionals on young children and to supplement salaries to reward teacher education and incentivize continuity of care. This investment was made possible by shifting federal American Rescue Plan funds as a generational opportunity. Community leaders need audacious goals that force them to step up, not a scarcity mindset that keeps us from stepping out.

There is no doubt that the country is facing some incredible challenges. But now is not the time to back down or get distracted by political skirmishes that don’t prepare children for what’s to come. Those of us working in education and systems transformation need to take the courageous act of renouncing cynicism as the primary vehicle of change. It is time to embrace the nation’s core values of liberty and justice. As Toni Morrison wrote, “the function of freedom is to free someone else.”

Community leaders need to operate with an infinite mindset and examine the larger picture of what is at stake. This means looking toward accountability, possibility and abundance. This is not a Hail Mary pass thrown in desperation; this is a deliberate strategy to lean on what’s working. If we fumble this moment, we could be setting up for an entire generation of learning loss. But if we succeed, we’ll have a new generation of leaders who take us further than ever before.

Jennifer Blatz is president and CEO of , a nonprofit working to transform failing systems with a collaborative improvement methodology that directs data from small changes to inform adjustments in the community.