grassrootsactivisteducatio

Thank you for responding to my post. Yes, I am very well aware of the teacher mafia that is out there. I have run into them before and I keep telling them that this is for kids who are in single digit proficiency. Improving their lives improves everyone's lives including those of teachers. What I am trying to do has never (as far as I can see) been done before. I could be wrong and if I am then let me know because if there is someone out there who has done this, I would love to hear how they went about it, etc. I am trying to focus on changing the system (education reform). There are laws in place but they aren't followed and they aren't appropriately established. Education lacks the ability to be change and they approach everything from one lens instead of multiple. The main reason it's done that way is because it's always been done that way. But if we always did things the way it was done before we'd still be living in caves and hunting woolly mammoths. I don't think the org I am going to build would be heads down. I want to be able to actively support new and innovative methods with valid research as opposed to fads. Schools always say that t hey believe in personalized learning but their methodology is anything but and they are still trying to put kids into square pegs. Teachers lack creative autonomy over their classrooms. I am not planning on going back to teaching. I want to change the policies around education to make it better. So if that's the case, is policy a better option? I also like to present my case as to why it is good to have alternate points of view in the field. The one sided point of view has contributed to stifling the field and limiting creative research. so if I need to work on my quantitative, what do you recommend? I also would like to add that I appreciate hte feedback and I realize that this is a bit confusing as I am trying to do something that is not really "traditional." I do, however, find it is necessary as the current system is not effective. I genuinely hope that you have additional feedback and i do apologize for the confusion. My focus would be ot change the laws and the systems and have the research to support it as well as providing a voice for families who attend public schools. No one stands up for them and it affects the outcomes. I look forward to hearing from you.

I wanted to ask what chances I have of getting into an Education Policy Program. BEFORE you tell me education policy majors are a dime a dozen, I am not a typical education policy candidate....Not at all... I am a grassroots activist who fights for the rights of special needs children to get a free and appropriate education. I am a gubernatorial appointee to a Special Education Advisory Committee. I had a bill sponsored and passed through the legislature last year and I have at least one more going through this year. I started an advocacy group with a friend which has grown and we help all people understand their children's rights as the current system in place really only helps wealthy people who can pay for what they need. I have an amazing passion for this field as I see it as a true injustice perpetrated against disabled kids and their families. Now on to the stats: I took the GRE but did badly as my father was dying of cancer at the time and ended up in the 80th percentile. I would like to retake them as that is the worst I have done on a standardized test. Undergraduate: 3.2 at an ivory and 3.4 with double honors at a state school finishing with 3.7 at a small private college. Graduate courses with 3.2 gpa while working 6o hours a week and attending school full time. Target Schools: Harvard, Stanford, Upenn, Columbia, Princeton, Carnegie Mellon, JHU I am not a teacher and have no intention of teaching. Since I have been working on legislation to improve education, I would like to continue working on that and possibly working for a think tank or the government itself. I intend to focus specifically on civil rights for disabled children and people. LORs: might be a problem. I have not been in school in some time. I also run the advocacy group so I am the person in charge. I have done research but largely to support the bills and show that the education provided is not the same. I am thinking about this. Advise for applications and what are my chances here? I would like to go to Harvard because the staff there has done significant research on family engagement and education which I support as it is a predictor of academic success. Thank you

I also applied to the Upenn GSE.