The mission of my organization, Fort Worth Education Partnership, is to support opportunities that increase access to a high-quality education for Fort Worth children. Once you do this work for a while, you begin to realize that it is not enough to provide funding to worthwhile programs, organizations, and schools (although that is a lot). You also … Continue reading New Blog Post: Adding Our Voices to the Chorus →

I recently sat down with The Great Noticing podcast with sisters and working moms MaryAnn and Emily to discuss the state of education in Fort Worth—what’s working, what needs improvement, and why FWEP's mission is that all children deserve access to high-quality education. In the second half of the episode, the conversation took a more … Continue reading New Podcast Episode →

Fort Worth's Mayor Mattie Parker said recently: “We cannot allow poverty to be the determining factor in a child’s success academically.” I've written a blog post about this for Fort Worth Education Partnership's website here: https://fortworthep.org/education-matters-great-expectations/.

Yesterday my organization, Fort Worth Education Partnership, released our annual report on the academic performance of children in Fort Worth's public schools. Unfortunately, the report shows that children in our city's 12 ISDs and 14 public charter schools/networks did not improve from the 2022-2023 school year. The percentage of children meeting grade-level requirements actually decreased … Continue reading 2024 City of Fort Worth Academic Report →

I have been friends with Jon Altschuler and Scott Bennett since kindergarten. Scott and I were in the same kindergarten class, and Jon and I lived on the same block throughout most of our growing up years. Here we are on the Bowie Mustangs in 1981. That's me on the second row in the middle. … Continue reading Podcast Interview →

When I was a pastor, I led each of the three churches I served though a similar strategic planning process. The end goal of the process was to have a shared near-term vision for the congregation with goals and plans for the next 3-5 years. The beginning of the process, though, was always a clear-eyed … Continue reading Closing the Gap →

Several years ago, Pete Geren of the Sid Richardson Foundation and I began to realize how few of the kids in our local public schools were reading and doing math at grade level. For example, in all of the district and charter schools located in the city of Fort Worth, only 36% of kids are … Continue reading Go Beyond Grades →

Monday, August 17, 2020 This is a classic from Richard Rohr that is good for me to re-read every couple of years. It Must Happen to UsMonday, August 17, 2020 Sooner or later, if we are on any classic “spiritual schedule,” some event, person, death, idea, or relationship will enter our lives that we simply … Continue reading Falling Upward →

Surely, in the end, after all our righteous judgments on what is wrong with ourselves, each other, and with the world; after we experience injustice intractably resistant to our most devoted efforts, leaving us with our thirst unquenched, our mouths dry, and our throats sore from protest; surely in the end the gospel calls us … Continue reading After all our righteous judgments… →

Here are some recent articles featuring our work trying to help our city accurately perceive the current reality: State tests show most Fort Worth kids are behind in reading.  Their parents have no idea: https://www.star-telegram.com/news/local/education/article279382464.html ‘Right where we left them last year’: Report finds only 1 in 3 Fort Worth students met grade level in … Continue reading There is a Buddhist thought that to accurately perceive reality is a moral act →