Senior Neha Dronamraju is doing an independent study regarding policy reform in the Dallas Independent School District for undocumented and ESL/ELL students. She will be sharing her experience as a contributor to The Fourcast in her blog, “Esta Tierra es Tu Tierra.” 

“The focus of this blog is to chronicle the experiences and outcomes from my independent study. I am working in collaboration with the Teen Voices program, which is the student wing of the Leadership ISD initiative. The goal is to bring about educational policy reform, which will positively impact ESL/ELL (English as second language/English Language Learners) and undocumented students in our community.”

-Neha Dronamraju

Read her last post here.

In this blog, I am introducing the organizations I work with.

Leadership ISD

An organization built on vision for a Texas where public education offers opportunity and hope to all children, Leadership ISD advances educational excellence and equity by informing and connecting leaders to shape policy, lead strategically, and champion change. Driven by the shared cause of educational equity, leaders in the community came together. They pooled their resources and started helping one school at a time. To qualify helping- setting up better programs for ESL students, better understanding the demographic and students’ needs, understanding the flaws in the system. Together they formed Leadership ISD, and now they strive to fulfill their mission of educational equity. I participate in an extension of this called the Student Voices Program.

Student Voices

The Dallas ISD board is run by professionals; adults who often lack a student’s perspective while making impactful, life-changing decisions for students. The purpose of the Student Voices program is to provide a much needed student perspective to the DISD board.

Within the student voices programs, there are 4 cohorts. Each cohort is comprised of different public and private schools alike. This purpose of this setup is to get people from all walks of life to mingle and share experiences and perspectives. Each of the cohorts meet individually six times a year to hear about, discuss, and plan solutions for problems in DISD.

Neha Dronamraju – Contributor