Partners CEO Gives Keynote Address to Kick Off the School Year in Battle Creek, Michigan

In a keynote address to the educators of Battle Creek Public Schools, Derek Mitchell helped the district begin the 2023-24 school year with inspiration and determination.

Derek began by celebrating the local community’s growing investment in their schools as well as the district’s decision to increase teachers’ salaries. He also acknowledged the district’s challenges – graduation rates and reading scores that are among the lowest in the state.

He then explained his background and how it led him to work with communities like Battle Creek. Derek described his days as a middle school student in Chicago, attending science fairs at schools throughout the city and seeing vast disparities in resources at schools serving mostly White students versus those serving mostly Black students. When young Derek asked his principal why there were such large differences, she replied, “I don’t know how things got this way, but maybe you’ll be the one to change it for the better.” Derek has spent the past 40 years tackling this challenge throughout the country.

Dr. Mitchell went on to express hope that the educators of Battle Creek will treat their students as well as the teachers at his middle school treated him despite being underfunded and overworked. He asked BCPS educators to answer Superintendent Kimberly Carter’s call to know the names, needs, and strengths of each of the district’s 13,000 students.

“You know that inside every single one of our children are hundreds of bright futures. The question to ask yourself when you see that previously invisible and unknown child passing through your school, your class, or your bus is, ‘Am I helping them achieve one of those futures, or am I in the way?’”

Derek argued that truly seeing the young people of today and helping them reach their potential is imperative. He outlined the many complex challenges facing society – for example, climate change, income inequality, racism, and political violence – and the skill required to solve them.

“Students who are more powerful thinkers, problem solvers, and collaborators than we were, are a necessity. Because of our inability to solve big problems bequeathed to us by our parents, we are leaving them a world that needs a better citizenry. The challenges have gone from urgent to existential.”

Next, Derek outlined what will be required to equip students to tackle these challenges, beginning with strong literacy instruction. “We’re talking about making students masters of language, and that starts with reading and extends to understanding complex linguistic constructions, persuading with evidence, and listening for nuance.” He cited the successful effort to vastly improve reading scores in Jackson, Mississippi as proof that big gains are possible.

Dr. Mitchell then talked about the power of applying improvement science to Battle Creek’s challenges. He explained that continuous-improvement methods, implemented correctly, “respect professionalism and recognize that failure is part of improvement, and that everyone – from leaders to students – needs to be safe to fail if they’re expected to learn.”

Improving means doing something differently, which requires being comfortable with change. Navigating and harnessing change are part of what is required to bring out the greatness in Battle Creek’s students, asserted Mitchell.

He ended on an inspirational note, telling educators “once you have these skills, you can be the engine for improvement for your school and district….You are more powerful than any of us has ever realized because you are the masons building the foundation of the very future of this city, this state, this country.”