Five minutes, 20 slides. What would you say?

At every Ignite, 16 artists, technologists, thinkers, and personalities will take the stage to answer this challenge.

Location:

Washington, D.C. 20001
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Ignite DC #9

Mark Hecker

Pimpin' Pretty Junk: The Contemporary Education Reform Movement

Bill Gates currently plays a large role in driving the narrative in today's Education Reform Movement. We need a Steve Jobs.

We live in a country where 21% of students enter 9th grade reading at or above grade level (13% in DC). In this fair city, less than 10% of students receive a college diploma within 10 years of starting high school. We desperately need some reality distortion. We've run out of time for reform, this crisis requires a revolution.

What does revolution look like? Far outside the mainstream educational discourse, good things are happening. We'll learn what prevents these great ideas from spreading and how we can create a revolution in DC right now.

About Mark Hecker:

Mark Hecker is the Founder and Executive Director of Reach Incorporated. In 2007, he was named DC Social Worker of the Year by The Consortium for Child Welfare - the youngest person to ever receive that honor. He is a graduate of Duke University, The University of North Carolina School of Social Work, and The Harvard University Graduate School of Education. He is a recent recipient of the Echoing Green Fellowship, the world's most prestigious prize for early-stage social entrepreneurs. He lives in NE, works in SE, and serves as a volunteer pen pal for a DC inmate in California. Mark was not born in DC - he's from Philly - but he plans to die here.