Episode 115 | Allison Ohle, Executive Director, Diamond Educational Excellence Partnership (DEEP)

In this excellent episode, Nancy and Jose are joined in the studio by Allison Ohle, the Executive Director of the Diamond Educational Excellence Partnership (DEEP).

Listen to Ohle talk about the efforts her group is making to raise the literacy rates in San Diego Unified's elementary schools. The three primary goals of Deep, also known as the Diamond Educational Excellence Partnership, are to support families and community members in preparing young children for kindergarten, guarantee that reading instruction is delivered effectively in schools, and offer additional after-school programs to students who require extra assistance. Deep seeks to establish a thorough support system for literacy development by reducing obstacles for families, allowing parents to serve as their children's first instructors, and giving teachers the tools and training they need. Allison highlights the value of early language development and assists parents in coming up with plans to help their kids become proficient readers.

Allison draws attention to the achievements of Deep's programs, pointing out that partner schools do better than their peers in the same demographic. She credits the organization's strong community ties and data-driven approach for its success. Deep's work include recruiting community liaisons to cultivate ties with families, decodable books for individual practice, and teacher training and support. 

Hear Allison discuss the importance and value of evidence-based approaches, community engagement, and the conviction that all families and educators are doing the best they can with the tools at their disposal.

An excellent episode on filling gaps in the community with Allison Ohle. Here are some other takeaways from the interview:

• Deep San Diego focuses on improving literacy rates in elementary schools through community support, effective reading instruction, and additional out-of-school programming.
• The organization uses a data-driven approach and strong community partnerships to help their partner schools outperform their demographic peers.
• Key initiatives include training teachers, providing decodable books, and hiring community liaisons to build relationships with families.
• Allison Ohle emphasizes the importance of early language development and the collective effort of families, teachers, and the community in supporting children's literacy.
• The answers to the rapid-fire questions.

An excellent interview from a passionate gap minder. Thank you, Allison, for your contributions in San Diego, and for joining us on The Gap Minders.

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