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The inspiring way this Grammy and Oscar winner is working to transform education.

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Common knows a thing or two about wrestling with tough subjects.

In his 25-plus years as a Grammy- and Oscar-winning rapper, actor, advocate, and activist, the Chicago native has gone up against racial injustice, social inequality, and poverty with his powerful words and performances.

But recently, he has taken an active role in another tough battle: education reform.

All photos courtesy of XQ.

In 2006, he started the Common Ground Foundation, a nonprofit that, as he puts it, isn't trying to "preach" to kids, but rather inspire them to lift themselves up.

"I always believed that if we started with the youth then we would be planting the seeds for our future to blossom," says Common in his organization's mission statement. "Give the children a sense of hope, self-esteem, and love that will better the world."

Common's idea for improving education revolves around one simple concept: Education has to evolve.

"I think education has to evolve when society evolves," Common says. "It's like a constant evolution of what the youth may need and what they're attentive to ... and finding out those things and letting that curriculum be something that's progressive."

"I still think about the periodic charts in science that I can still recite," Common says, remembering a science teacher from his youth who made his students rattle off the elements of the periodic table in a rhythmic pattern. He used an engaging and youthful form of communication to teach a lesson that stuck. "His method was fun," he explains.

XQ Luminary: Common
Thanks to one very special teacher, this rapper can still recite the elements of the periodic table.
Posted by Upworthy on Thursday, December 14, 2017

Around the country, more and more schools are helping their students by engaging directly with their interests.

There's Youth On Record, an organization that helps kids catch up on missed high school credits by teaching them music production, and classrooms like Makerspace in Phoenix, where kids can build whatever they want.

If the American education system is to be improved, finding out what kids actually enjoy — and using that to teach — could be a crucial way to do it.

"We have to relate to one another," Common says. "Teachers have to know how to relate. If we can relate as educators, and teachers and school systems to the youth, they will receive it and retain it. And go out and apply it at a higher level."

Whether it's music, fashion, or building robots, there are lessons to be learned everywhere. Common believes that harnessing the power of those natural interests is the key to our future."But I'm just offering my two cents," he says.

"My Common sense. Pun intended."

Learn more at XQSuperSchool.org.

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Her future was laid out. But a passion for justice took her places she never imagined.

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Christine Bischoff grew up in a small southern West Virginia coal town.

"Everyone's dad was a coal miner, and very few people were educated," Bischoff says. It was the type of place where opportunities were few and far between.

There were about six career choices in the whole town.

Christine Bischoff. All photos courtesy of XQ.

"You basically picked one, and that's what you were going to be," Bischoff says. She went with the one that, to her, sounded the most fun: physical therapy.

Then Bischoff's life changed permanently because of her teacher, acclaimed poet Maya Angelou.

"To a 21-year-old, everything she said was mind-blowing," Bischoff says. "Because you'd never thought of the world like that."

Angelou — whose work extended far beyond poetry into activism, social work, and civil justice — was also an education advocate who spoke on numerous occasions about the power and importance of learning. Bischoff had her as a professor in college.

One day, Angelou gave her class a sage piece of advice: If you don't like the path you're on, step off of it.

"So I literally walked out of the class and said, 'I'm not going to be a physical therapist. I'm going to be a civil rights attorney. I'm going to change the world," Bischoff said.

Now she works as an attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center's children's rights department.

The SPLC's work for children fights for education reform on multiple fronts. They work toward ending the notorious school-to-prison pipeline that disproportionately harms black and Latino students. They ensure equal access to education for children in poverty as well as disabled children, and they also provide the mental health services that low-income and marginalized children often can't get on their own.

Every day, Bischoff works directly with kids who have been discriminated against or put at a disadvantage by the education system.

"When school districts or the state department of education violates [student's] rights, we go in and try to remedy the violation so that all students have equal opportunity that they're entitled to under the law," Bischoff says. In other words, when the SPLC finds a systemic injustice in the education system, they try to fix it permanently.

For Bischoff, fighting for education is a direct way to make the world a better place.

"If we don't fix the problems in our education, every piece of our society is going to suffer," she says. From the global economy to growing industries in science and tech to seemingly insurmountable world problems like climate change, educating every single child is a necessity.

"It's very easy to lose sight — that we all are in this together," Bischoff says. "Everybody wins or loses with what happens to education."

For Bischoff, the path toward a better world began with a simple step off a predetermined path — an opportunity that millions of kids might not get.

Giving kids equal access to education is giving them access to equal opportunity. It's giving them the knowledge that if they don't like where their path is going, they too have the ability to step off and forge a new one.

See Christine Bischoff's full story here:

XQ Luminaries: Christine Bischoff
Her roots in rural West Virginia inspired her to fight for equal education for all children.
Posted by Upworthy on Wednesday, December 6, 2017

Learn more at XQSuperSchool.org.

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Her history was erased from her classes. Now she's making sure it won't happen again.

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Family History Day is an amazing opportunity for kids to discuss their heritage with their classmates. Most of the time.

Michelle Morales still chokes up when she thinks of how heartbroken she felt when she came to school eager to teach her class about her Puerto Rican ties to Taíno Native Americans and was met with opposition. Her teacher insisted that her ties to indigenous culture were not real.

"That sticks with me," Morales says, "because in that moment, a history that I should have been proud of was erased."

Watch her tell her story:

XQ Luminaries: Michelle Morales
It's so important for students to have teachers who look like them, understand their culture, and most importantly, believe in them.
Posted by Upworthy on Wednesday, November 29, 2017

"My culture, my history, was never taught," Morales says. And unfortunately, she’s not alone.

It's been said that history is written by the victors, and for minority students, that means their history is often not written at all. History textbooks focus on American history as told by white Anglo-Saxon men, leading kids of color to believe they have no place in the country's narrative.

Photo via Mivka Challenge, used with permission.

When kids don't see themselves reflected in American history, it becomes more difficult to picture themselves in America's future. To empower a diverse generation of future leaders, we need youth of color to be represented and included.

Morales is on a mission to make sure kids of color don't repeat her past experiences.

As the executive officer of Mikva Challenge in Chicago, Morales helps design and implement programs that get kids engaged in making social change early on.

Photo via Mivka Challenge, used with permission.

"Youth of color do not see themselves in the larger political structure and the larger narrative of the American story," she says. "We want youth to know that they are important to the change of our society."

Through Mikva, young people are given the opportunity to become civically engaged and see for themselves that they have the potential to make positive change.

Mikva teaches kids about policymaking, electoral engagement, and community problem-solving through hands-on projects. The program was founded as an all-volunteer civic engagement project and named after former White House counsel, judge, and U.S. congressman Abner Mikva and his activist wife Zoe.

Now, Mivka is a more than 6,000-student program, working to educate a generation of young people about their nation's politics.

Photo via Mivka Challenge, used with permission.

It not only prepares them for lives of civic engagement as adults, but it shows them that there's no need to wait until they're older to get started on projects they care about.

Mikva has already affected over 10,000 youth in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C.

But its message isn't limited to any geographical location. The "Mikva model," as it's called, "assumes that young people deserve a voice in our democratic process, and it challenges educators and public officials to invite, and meaningfully include, youth in civic decision-making."

Photo via XQ/Mikva Challenge.

That's an initiative that every organization can — and should — implement.

As for Morales, she's focused on making the future better for the kids who come after her. "I do this for them," she says. "I do this to make things better for them. I don’t want them to go through what I have gone through and what other people of color have gone through."

Learn more at XQSuperSchool.org.

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How one teacher who was told she wasn't college material is boosting teacher diversity.

'Teachers need to mirror the student population.'

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When Margarita Bianco was getting ready to apply to colleges, her guidance counselor told her she "wasn’t college material."

His remark almost put a huge damper on Bianco's plans for her future.

"I almost listened to him, thinking he knew more than I did," she recalls.

Thankfully, however, she refused to be knocked down by his defeating words. She applied to college anyway and ended up getting into William Paterson University.

Margarita Bianco. Photo via XQ.

"The first thing I did with my acceptance letter was place that letter on [my guidance counselor's] desk," Bianco says.

She wanted him to know how wrong he was about her but also that, as an educator, his words have power and can have detrimental effects on students.

It's unclear whether the counselor's opinion of Bianco was influenced by racial prejudice, but several other similar school experiences led her to assume it played a part.

She made it her mission to "flip the script" and do something about the lack of diversity among public school teachers.

[rebelmouse-image 19529985 dam="1" original_size="1066x800" caption="Pathways2Teaching student working with a younger student. Image via Pathways2Teaching, used with permission." expand=1]Pathways2Teaching student working with a younger student. Image via Pathways2Teaching, used with permission.

She started a program called Pathways2Teaching, which was designed to encourage high school students, especially students of color, to pursue a teaching career.

"Teachers need to mirror the student population," Bianco declares.

83% of teachers in America are white, and 75% are women. Meanwhile, minorities make up the majority of public school students. That doesn't exactly help them embrace their cultures and backgrounds.

Despite the current disparity, studies have found that students, no matter their race, generally prefer to have teachers of color.

[rebelmouse-image 19529986 dam="1" original_size="1100x679" caption="A male student teacher working with kids. Image via Pathways2Teaching, used with permission." expand=1]A male student teacher working with kids. Image via Pathways2Teaching, used with permission.

What's more, students of color tend to perform better academically when they have a teacher of color. The theory behind this is that students are more likely to connect with teachers who are sensitive to their cultural needs.

Such role models were sorely lacking in Bianco's adolescence, which is why she was inspired to become a teacher in the first place.

Now in its eighth year, Pathways2Teaching is well on its way to becoming an academic model for the entire country.

A teacher reads to students. Photo via XQ.

Similar to Grow Your Own Teachers, Pathways is helping set a precedent for the kind of diversity all schools should be advocating for. By fostering local prospective teachers of color, they're not only encouraging educator diversity, they're showing students how valuable people of color are to the academic community.

In a country that's in desperate need of some new role models, there couldn't be a better time for a program like this to flourish.

Learn more at XQSuperSchool.org.

Learn more about Pathways and Bianco's story here:

XQ Luminaries: Margarita Bianco
Through a curriculum focused on cultural understanding, this teacher is motivating students of color to become engaged in education.
Posted by Upworthy on Tuesday, November 21, 2017

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These girls are using their love of science to bridge international borders.

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Every day, hundreds of kids in Mexico wake up extra early to cross the border and attend school in the U.S.

It's an unusual commute with border traffic, security checks, and metal detectors all before your first class, but parents jump at the opportunity to have their kids educated in the United States. And for the most part, the schools are happy to have them.

The border in El Paso, Texas. All images via XQ Super School Project.

It's no secret that many of these kids face serious disadvantages in school. There are language barriers and discrimination to deal with on top of the fact that many of the children come from impoverished communities.

Additionally, the proposed border wall between the United States and Mexico threatens to tear some of these communities in half and leave kids further behind.

El Paso, Texas, is a city that shares a deep relationship with its twin city — Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.

The teachers in El Paso welcome Mexican students as their own and recognize that giving them the best education possible isn't just the right thing to do, it's essential to building a better world.

"It's really important for people to understand that Ciudad Juárez and El Paso, we are one community," says Liza Montelongo, executive director of the El Paso STEM Foundation. "Yes, we have a river that divides us, and yes, we are two countries, but ultimately if we are depriving one part of our community, then we are doing a disservice to all of us."

To help bring their community together, one school in El Paso decided to form a group that takes aim at another issue.

Women entering careers in science, technology, engineering, and math face a multitude of barriers. There are large systemic biases like the gender pay gap as well as smaller, more personal impediments.

For example, young girls who do well in STEM classes are often teased, and their potential interest in the subjects isn't cultivated as much as it might be for a young boy.

That's where the "Chicas" come in.

XQ Rethink High School: El Paso
They may live in different countries, but they tackle science projects together as classmates.
Posted by Upworthy on Wednesday, November 1, 2017

The Chicas are a badass group of girls who are bridging international borders with their love for science.

They work together building robots, programing computers, and cultivating their love for STEM.

"As girls get older, sometimes it's not cool to be smart," Montelongo says. "So our goal is to try and say, you know what, it's OK to be a nerd."

Not only are the Chicas helping to close the gender gap in STEM, they're creating leaders in a marginalized community.

People in STEM are the leaders and innovators of the future. They're the ones who can use their talents and out-of-the-box thinking to solve the biggest problems facing the world — and research shows that when STEM fields are diversified, they produce better ideas.

For the twin cities of Ciudad Juárez and El Paso, the Chicas provide an opportunity to come together and celebrate a common passion.

"It doesn't matter if you live on the north side of the river or you live on the south side," Montelongo says. "We need to be able to give them some type of opportunity to be able to have their dream."

It's a simple idea — bringing marginalized students together to celebrate science — but anyone who loves STEM knows that simple ideas can change the world.

Learn more at XQSuperSchool.org.

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When these kids are told to create their own classroom, the results are badass.

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Think back to high school. What if your teacher had told you to throw out the curriculum and run the class yourself?

What would you have done? Would you extend recess by several periods? Would you turn the class into Watching "Real Housewives of Atlanta" 101?

Or would you pull yourselves together, get creative, and make something incredible like, say, a piano powered by celery and old bananas?

If your answer is the latter, you'd probably love Makerspace in Phoenix.

These students are defying expectations and turning their scientific ideas into reality.
Posted by Upworthy on Thursday, October 26, 2017

"Makerspace is a place for students to make," says Amber Henry, a Makerspace teacher and coordinator. "It's for them to do what they're passionate about. They get to take an idea that's in their head and make it a physical reality."

Students decide what they want to make and are guided by experts into making it real.

Everything from computer games to rudimentary electronics to art projects to a piano powered by celery and bananas is brought to life by the students of Makerspace, and the lessons are self-evident.

All photos via XQ Super School Project.

"When we tell students that there's math in this room, and there's science in this room, and there's English in this room, they see the collaboration," Henry says. "They see the connection."

More than just a lawless play-space, Makerspace lets students take control of their own learning in a really unique way.

Everyone struggles occasionally with the traditional class structure, and sometimes, reading textbooks and staring at PowerPoint presentations isn't the best way to learn.

"A lot of kids tend to think that high school is boring," says Hayden Araza, a Makerspace student, "because they're not given the opportunity to say what they want to do. ... We're gonna make our own rubric. We don't need one of yours."

That shift in thinking is particularly important for Phoenix's large population of low-income and minority students, who often fall behind in a traditional education system that's stacked against them.

Students in Phoenix are "often from low-income backgrounds, and they're often minorities," says Pearl Chang Esau of Expect More Arizona.

"These kids can change the world. The question is whether we are gonna support them and invest in them and give them the teachers and resources that they need to do that."

As more kids enter this existing educational system, it's going to take creative ideas like Makerspace to give them a chance.

With the job market more competitive than ever, kids need every possible chance to get a leg up. One of the best ways to do that is to give them a space where they can discover their own passions for science — and put real-life skills to use.

The "normal" high school classroom isn't always the most engaging or beneficial place for young minds.

Getting kids excited about learning is about giving them control, letting them try and fail, so that later on, they can succeed. Or, as these minds see it, improving education is about challenging what we've come to accept as standard.

Learn more at XQSuperSchool.org.

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The awesome way one school is helping students broadcast messages to the world.

They're reaching their community on a level above and beyond social media.

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After the tragedy of Michael Brown, kids everywhere were eager to have their opinions on the subject heard.

This was especially true in Missouri.

Student protest in Ferguson, Missouri. Image via XQ.

In the months following the shooting, there were numerous student protests over racial bias and discrimination. Young people were angry, and they wanted change — both in their hometowns and on the national level.

[rebelmouse-image 19531703 dam="1" original_size="640x480" caption="A Ferguson protest at Stanford University. Photo by Paul George/Flickr." expand=1]A Ferguson protest at Stanford University. Photo by Paul George/Flickr.

Today, the protests and fights for justice are ongoing because the problems are far from over. Many people turn to social media to keep the many conversations around these issues relevant, but that can sometimes feel like screaming into a void of millions of other voices.

The students of Ritenour High School had a special way to get their voices heard over the crowd though: a professional media lab.

Image via XQ.

The lab at the school near St. Louis, Missouri, is outfitted with all the tools the kids need to create fully produced radio shows and television broadcasts about the issues they care about and the news stories that affect them.

"Our school has been very forward-thinking with journalism," explains Jane Bannester, a teacher at Ritenour. "It wasn't just 'I'm doing an assignment and I'm turning it in.' It's 'I'm doing it, and there are people in our community who are hearing this and looking to us to tell these different stories.'"

The students genuinely feel like they're making a difference in speaking to their community at large.

It's also giving them the skills they need to work in media professionally.

The lab allows the students to get hands-on experience producing their own media programs so they can have a sense of how it's done in the real world. This type of training is vital for kids who want to pursue careers in the fast-paced world of journalism and broadcast news.

A student watches a television broadcast taping. Image via XQ.

Anyone can post their opinions on social media outlets, but it takes serious training and skill to get those opinions to reach a major audience. Ritenour's media program is giving its students the means to do just that in a way that counts.

It's no surprise that Rintenour is on its way to becoming an XQ Super School. XQ is helping schools nationwide adapt to an ever-advancing world. Their high-tech classroom is what people running the project hope all classrooms across the country will eventually look like — one that's filled with tools that will better prepare them to take on any career in media they choose.

Today, it seems like there's never not a "breaking news" moment. Thanks to this awesome media lab setup, you know these students will be covering them.

The Ritenour students may just be kids, but their interactive lab classroom has allowed them to be heard on a level that rivals local news stations.

In the not-too-distant future, the skills they're picking up in this classroom will help them rise up in the competitive media business, but right now, it's helping them realize their voices matter and deserve to be amplified.

Learn more at XQSuperSchool.org.

Check out their whole story here:

These students are telling stories that need to be told, and their community is listening.
Posted by Upworthy on Wednesday, October 18, 2017