Who is behind this initiative?

One of the most frustrating things for people trying to make a positive difference is when people ask, “Who’s behind it?”  It is very hard not to think, “Don’t these people have a mind of their own? Why do they need to know what others think in order to have an opinion of their own?”  Is this perhaps why so little positive gets done, because everyone is waiting for someone else to do it or endorse it?

Ready-for-fifth is as initiative and not an organization.  There are more than enough already existing organizations to get the job done.  Establishing one more would simply add to the overheads and create additional fragmentation in the effort to do good.

Our assumption is that existing organizations of the type we have mentioned truly do care about improving education and closing the education gap and that they will therefore adjust their plans to support initiatives they believe can best achieve the desired result.  If they do not do so, we have to assume:

  1. They know of a better way to accomplish the desired result (100% of students at 100% mastery of all core subjects within 8 years – and 4th graders at 100% grade level in math within 1 year) in which case we ask that they tell us so we can switch our efforts to also support that solution.
  2. They really do not believe this solution will lead to the desired results, in which case we ask them to tell us exactly which aspect they believe will fail and why (assuming they would apply themselves fully to helping it succeed).
  3. They are not really as interested in the goal of improving education for all and closing the education gap as we thought or they present themselves to be.

In summary, we hope that your primary goal is improving education and closing the education gap and that you will judge the ideas presented on this site on their own merit and hopefully join in making them a success.  As a minimum, to the degree you have concerns or see weaknesses in the proposals, we hope you will share your concerns with us as well as any suggestions for making it better.

Thanks for any questions, feedback, suggestions or offers to help.

Thank you for your interest.