Smith spends his days at the NEA poring over research about state educational achievement testing, like Massachusetts’ MCAS tests or the New York Regents exams and working to ensure educational equity.
While he loves the internship, Smith says that much of the strength of the program comes from the other students and spending time with “20 other people interested in social justice issues.”
“A lot of the learning we’ve been doing is learning from each other,” Akbar said. “It’s been really thought provoking, learning strategies for fighting injustice.”
The program is funded largely through a grant by the Ford Foundation with additional help from the Texaco Corporation.
CRS covers all of the students’ housing expenses, transportation to and from Washington and provides a small weekly stipend to cover food expenses. At the end of the summer, the students are given a $1500 scholarship to cover “what they might have made in a regular job,” Rose says.
“I can’t imagine doing anything better this summer,” Smith says.
—Staff writer Garrett M. Graff can be reached at ggraff@fas.harvard.edu.