Rocketship Public Schools

Micheal Bray

Micheal Bray, CSM, is Director of External Affairs at Rocketship Public Schools California, leading charter renewal, advocacy and community partnerships. With over a decade in K–8 education as a teacher, principal and leader at KIPP Metro Atlanta, he brings extensive school leadership experience. He also leverages nonprofit expertise and agile project management skills to advance educational equity

My progression from classroom to an education advocacy role is rewarding in the sense that I feel my impact has scaled in many different ways. While it would be difficult to reduce the many facets of advocacy work to a phrase, it’s “simply” the education of communities about the power that they hold as it relates to issues that impact our quality of life. In this instance, my work belongs to the field of education and the collaboration with students, parents and school communities who believe that your zip code should not determine access to high-quality education.

As a former classroom educator and instructional coach fortunate enough to have led buildings of adults and students K-8, I can attest to the fact that the relational work of understanding the personalities and learning styles of students and instructional professionals is worth its weight in gold. Understanding the values and beliefs of your team not only supports moving the needle for student outcomes but also has this residual outcome of making the work (dare I say it) enjoyable.

“I work to advocate in a way that both elevates community voice, while simultaneously developing their skills for coalition building and their own personal inherent power recognition that hopefully transcends just one cause.”

Over the last few years, I’ve worked to deepen the understanding of various external, influential figures—school board trustees, legislators, community associations and others, about the transformative educational work being done in historically disenfranchised communities.

Through the elevation and development of community voice, I advocate in a way that both empowers communities and builds their skills in coalition-building, fostering recognition of their inherent power that can transcend a single cause. This work educates community members about the issues at hand while simultaneously developing skills that can have a broader, lasting impact.

Over the years, my personal growth has been found in the understanding that this work does not have to be lonely or done in isolation. Having worked in high-performing schools, I wanted to go fast, and I wanted it to be complete; whether in the field of advocacy or direct instruction, that space is where the deficit of community representation exists. No capacities are being built when doing “for” and not “with.”

“Fast and alone” didn’t connect to my previous learnings about how valuable relationship building to understand perspectives can be. Further, it’s through the development of those understandings that learning can occur to promote change. Change that comes in the form of conversations that create positive outcomes for kids and coalitions of individuals who will propel the work of educational advocacy forward for generations to come.