Last summer we moved into our home in Edgewater, and thankfully, the backyard landscaping looked beautiful. Four aspen trees were planted in the backyard and seemed to be growing well. After a year of fast growth, we began to realize a problem with the trees. They were planted right below the power lines and as you can see from the picture above, were starting to hit the lines.
According to the power company Xcel, trees that grow 40 feet and above should be planted far from the house. When the prior homeowners planted the trees, they obviously weren’t thinking ahead of what might happen a few years down the road.
Now we have to either prune our aspen trees or cut them down all together.
What do aspen trees have to do with our work in education and collective impact?
Aspens experience fast yet short growth
According to Robert Cox, a horticulturist at CSU Extension, aspens in an urban environment grow fast, but even if they are cared for properly, live for less than 20 years. In an effort to have yards look “finished,” aspens are planted in the Denver area. This is not their natural habitat. It’s a quick fix.
How often do we look for quick fixes in education? How often do we try out a new curriculum or education fad with the hopes that it will cure systematic issues like poverty? Like the prior homeowners who planted aspens without thinking of the long term risks of planting under power lines, we look for quick fix programs in education that look good now but aren’t smart long term.
In our cradle to career work, we are looking for long term solutions that fit our context. We are stepping outside of the education ecosystem to ask hard questions about what will help children succeed from cradle to career.
Why do students at D’Evelyn High School in the suburbs perform better than students at Jefferson High School?
Why do lower income, Latino students at Strive Prep in Denver see academic success but lower income, Latino students at Wheat Ridge Middle School don’t?
Do we expect students in our area to succeed academically or do we expect less because students are growing up in poverty?
Aspens grow together in an expansive root system
According to CU researcher Michael Grant, “Aspen stands are just as complex below ground as above. Their intricate network of roots can ferry nutrients from one part of the clone to another. Roots near an abundant water supply, for example, may provide water to other roots and shoots in a much drier area.” Aspens thrive together in the higher mountain climates yet when they are transplanted to the Front Range of Colorado to our suburban yards, they live short lives.
I tell people that our collective impact work involves studying and connecting the education ecosystem in our area. Just like aspens who thrive together with an intricate network of roots, our education system with its many organizations and stakeholders needs to be interconnected.
With all the roadblocks and challenges of poverty, parents can’t educate their children alone.
Our teachers and school leaders can’t help students succeed alone.
Like aspen stands, we need to develop a root system that connects and sustains us long term, so that each child can have the chance to succeed from cradle to career. Organizations need to work together with the local schools to offer the necessary supports. And sometimes we need to tell an organization to invest somewhere else because there is already enough overlap in programming.
So the next time you see an aspen tree, remember that our communities and schools are part of intricate systems that either help children succeed or hinder their growth. We can’t succeed alone.
