About This Effort

Through Your Lens is a collaboration of The 21st Century School Fund, Critical Exposure, and Healthy Schools Campaign to raise awareness of the need to fund school buildings that support learning and provide a safe, healthy environment for students and teachers.

By sharing photos and stories of what they see every day at school, students and teachers will provide us all with an honest window into today’s school buildings.

Bringing school facilities into the national dialogue on education

Through the past year, Congress has discussed the future of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), known most recently as No Child Left Behind. ESEA is the major federal vehicle for providing funds and support to K-12 education in low-income communities. It also sets the criteria and standards by which the federal government measures school improvement. However, through numerous Congressional hearings and the issuance of a White House Blueprint for Reform, school buildings have largely been absent from the conversation.

School buildings must be part of nation's conversation about education. Quality education requires quality spaces, something that millions of students lack.

We know that millions of children, especially those living in low-wealth school districts, spend their school days in poor quality, unhealthy, and overcrowded buildings that cause health problems and limit educational opportunities. All students and teachers have the right to adequate, appropriate learning conditions that will allow them to strive for and achieve the goals being set for them. No single level of government can accomplish this alone. We must create a new federal, state, and local partnership to ensure that each and every single community has sufficient resources to provide high-quality school buildings to their students.

Showing elected leaders what our schools really look like

We need to show our elected leaders what our nation's school buildings really look like and how important they are to student learning. That's why we're gathering and exhibiting photos from students and teachers across the country showing the reality of their school building conditions.

Help make sure that decision-makers at all levels of the conversation have a clear view of our nation's public schools: invite your legislators to view Through Your Lens photos today!

Participating students from McKees Rocks, PA, www.criticalexposure.org

Linda, New Orleans, www.criticalexposure.org

Theresa (12th Grade), Washington, DC, www.criticalexposure.org