Education Revolution: Yasmin Bhatia Of Uplift Education On Innovative Approaches That Are Transforming Education

An interview with Eden Gold

I wish someone had given me a primer on government affairs and legislative advocacy. Experience has been my best teacher in this area, but I admit I was naïve at first about how challenging and intricate passing education legislation and funding would be.

The landscape of education is undergoing a profound transformation, propelled by technological advancements, pedagogical innovations, and a deepened understanding of learning diversities. Traditional classrooms are evolving, and new modes of teaching and learning are emerging to better prepare students for the complexities of the modern world. This series will take a look at the groundbreaking work being done across the globe to redefine education. As a part of this interview series, we had the pleasure to interview Yasmin Bhatia.

As CEO of Uplift Education, Yasmin Bhatia leads a network of 45 free college-preparatory charter schools where more than 80% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch. She is driven by her belief that every child deserves an opportunity for a high-quality education and economic stability in a fulfilling career thereafter. Since 2009, she has boldly led the team at Uplift in perfecting a formula for student success that does much more than “check the academic boxes” on college applications, but also emphasizes social-emotional learning, leadership skill development and implementing a highly personalized, practical support system for students.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you share the “backstory” behind what brought you to this particular career path?

I have always been passionate about the fact that every child deserves a quality education. My dad grew up in India in a family with limited resources but parents who wanted the best for him. He came to the U.S. for college and changed his trajectory and that of his family. Education was always emphasized as a priority in my family growing up. I was fortunate that we lived in neighborhoods with great public schools. I know every child doesn’t always have access to a high-quality school.

I’m a Longhorn at heart — a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin — although my MBA is from Stanford. During my first career at McKinsey, I had the chance to spend a year in the firm’s nonprofit practice, where I was able to focus on economic development. I spent three months in Camden, New Jersey, and saw first-hand the interconnection between access to housing, economic development and education. At Uplift, I get to positively impact communities through both education and creating the next generation workforce.

I’m originally from Chicago but moved to Houston right before high school. I loved growing up in the Midwest and have fond memories of neighborhood summer block parties and sledding after school. In my personal life, my husband and I have given our time and resources to support a variety of causes positively impacting children, and I’m an extremely proud mother of three who are in middle school and high school. I spend most of my weekends cheering them on at their sporting events. In my off time, I enjoy hiking, adventure travel, and cooking.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

Managing people is often the hardest part of any job. That’s especially true in education. Uplift Education once had a school leader that was loved by her entire team and colleagues, but this particular school and had been struggling academically for years. The popular belief and narrative was that the school was in a “tough” community and that’s why it wasn’t doing well.

As leader of the organization, I made the very unpopular decision to change that school’s leadership. And though it was a difficult and painful decision for many, the new leader came in and dramatically transformed the school within two years to be one of the top performing schools in our network. It taught me several lessons. One was the power of strong expectations and how staff and children rise up to those expectations with support. Another lesson was that sometimes we have to walk alone in our decision-making, especially when making unpopular choices, in order to have the potential to do something different and hopefully better than the past.

Can you briefly share with our readers why you are an authority in the education field?

I’ve had the privilege to serve in the U.S. education field for 15 years. As current CEO of Uplift Education, a nonprofit network of 40+ college-preparatory community public charter schools in North Texas, I’m honored to lead more than 22,000 students — 82% of whom qualify for free or reduced lunch and the majority of which come from families with no previous college graduates — toward high-quality educational opportunities that have historically been unattainable for them and their families.

Despite the odds stacked against the students at Uplift, 100% of them walk across the graduation stage every year with a college acceptance letter in hand, and Uplift boasts four times the national college degree attainment rate. We’re also one of the top five International Baccalaureate districts globally. It’s not a stretch to say that I truly believe my team and I are revolutionizing how free, public-school systems impact the world — and most importantly, the youth that inhabit it.

At Uplift, our team has done a lot to innovate the space of public education. We have alumni counselors who support our students after they graduate from our high schools, so they have a higher chance of graduating from college. We partnered with Grand Prairie ISD to run one of the first district-charter partnership schools in Texas. Uplift was one of the first districts to offer its teachers performance pay as a reward for doing great things for kids. We were recently awarded one of 10 grants in the country from Bloomberg Philanthropies to develop and launch a new healthcare high school in partnership with Baylor, Scott & White Health.

In addition to having the pleasure of leading Uplift, I was part of the first cohort of Charter School Leaders for the Broad Superintendents Academy (housed at Yale), the first cohort of Presidential Leader Scholars, a member of the Charter 100, and was co-chair of the District Charter Alliance, where charters and traditional school districts worked together to jointly run schools.

Uplift’s work has been shared at various conferences and news articles. I regularly testify in the Texas legislature on issues such as school finance, high quality curriculum materials, and district-charter partnerships.

Can you identify some areas of the US education system that are going really great?

First, I deeply appreciate the federal government increasing investment in public schools during the pandemic and in the three years afterwards. We used those additional resources to help retain teachers who were exhausted after teaching in the pandemic and to give kids small group tutoring to help close gaps created from an inconsistent educational experience during the pandemic.

Second, I appreciate the emphasis on holistic learning and realizing that in order for children to thrive they need both strong academic skills but also strong interpersonal skills that include being able to work well with others and communicate their ideas effectively. Overall, I think the education system has embraced this duality.

Thirdly, I think a lot of colleges have done great things to create resources and support to help first-generation college students, which is important to us at Uplift. We want to know that our students are moving from caring Uplift schools to a college that has appropriate support for them as the first members of their family to attend college. We rest easier knowing our students are in good hands.

Can you identify the key areas of the US education system that should be prioritized for improvement? Can you explain why those are so critical?

One: Focus on mental health of students and teachers. Between the extraordinary stress and lingering effects of COVID and concerns of gun violence, mental health needs are at an all-time high. The US Centers for Disease Control estimate that in the summer of 2020, nearly 41% of adults experienced significant mental health symptoms and even more younger adults suffered. We know the impacts are even more critical on developing children.

Since 2018, I’ve been prioritizing the social and emotional well-being of students by leading Uplift to be one of the first school networks to add licensed counselors to every campus. Our Department of Student Support Services offers a depth of professional care vastly different from — and much deeper than — most public-school systems. It includes access to free clinical therapeutic services, prevention programming, a full K-12 positive mental health curriculum and even free family therapy services. In 2019, we hired our first ever Chief Well Being Officer to directly address this issue. I believe youth have the best opportunity to reach their full potential when they are academically prepared and have strong social and emotional tools under their belt.

Two: More college and career counselors. At Uplift, the counselor to student ratio is 1:50, as opposed to most traditional school districts’ ratio of 1:300. It’s precisely this level of personalized counseling that accounts for a large part of our scholars’ success. Students have a trusted, familiar face to turn to when they have questions about testing requirements, college applications, FAFSA forms, scholarship opportunities, essay topics, and so much more. And, we have an entire team dedicated to sticking with our scholars from high school, all the way through college, and even into their official careers to help navigate myriad of challenges — from balancing work-study life to discussing a grade with a professor to finding a sense of belonging in a new and foreign environment. Particularly for the student population that does not have a college graduate family member to turn to for advice, this kind of counseling is the difference between degree attainment and dropping out. We take the job of stewarding youth into the real world seriously. And I can’t help but imagine what kind of impact we’d see nationally if others followed the same approach. Yes, it takes resources, time and funding. But it is worth it!

Please tell us all about the innovative educational approaches that you are using. What is the specific problem that you aim to solve, and how have you addressed it?

Texas-based E3 Alliance recently shared in a panel on public education that students who fail to attain a secondary credential or degree only possess a 12% chance of achieving a sustainable living. It’s this reality that makes Uplift’s approach to education so crucial.

Uplift exists to create and sustain public schools of excellence that empower students to reach their highest potential in college and the global marketplace, because we know that college attendance -and graduation — are major challenges for a variety of underserved and minority communities. We also know that an individual’s and a community’s economic mobility is largely dictated by their education level — when that is stunted, it’s nearly impossible for an individual to earn a higher living wage and pull themselves and their family into a better living situation.

So, what can be done about this in schools? At Uplift, we’ve seen incredible impact through our unique Road to College and Career (RTCC) program and our Alumni Success Network. The former features exposure to college starting in primary school, as well as personalized counseling with a counselor to student ratio of 1:50. This allows meaningful and trusted communication that engages students and their families in tackling FASFA and scholarship opportunities that make college more affordable for students. They also have conversations about the different pathways to college based on a student’s personalized career decisions. Real conversations with real people who care about a student’s future. That’s what moves the needle.

Additionally, our one-of-a-kind Alumni Success Network is a team entirely and solely dedicated to walking with students through their college experience and even into their careers. They are a lifeline and a voice of guidance for students navigating every day challenges that you or I may not bat an eyelash at, but for them, could be a significant barrier to completing schooling or moving up in their career — things like how to negotiate extra credit or a grade with a professor, finding a college club to join for a sense of community, what to wear to an internship interview, and how to negotiate a raise.

Our proof is in our pudding. Besides the fact that 100% of our graduates walk the stage with a college acceptance letter in hand, and we boast four times the national average of college degree attainment, Uplift graduates earn $20,000 more than their local peers in nearby ISDs. Our graduates ages 25–32 make an average of $64,300 per year, compared to a large nearby district which reports their graduates earn an annual salary of $41,300.

In what ways do you think your approach might shape the future of education? What evidence supports this?

The kind of personalized college and career counseling, and the length of time our counselors stick alongside a student, is not the normal practice for K-12. There are only a few other educational entities that have anything like we do. But it is effective, as our measurements clearly indicate! So, I anticipate that at some point (hopefully soon), other public districts will buy into this strategy and implement it. For hundreds of thousands of students from all backgrounds across our nation, this kind of support means the difference between making a better life for themselves versus being confined to the economic box they were born into. And this is America, after all, so let’s make sure economic mobility remains attainable for all.

I also hope Uplift’s emphasis and prioritization of mental health — for both students and teachers — catches on a larger scale. But if I’m speaking candidly, this must start at the legislative level. Our educational system needs funding to competitively hire and maintain great quality mental health professionals to operate within schools. We also need more fluid integration within the larger mental health care system, such as trusted referrals for child psychiatrists. Our health care system is so disjointed today that the majority of pediatricians don’t even screen for mental health signs, so the large majority of these issues go undetected or untreated until the child reaches a mental health crisis. And by that time, it’s often too late.

How do you measure the impact of your innovative educational practices on students’ learning and well-being?

At Uplift, we use a variety of systems that report college attendance and graduation rates so we can keep track of our students after high school. We also leverage public work force databases to see what kinds of jobs our alumni are entering either after college or after high school. Our alumni counselors regularly check in on our students after high school graduation through a variety of means — phone, email, text, social media. We want them to know that we are here for them if they encounter any issues on their path to college graduation and a great job.

For mental health measurements, we do a short mental health survey for students a few times a week. Students take the survey to report how they are feeling (tired, stressed, hungry, upset, etc.). Based on their responses, we can appropriately follow up using our school nurse or social counselor. Three times a year, we give a more comprehensive survey to see if our scholars feel academically challenged, valued as individuals, and respected in our school community. School leaders are expected to review this data and have an action item for their school based on an area for improvement.

What challenges have you faced in implementing your educational innovations, and how have you overcome them?

The work in urban public schools is really hard. And we move fast. There are numerous things that come up during a day’s work that take attention away from strategic priorities or new ideas that could help students. If we’re not very intentional about creating the space or dedicating the resources, priorities move to the back burner and promising new ideas never come to fruition. Hence, a challenge we’ve faced is making the change feel doable to teachers and school leaders. We’ve had to either slow down the pace or have central office staff do more of the lift to help get new ideas implemented. We ‘ve also had to be very clear on expectations for each individual involved in implementing the change. Everyone has a responsibility and a weight to bear, but we’re here to support each other and get our goals across the finish line.

Keeping in mind the “Law of Unintended Consequences” can you see any potential drawbacks of this innovation that people should think more deeply about?

The drawback of pushing more college matriculation with the belief that more education opens up more job opportunities is that a student might go off to college and not really know what job they ultimately want to pursue. This could lead to taking more time to graduate and spending more money on achieving a degree.

I think this is addressed by helping students go into college with a strong perspective on what their end goal could be, even if they change their mind. This is a vast shift from encouraging students to go into college thinking they will “just figure it out eventually.” We all need good goals to work towards, even as college freshmen.

What are your “5 Things I Wish I Knew When I First Started”?

1. I wish I had prioritized getting Uplift’s curriculum standard across all schools and holding people to strong fidelity in using it. In the beginning of my tenure, I believe we allowed for much too autonomy in that area, and it led to a range of results for kids that wasn’t always positive. We’ve since refined our curriculum and we’ve seen great success in following it across campuses.
2. Good bosses matter in creating a positive work environment for employees. Early in my career, I was a bit scared of changing personnel. Now, I understand sometimes that’s the most effective way to create lasting, exponential change.
3. Interim data is rarely wrong, and it is important to pivot fast when results aren’t where you want them to be. Numbers may not be the full story, but they are certainly an important part of it.
4. The organization only moves as fast and as bold as the most senior leader. It’s up to us to set the pace and the bravery. Embrace it.
5. I wish someone had given me a primer on government affairs and legislative advocacy. Experience has been my best teacher in this area, but I admit I was naïve at first about how challenging and intricate passing education legislation and funding would be.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

The founder of Uplift gave me one piece of advice when I stepped into her role 15 years ago: “If you keep what is best for kids at the center of your decision-making, you will never make a bad decision.”

I have tried my best to keep that at the forefront of my mind when leading Uplift. I must remember I am the Chief Advocate for students at Uplift.

We are blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US, with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them :-)

Michelle Obama! What a strong female who seems to balance impactful public service work alongside being a wonderful mother and strong leader in her family. I love following her work. I have so many questions to ask her!

How can our readers further follow your work online?

Follow me on LinkedIn — I love sharing the big and small achievements of Uplift’s scholars with my LinkedIn network, and I’m always looking for new connections and collaborations to uplift (yes, pun intended) the youth of North Texas.

Also, visit uplifteducation.com to tune into our latest groundbreaking educational innovations.

Thank you so much for these insights! This was so inspiring!

About The Interviewer: Eden Gold, is a youth speaker, keynote speaker, founder of the online program Life After High School, and host of the Real Life Adulting Podcast. Being America’s rising force for positive change, Eden is a catalyst for change in shaping the future of education. With a lifelong mission of impacting the lives of 1 billion young adults, Eden serves as a practical guide, aiding young adults in honing their self-confidence, challenging societal conventions, and crafting a strategic roadmap towards the fulfilling lives they envision.

Do you need a dynamic speaker, or want to learn more about Eden’s programs? Click here: https://bit.ly/EdenGold