Stories

Charter Schools

Meet a Radically Inclusive St. Louis Community Charter: City Garden Montessori

At City Garden Montessori in St. Louis, Missouri, community comes first. First launched in 1995 as an affordable, private preschool in a church basement, City Garden became a community charter school...

The Women Educators Who Have Shaped My Teaching Career: Sara Demoiny

When I arrived at Russell Byers Charter School in Philadelphia as a teaching fellow in 2008, Salome Thomas-EL, the principal at the time, assigned me to the classroom of one of his star teachers,...

Black Excellence Breeds Unrecognized Jealousy Among White Women Teachers

One day I was scrolling, and I came across a TikTok video by @teachthemkindness. In this video, a white teacher shared her perspective about why, at times, there is tension between Black and white...

Educational Research’s ‘Original Sin’

At my core, I’m fascinated by how people learn, create and communicate—I imagine you are, too. I’m instantly transported by the light in the eyes of a child when they decode their first word on their...

Immigrants Experience Jane Crow Education, Too

For a first-generation immigrant student like I was, the American public school system was the sole path to upward mobility. Through my early years of school, my teachers were mostly supportive, or...

NCLB at 20: The Law Sparked a School Data Revolution

Before the federal No Child Left Behind Act, the country’s view of school data was blurry, if available at all. Twenty years later, the picture is much clearer, and both supporters and critics of the...