School Choice
Yet Another White Family Leaves the City for the Suburbs
Well, we did it. Like millions of White, relatively affluent Americans before us, my wife and I moved with our two boys out of the city and into the suburbs. It’s a loaded moment, one that has forced...
Poverty
How to Save Charter Schools From the Beatdown
There seems to be an organized assault on charter schools. Legal challenges, bureaucratic barriers and smear campaigns all work to destroy their reputation, deplete their finances and diminish their...
Diversity
Coffee Break: North Carolina’s Wanda Legrand Knows Students Can't Be Successful Unless They Feel Loved
“We’ve not done enough to make students feel valued for their differences,” says Wanda Legrand, the new chief schools support officer for Guilford County Schools in her home state of North Carolina....
Achievement Gap
When Educators Act Like Gateways Rather Than Gatekeepers, Students Are More Likely to Get Through College
When I was in middle school, it was pretty clear what my teachers thought of me. I was placed in the slow track, literally named the “Delta” group, as opposed to the accelerated “Alpha” track, along...
Diversity
I Thought I Knew How to Support Students of Color Until I Learned This
A few months into my time as Oregon’s Teacher of the Year I was asked to speak to the largest gathering of teachers in my state. As I stood at the podium, addressing an auditorium full of teachers, I...
Diversity
We Need to Stop Pulling Black Girls Out of Schools for Dress Code Violations
Dress code enforcement is as American as apple pie. Most of us have had some experience with dress codes, either in school or the workplace. And like all other things American, dress codes often...