Literacy
Kids Need to Write More. A Lot More.
Growing up with teachers for parents, my siblings and I were taught that writing is an indispensable skill. We attended rigorous schools and enrichment programs that provided us with many...
School Discipline
If You Want Justice, Teach Kids How to Read
In 1990, I was a brand-new teacher in an unusual environment: a Chicago alternative high school where teens and young adults could earn their diplomas after dropping out—really, after being pushed...
student achievement
Leveled Texts Are 'Exhibit A' for the Soft Bigotry of Low Expectations
The scene occurs daily in classrooms across the United States. Students, grouped by reading ability, come to the teacher’s table to read their leveled readers—books that are “just right” for them....
Achievement Gap
Let's Focus on Our Students' Health and Humanity, Not on 'Getting Back to Normal'
Jessica N. Ewalt, Ph.D., is an educator in the Gwinnett County Public School system. Her research focuses on the implications of critical race theory in high school social studies classrooms. Matthew...
equity
To Teach Black Children Superbly Is a Revolutionary Act
Dear Freedom School Literacy Team, Across the nation, we started the summer of 2020, lighting up the streets with rage. We rage for George Floyd’s senseless strangulation. We rage for Ahmaud Arbery,...
IEP
My Son Cracked the Code in an Atypical Way With a Focus on Phonics
When my three older children learned to read, it seemed to us as natural a process as learning to talk. We read to them every day and filled the house with children’s books and made regular trips to...