Even as a Disability Advocate I Still Did Everything Wrong When My Daughter Was Diagnosed With Autism

November 6, 2018, is the day my daughter was officially diagnosed with autism. That’s the day my world collapsed. For the first hour of her…

I Know I’ve Made the Best Choice for My Son When School Feels Like Family

Gifts come in all different shapes and sizes—a family vacation, a surprise birthday party, or flowers on Valentine’s Day. But I have received one of…

Coffee Break: Oakland’s Lakisha Young Is Done Waiting for Superman and Ready for Parents to Take the Lead

Lakisha Young is executive director of The Oakland REACH. She has dedicated her career to promoting access to quality schools because she knows firsthand that…

Say What You Want About Charter Schools But the South Side of Chicago Needed Options

The hunt for a quality education has so many layers that one blog post will not be enough to explore them all. I came to…

I’m Sharing My Story Because It Matters

As parent leaders, we need to build trust, inspire hope and move people to action. Personal stories are one of the most powerful ways to…

The Story You Haven’t Heard About Why They’re Banning “To Kill a Mockingbird” in Mississippi

I’ll admit it. When I first heard of the Biloxi, Mississippi junior high school board’s decision to stop teaching “To Kill a Mockingbird,” my first…

Need a Good School for Your Kid? I’m Here to Tell You That You Have Options

My mom used to say, “Allison, you have two things against you, you’re female and you’re Black—and because of that, you’ll have to work harder…

When We Didn’t Find the Right Public School on Chicago’s South Side, We Chose Private Instead

As first-time parents, my husband and I were tasked with the difficult decision on where to send our son, Kamren, to school for pre-K. Sadly, we…

Do I Really Have to Live in an All-White Neighborhood for My Kids to Get a Good Education?

I grew up in Queens (St. Albans), New York, and attended Andrew Jackson High School in the early ’90s. My family, who migrated to New…

We’re 42 Years Apart But Our Mission Is the Same: Change Education for the Black Community

We are two Black men separated by 42 years in age. But we are bound by our collective rage about what is happening to our…