We Know All About College Financial Assistance, Here’s How You Do It Better

Financial assistance for families with college-bound students has seen big changes in timing since 2016. The new process begins much earlier with students now able…

Most of My Students Didn’t Know Any College Graduates But That’s Not Stopping Them From Going to College

“I can’t believe they picked me.” That’s what Keaton Hall, a senior at Uncommon Schools Rochester Prep High School, said to me on FaceTime when…

College Isn’t for Every Student But We Should Prepare Them for It Anyway

“College isn’t for everybody.” This quote has become chic in educator circles. After years of trying to push everybody toward college degrees, people are now…

Chicago Isn’t Atlanta—Our Student Learning Gains Are Real and Lead the Nation

About a year ago, Stanford researcher Sean Reardon was digging deep into a 300-million-piece database he created, containing five years’ worth of state test scores…

So You Want to Go to College? Send a Text.

In 2013, then-First Lady Michelle Obama approached then-Secretary of Education Arne Duncan with the goal of inspiring more young people to attend and graduate from…

I Almost Gave Up on My Dream of a College Degree But Now I’m Back at School

I wasn’t a typical high school student. Motivation was hard to maintain when much of my environment negatively affected me. So many obstacles and circumstances…

The Only Thing I Want to See Melting This Summer Is My Ice Cream Cone, Not My Kid’s Brain

Yeah I know, the last thing most of us parents want to do during summer is think about school. We just want to enjoy time…

Every Student in This School’s Founding Class Is Headed To and Through College

“We pledge that in four years we will be better than we are today.” That’s what the members of the Baker College Prep class of…

A Principal Helping Kids to Be the First in Their Family to Go to College, Just Like He Was

First-generation college student Vincent Gay started his journey on a wrestling scholarship at Edinboro University, near Erie, Pennsylvania. Early on, he got into such difficulty…

When Paying Rent Is So Stressful That You Get Evicted, Arrested and Drop Out

During my senior year of high school, college was a subject I didn’t like to talk about. I knew I didn’t want to go, but…