3 Questions Every Educator Should Ask to Prepare for School This Year

There are some things we understand much better today than we did four months ago. Leading school districts and schools of all grade levels during…

KIPP Schools’ Response to COVID-19 Went Way Beyond Academics

You often hear that a crisis usually brings out the best in people, and it was certainly the case at KIPP Schools around the country. I…

This Is What Education Activism Looks Like During COVID-19

When you go back in history and look at who was leading the charge in the fight for liberation, it was always a person—or a…

How ‘Social Distancing’ Is Changing the Way We View Schools

Paradoxically enough, as Washington, D.C., has slid from mass school closures into social distancing and working from home toward increasingly likely shelter-in-place, my neighborhood is…

This Is Where I Convince You to Become a Mentor for a Young Person in Your Community

Toward the end of last year, my colleagues were writing wrap-ups to the decade and providing strong analysis of what had been won or lost…

Someone Should Run for School Board, Why Not You?

Let’s get this out of the way. Mark Twain’s famous joke: “In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made…

My Barbershop Taught Me Social Emotional Learning and Now I’m Sharing That With My Students

I remember growing up and my father would give me a haircut in our basement. Other times, he would take me to the barbershop. Now…

My Barbershop Taught Me Social Emotional Learning and Now I’m Sharing That With My Students

I remember growing up and my father would give me a haircut in our basement. Other times, he would take me to the barbershop. Now…

If We Really Want to Change Our Schools, We Need to Get Real About What’s Happening in Them

Thirteen years after Hurricane Katrina and the reunification of all schools under the governing of Orleans Parish School Board (OPSB), we are still having conversations…

We Don’t Need Saviors, We Need Leaders Who Are Ready to Form True Partnerships With Families and Communities

I’ve traveled a lot for work this year, and as I’ve gone from the mountains of Peru to the rural regions of Haiti to the…