Q&A With Dr. Chad Gestson: Phoenix’s Covid Numbers Transformed Our District for the Better

Dr. Chad Gestson leads the Phoenix Union High School District, which educates 29,000 students in 22 schools from 32 different ZIP codes in Arizona’s capital…

America’s Rural Schools May Not Be Tragic, but They Have Known Tragedy

Maybe this is the turning point.  Education advocacy is exhausting — particularly in rural communities like mine, where our opportunities are limited and our challenges…

Education Needs a Bigger Tent, Not a Bigot Tent

In the past several years, right-leaning education reformers have been contemptuous of—and frustrated by—progressives who brought a justice orientation into the movement.  Back in 2015,…

Change in Schools Starts With Listening to Students

I am a high school senior from Montgomery County, Maryland, and a fierce advocate for social justice and progressive change. I have spent the past…

No, You Should Not Be Teaching Black Children if You Reject Anti-Racism

There would be no lynching if it did not start in the schoolroom. Dr. Carter G. Woodson The news has been full of parents, school…

We Can Unleash the Genius of Our Students by Putting the Arts at the Center

This essay is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Patrick Pritchard from Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia, who recently passed away on March 6, 2021.…

Will Biden’s Pick for Education Secretary Work for All Kids?

“We want to support you so that you can get to the great work of helping kids. You have to commit to that partnership if…

We Need a Cooperative Approach to Improve Education for Students With Disabilities

Ten years ago last month, a team of advocacy organizations filed the New Orleans special education lawsuit (P.B. v. White) in federal court. The class-action…

Rev. Sharpton: Education Problems Are a ‘Five-Alarm’ Fire

Now would be a good time to listen to Rev. Al Sharpton. You didn’t see that coming. Me, of all people, pointing to a left-of-center…

If You Care About Educational Justice in Your Community, #GetEducated and #VoteLocal

Focus on what the talking heads have to say and you would think there’s nothing more to this election than donkeys and elephants.  Yes, we’re…