EXPLAINED: The American Rescue Plan Gives a Huge Boost to School Funding

What is the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021? You may have heard it as the “second big COVID stimulus,” but the actual name is…

We Learned a Lot About What Our Students Actually Need This Year. Now We Must Do Better.

We have all been steeped in the vivid, traumatic consequences of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic, particularly with regard to a year of disrupted learning for…

Black Students Are Not ‘Marginalized,’ They Are the Center of Our Work

So many headlines these days are about how Black students are “falling behind” during the pandemic. They’re “missing” and “lost.” But the truth is, Black…

Educators Who Consider Themselves ‘White Allies’ Are Dangerous When It Comes To Developing Anti-Racist Classrooms

“I am a white ally,” the 30 something-year-old white teacher declared emphatically in the diversity and inclusion professional development session. She snapped her fingers to…

An Inclusive Curriculum Matters All Year Round

Although the United States has always had a diverse population, public school curricula are overwhelmingly built around a white, male perspective. Students are learning a…

We Need To Know if the Biden Administration Is Really With and For Us

Before taking a much needed vacation at the end of last year, I wrote a piece talking about how education for Black kids cannot look…

Amanda Gorman Is Climbing That Hill. Now if Only The Rest of Us Would Join Her.

Today at President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’s inauguration, Amanda Gorman stole the show. Lady Gaga? J-Lo? Garth Brooks? No contest. This 22-year-old…

Was DeVos Really the ‘Worst Secretary of Education Ever’?

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos resigned last night, citing Wednesday’s putsch at the Capitol, Trump’s incitement of violence, and her concern that “impressionable children are watching…

For 2021, We Need Real Strategies to Dismantle Racism in Schools

As educators, we’re taught to begin with the end in mind. To be successful, we need to know our intended outcome so we can backward…

Discussing White Privilege in an All-White Class Is Uncomfortable. Do It Anyway.

With so many pressing education issues on our collective agenda, it is important that we don’t ignore the national conversation on race that erupted during…