Latinx Students Are Least Likely to Learn With a Teacher Who Looks Like Them

My community—the Latinx community—is the fastest-growing population in the U.S, accounting for 52% of growth in the last decade. Latinx students currently represent nearly one…

Here’s How We Can Make Sure Every Latino Student Feels Like They Belong

During my freshman-year orientation in college, in the fall of 1997, several people asked me if I knew Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, the queen of Tejano music.…

How Open Educational Resources Can Boost Equity in the Wake of the Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed and exacerbated the profound inequities in education, especially for Black and brown students. The upheaval of the past year presents…

You Can and Must Foster Belonging, Acceptance, and Support for Your LGBTQIA+ Students. It’s a Matter of Life and Death.

Many young people see belonging as a quest to fit in, but it’s so much deeper than that. Belonging means accepting, celebrating, and including our…

Counterstorytelling Is at the Heart of Anti-Racist Teaching

Counterstorytellling is so much more than just a tenant of critical race theory. It is at the heart of what we do as antiracist teachers.…

School Leaders, Not Politicians, Should Be Making Decisions about How to Teach Our History

Everybody’s gettin’ bands, we just dance to different drums. I like who I’ve become. -Jay Z,“Sorry, Not Sorry” Allow me to apologize in advance because…

EXPLAINED: The Truth About Critical Race Theory and How It Shows Up in Your Child’s Classroom

What is critical race theory? Critical race theory (sometimes abbreviated to CRT) is an intellectual approach to looking at U.S. society with a belief that racism…

Meet Two Teachers Learning to Center Their Students’ Identities Without Losing Sight of Their Own

Lindsay Singer and Ashley McCall are both third grade teachers at Cesar Chavez Multicultural Academic Center in Chicago. Lindsay teaches mathematics and inquiry. And Ashley…

Here’s How Culturally Sustaining Curriculum Roots Students in a Legacy of Strength

I started my teaching career teaching music. I’d been a professional musician for a decade—performing, touring and recording jazz and Latin music. With some experience…

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…