I’m Celebrating Teachers But I’m Not Celebrating Their Unions

When I was a teenager, the greatest honor my dad bestowed was the chance to help him grade multiple-choice questions. Up in his bedroom on…

11 Inspiring Stories That Got Us Through 2018

We made it through 2018, perhaps a little bruised but as energized as ever to tackle the challenges in education in the year to come.…

DeVos Will Recommend the Removal of Civil Rights Protections for Students of Color

Any day now we’re going to hear the news that Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and the Trump administration are removing guidance meant to reduce…

Transgender Students Are Next Up in the Trump Administration’s Threat to Roll Back Civil Rights Protections

Imagine with me: One early morning my son Jonah lopes through the high school halls, high-fiving students from the marching band and volunteer “buddies” from…

Betsy DeVos on the Verge of Removing Civil Rights Protections for Students of Color

Let’s just call her Betsy DeVoid. Our secretary of education earns a name-change because of her predilection for voiding guidance that protects our most disenfranchised…

DeVos Is Stripping Away Civil Rights Protections for Students With Special Needs

I’m detecting a trend. Recently, The Atlantic ran a piece that catalogues the Trump administration’s disregard of civil rights protections for Americans (and aspiring Americans)…

My Sister’s Battle With Severe Mental Illness Taught Me Never to Stand for Pretense

My parents, Jerry and Emily, had three daughters. I’m the oldest, followed by Carla two years later, and then my youngest sister. Carla, I’m told,…

What Happens When Even the ‘Best’ Neighborhood School Treats Its Students With Disabilities Horribly?

The New York Post recently profiled Wesley Clark, a 9-year-old fourth-grader at PS 8 in Brooklyn Heights. The article describes a “supposedly progressive Brooklyn Heights public school that talks…

Coffee Break: Why Mark Rynone Left Corporate to Help Kids With Special Needs

Mark Rynone considers his passion for education as an outgrowth of family values. After all, his mother, brother and a handful of other relatives work…

Education Reform in 2018 Is Going to Need a Parent Seal of Approval

A few years ago, at a convening of education advocates, one veteran in the reform movement highlighted the lack of racial diversity in the room…