We’ve Never Seen a Public School System Work for All Kids, But We Have to Believe We Can Build One

The other day I watched the documentary True Justice: Bryan Stevenson’s Fight for Equality.  Now if you don’t know who Bryan Stevenson is, you should…

How a Dozen Immigrant Parents Organized to Transform Literacy in Their District

Parents’ love for their children is the single greatest—and most underutilized—natural resource in education. I learned this firsthand as a son. My parents escaped political…

I Was Bused to School Like Kamala, But Here’s the Part She Didn’t Talk About

From kindergarten through eighth grade, I was bused to Frank W. Gunsaulus Scholastic Academy, a magnet school in Chicago’s Brighton Park community. I lived and…

Have We Been Paying Too Much Attention to Girls in School at the Expense of Boys?

Legendary actress Meryl Streep recently garnered a considerable amount of media attention during a Vanity Fair panel about the second season of HBO’s series “Big…

Without Teach For America, I Wouldn’t Be Teaching in the Same Latinx Community Where I Grew Up

I have vivid memories of teachers joining my school communities and then saying goodbye to them only a few years later. As a young girl,…

I’m Not Willing to Trade Fixing Income Inequality for Better Schools. We Need to Do Both.

I don’t know about y’all but I get tired of seeing annual reports basically saying the same thing: Black people in America are suffering. Like…

Better Schools Have a Place in Creating a More Equitable America

As someone who spent the first portion of his career deep in the “education reform” movement, I wasn’t surprised when Nick Hanauer’s Atlantic article, “Better…

Some Students Can’t Afford to Leave Money Behind When Applying to College

When you grow up as I did with meager means—with a household income of less than $50,000 for a family of five—you pinch pennies, frequent…

I’m a Black Gay Man, and Supporting LGBTQ+ Kids Is Important to Me

Brian Coleman, who heads the counseling department at Jones College Prep, has been named the 2019 National School Counselor of the Year. This is the…

Trump and DeVos Should Know What It Means for Our Students of Color When They Remove Discipline Guidance

The 2014 federal school discipline guidance—which the Federal School Safety Commission today said should be scrapped—isn’t just about policy and data, it’s about Gee. This…