Why Waste Time With School, Just Send Black Kids Right to Jail

Outrage: Just Send Black Kids Right to Jail Clinton Stanley Sr. couldn’t understand. “You deny a kid an education on his hair?” This was Clinton…

We Can Make the First Year of Teaching Better. Here’s How.

When Barack Obama was elected president in November 2008, I was living in Chicago and working as a computer security engineer. After hearing Obama’s passionate…

Black Boys Don’t Need More Discipline, They Need Mentors

When I first met Chris, he was quiet—I could tell he was trying to figure out who I was, and who I could be in…

3 Reasons Why Every LGBTQ Student Deserves a Mentor

My wife and I are educators working at the same school. On a daily basis we navigate microaggressions in the workplace; unwillingness to use our married…

Episode 12: Why Youth Mentoring Increases Opportunities for Kids

In this episode, we interview Torie Weiston-Serdan, educator and founder of the Youth Mentoring Action Network, a non-profit organization that provides mentoring services to young…

Here’s How Education Reformers Can Up Our Game in 2018

Let’s face it: 2017 was a really rough year for education, and all things political. So 2018 leaves us ample room to up our game—as…

A Conversation With Black Parents, Teachers and Students

VIDEO SERIES: We recently brought together a group of Black teachers, parents and high school students to talk about their experiences with public schools.…

No More ‘Us’ and ‘Them.’ Just Great Schools. Period.

Walking through the hallways of Broome Street Academy Charter High School (BSA) in lower Manhattan, you get the sense that Head of School Barbara McKeon knows the…

I Got to Be a Fly on the Wall in a Room Full of Teachers

On a recent afternoon, I spent two hours listening to eight public school teachers talk about their work. All but one of them teaches in…

Up Until Ninth Grade, I Had Zero Male Teachers of Color. Here’s Why That Matters.

For 10 years—the first decade I was in school—all my teachers were White women. As a Mexican-American kid, I didn’t get the chance to have…