Good Luck Finding an Education Secretary Who Can Help Kids and Make Unions Happy, Mr. President-Elect

President-Elect Joe Biden may be setting himself up for a confrontation between two of his top advisors. Perched on one shoulder will be Dr. Anthony…

Civil Rights Groups Insist on Testing: ‘You Cannot Improve What You Do Not Measure.’

Even a broken clock is right twice a day. In this case, the clock is soon-to-be-Ex-Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, who has told states that…

I Thought Vouchers Were Wrong, But Now I Realize They Helped My Son

Recently I wrote that a residency hearing with two children, Kayla and Tasha, represented to me our deeply-embedded structural inequities in education that decades of initiatives,…

Khaliah Fitchett on Going From Handcuffs to Running for Congress

One afternoon in March 2010, Khaliah Fitchette, a 16-year-old student at Newark’s University High School, was riding home on a NJ Transit bus with her…

You Can Hate Trump and Support School Choice

Every time Donald Trump says, “school choice is the civil rights issue of our time,” I cringe. It’s hard to think of a more debauched…

After a Decade of Opposing Voucher Programs, I’m Wondering If I Was Wrong

I smiled at the two little girls seated across the table in the school board conference room but only six-year-old Kayla, wriggling in her pink…

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris Must Rise Above a ‘Woke’ Agenda That Limits School Choice

True confession: I didn’t watch the Democratic virtual convention Monday night. Currently I’m maintaining my mental health by mainlining “The West Wing,” sort of like…

Governors Ask DeVos For Emergency Education Aid

On March 27, two weeks ago last Friday, President Trump signed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the CARES Act), a $2 trillion stimulus…

Charter Schools May Be Leading the Way During Covid-19

Last week I looked at the stark disparities in the quality of online instruction offered to children during the COVID-19 school closures, comparing Princeton Regional Public…

Will This Pandemic Force Us to Boldly Address the Inequities in Our Schools?

I live right off Route 206, a mostly two-lane road that begins in the Pinelands of southern New Jersey, winds 130 miles north to Stokes…