Instead of Attacking Charter Schools, How About Y’all Work to Improve Traditional Schools?

It’s silent but deadly—and I’m not talking about heart disease. I’m talking about this assault on charter schools that has flown under the radar, is…

White Teacher, Here’s How You Can Successfully Partner With Black Families

The show was going really well. We were in Pittsburgh, taping a live 8 Black Hands podcast episode at the State of Black Learning Conference,…

It’s OK, You Can Teach For America

In 2013, Sandra Korn, then a senior at Harvard and a contributor to the student newspaper The Crimson, wrote an article telling her peers “Don’t…

Toni Morrison Was the Brave and Honest Storyteller of Our Vexed History

As a high school English teacher, I had the privilege of teaching Toni Morrison’s “Beloved,” a novel I’ve read and taught time and again, and…

White People Need to Understand That Helping Is Not the Same as Controlling

A few weeks ago, I attended a conference called Educator Summit in Philadelphia. I’m not much of a conference attendee and didn’t know exactly what…

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…

There’s a Difference Between a ‘Good’ School and Choosing Whiteness and Wealth

It’s nearly summer, and while for most that means the end of a school year, for many it also means transition. Preschoolers transition to kindergarten,…

What It’s Like to Attend School in Rural America

On a rainy day in May of 2018, I toured a public school in northern Pennsylvania. Most of the students were eligible for free lunch.…

High School Graduate Tatiana Amaya on Raising Student Voice and Claiming a Seat at the Table

Often, you hear about leaders, far earlier than you meet them. Sitting in a café near the school where I lead as principal, Mastery-Shoemaker, I…

Student Noor Bowman on Evening Out the Playing Field and Telling the Whole Story

A couple of years ago, Noor, a young high school student who was interning at a local radio station, reached out to me for an…