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…

In Everything We Do, We Must Ask, ‘How Are the Children?’

With so many pressing issues that threaten our planet, our elections, and our major institutions, why do I live and breathe education activism?  For me…

You Won’t Fix Providence’s Public Schools Until You Tackle the Root of the Problem

The recently-published report on Providence public schools, where I teach and where my children learn, contained just one major finding. That finding didn’t have to…

This 11-Year-Old Is Begging for a Good Education and a Safe Place to Learn. Something Needs to Change.

Since the release of the blistering Johns Hopkins report on the Providence Public Schools, the new state education commissioner, Angélica Infante Green, and the city’s…

Time to Recognize That the Black Education Movement Is Growing and Isn’t Going Anywhere

Here’s the scene. There’s a movement of Black education advocates afoot. It’s built on the shoulders of the Black-led movements that preceded it, and it’s…

Turns Out There Are Dope Education Warriors in Rhode Island

OUTRAGE Recently, I wrote a piece about the kids who won’t be returning to school this fall because they were victims of gun violence. This…

When I Realized No One Cared About My Students With Special Needs, I Chose to Raise My Voice

As a first-year teacher of students with disabilities in a large urban district, I faced huge inequities that even other teachers and principals overlooked. I…

My Dyslexia and Self-Doubt Were No Match for the Supportive Teachers Who Got Me to Read

I remember walking through the doors of Blackstone Valley Prep Middle School seven years ago like it was yesterday. I didn’t know anyone. The “gymnasium”…

Principals Can’t Build Strong Schools When They Have to Spend So Much Time on Discipline

Recently, East Providence High School’s wrestling team was caught with alcohol, drugs and vaping products on a team trip. As punishment, the wrestling season came…

Our Students Deserve a ‘Transformational’ Teachers Union Contract, and So Do Our Teachers!

A transformational contract. These three words are music to my ears. They were uttered recently by Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza, and if I had been…