Join an Honest Conversation About Race in Schools and Disrupting the School-to-Prison Pipeline

“Structural racism in school systems. Implicit bias among school professionals. White privilege (and, when confronted, White fragility) among school staff. Curriculum and materials devoid of…

Here’s One Way to Talk With Teachers About Race in Schools

I’m five hours into facilitating a professional development on race for a group of teachers.  Overall, the morning was positive: everyone has remained engaged in…

We All Carry Implicit Biases. Christopher House Is Learning to See and Change Them.

Research shows that, as early as preschool,  racial bias affects student learning. From a young age, we adults are treating children differently based on their…

The Equity Backlash Is Real. Resist It.

WHAT WE GOT WRONG: For all its problems, No Child Left Behind illustrated a whole lot of problems that we still haven’t fixed. The hard data that came back showed some of the failures in education that bell hooks and Paulo Freire had been talking about forever. In large part, we have those numbers to thank for the increased focus and funding that led to the rise of the modern educational equity movement.…

Here’s How You Can Talk About Christopher Columbus in Your Classroom

When I invite teachers to rethink how they teach Columbus at our semiannual UnColumbus Day Symposium in Philadelphia, many teachers think it’s not for them.…

Teaching About Race Does Not Make You Un-American

“The Holocaust was an atrocity.” This was the example I gave my eighth graders as we were learning our words of the week. And with…

Cardi B Is Teaching Us the Black History We Didn’t Get in Schools

The media is all over Cardi B for making a video with democratic socialist candidate Bernie Sanders. People who don’t know her are quick to…

Here’s What I Wish White Teachers Knew When Teaching My Black Children

Dear White Teachers of My Black Children: I am a Black mom and I have two children who are now in high school. Raising them…

White Teachers Working to Create Equitable Schools Must Accept That Race Impacts How We Teach

I remember the moment clearly. It was my sophomore year of college and we were in a crowded cafeteria. A friend asked me to identify…

How We Build a Pipeline of Teachers That Know How to Talk About Race and Social Justice

Nearly 60 years ago, our nation’s students watched as leaders of the civil rights movement pushed back against entrenched Jim Crow laws and re-defined American…