To Improve Our School District, We Asked a Rabbi and Two Pastors

2022 arrived in America’s public schools not with a bang, but rather, a long and tired sigh.  Students need stable, high-quality schools more than ever,…

Chicago Isn’t the Only City Putting Politics Over Kids

The politics of education are broken and we are seeing the effects of it play out in real-time.  In Chicago, a stalemate over remote learning…

More Than 330,000 of Chicago’s Children Didn’t Learn Today Because of CPS’s Staggering Lack of Planning

Once again, drama is flaring over Chicago Public Schools’ management of the pandemic. In the city of Chicago, more than 330,000 children are not learning today…

School Leaders Are Burning the Candle at Both Ends

By now, students and educators alike have settled into the rhythm of school life. Relationships have been re-established, new ones have been formed, and teaching…

When Charters Grow From Communities, They Can and Do Increase Equity

BES (Build, Excel, Sustain) started its Fellowship program 20 years ago to support school leaders with the preparation and professional development they needed to design,…

Principals Must Be Hope Dealers In Schools and Communities

During a recent conversation, Murleen Coakley, principal of Greenfield Union in the Detroit Public Schools Community District, reminded me how much being a great principal…

There’s a Kyle Rittenhouse in Your School, Too

During my first week of teaching science at my former middle school on the Oregon coast, I noticed a student happily decorating his science notebook.…

Schools Now Have Tons of Money. What Are They Doing With It?

I live in Lawrence, New Jersey—a middle-class, diverse town, halfway between Princeton and Trenton. For years I was on the school board and was very…

3 Reasons Why Principals Should Make Time to Teach

COVID-19 rocked our school the first week of our opening this school year. We started the year with three staff members out due to the…

Q&A With Dr. Chad Gestson: Phoenix’s Covid Numbers Transformed Our District for the Better

Dr. Chad Gestson leads the Phoenix Union High School District, which educates 29,000 students in 22 schools from 32 different ZIP codes in Arizona’s capital…