Here’s How Teachers Can Support Their Experiences With Data to Improve Schools

Teachers aren’t asked nearly often enough what they think about the issues that are impacting our students, schools and profession. As teachers ourselves in Chicago…

If You’re Serious About Equity, Prove It by Including Leaders of Color at Your School

When I graduated from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education with a master’s degree in school leadership, I was confident I would quickly be hired as…

It’s Time to Dispel Charter School Myths and Celebrate All Good Schools

As public charter school teachers, we’ve heard a surprising number of myths and misunderstandings about charter schools. North Carolina offers an array of educational choices—including…

Three Ways to Foster a Love of Reading in Students With Disabilities

When it comes to literacy, how do we help our students with learning disabilities thrive? The research is clear: Vanessa Chratian, a special education reading…

Here’s Why Every Teacher Needs a Mentor

Regardless of your profession, mentorship can be powerful. We need long term teacher mentoring in education. This is one way to improve the quality of…

Our Students Don’t Need to Be ‘Fixed,’ But We Can Heal Together

I’m sitting in my classroom, hunched low in my comfortable teacher chair. The lights are off. I’m rubbing my eyes and my temples in an…

Not Everything Of Value in Education Can Be Captured By a Number

WHAT WE GOT RIGHT: In trying to capture the story of a decade in education, the temptation is to focus entirely on what can be quantified, from test scores to funding. In looking at these numbers, it can be easy to fall into the trap of focusing exclusively on what has gone wrong in schools.…

Even in a School With an ‘A’ Rating, Students of Color Are Being Failed

Around the country, schools that initially impress observers with high overall test scores often lose their luster upon closer examination, when inequities in achievement by…

The Week Before Winter Break Doesn’t Have to Be a Nightmare

One of the hardest weeks of the school year is the week before winter break.  The turn up is real. Students start acting as if…

We Need Native American Lit in High Schools Every Day, Not Just Around Thanksgiving

The romanticized narrative of Thanksgiving continues to thrive in many schools, but “Native Americans have been speaking out and writing back against the colonialist narrative…