education reform
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Free Your Mind: 10 Missouri Eastern Prison Inmates Graduate College
If you didn’t know the ceremony was taking place in a state prison, you might think it was just another joyful celebration of newly credentialed scholars. But the 10 members of this graduating class are all convicted felons—and inmates at the Missouri Eastern Correctional Center. And on Wednesday they became the first graduates of Washington…
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Four New York City Department of Education Executives Claim They're Victims of 'Reverse Racism'
Four administrators in New York City’s Department of Education are about to sue the city because, they say, they were moved into positions of less authority or just given less responsibility on account of their race. To add insult to injury, the plaintiffs—all white women—allege that they were replaced with people of color they consider…
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Meet Tay Anderson, the 20-Year-Old School Board Candidate Determined to Rescue the Denver Public School System From Itself
Everything about activist Tay Anderson screams “about that action.” In 2017, a 19-year-old Anderson spearheaded a 200-person “We Don’t Drink Ink” protest after Colorado-based Ink Coffee boasted “Happily Gentrifying Since 2014″ in its promotional materials—which was pretty damn brazen considering the cafe was located in Five Points, one of Denver’s oldest, historically black neighborhoods. But…
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Elizabeth Warren Proposes $50 Billion in Aid to HBCUs, Student Debt Forgiveness in Radical Higher Ed Reform Package
If there’s one thing Americans of all stripes seem to agree on, it’s that the education system is broken: school districts are increasingly segregated and disproportionately funded at the K-12 level, and the cost of college educations—touted as an essential step toward economic advancement—has become increasingly prohibitive. Because of skyrocketing tuition costs, a student debt…
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Cut the Check: Kamala Harris Announces $315 Billion Plan to Address Educational Inequality in Black and Brown Communities, Jump-start HBCUs
On Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris unveiled her intention to deliver the largest federal investment in teacher pay in the history of the United States. In declaring a crisis in teacher pay in America, Harris noted that public school teachers are paid 11 percent less than similar professionals with college degrees, and expressed her commitment…
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Report: Public Universities Prioritize Out-of-State, Wealthy, White Students, Cue Shock and Awe
While Dr. Dre’s $70 million in donations daughter was somehow able to get into USC based “entirely” on her own merit, for many black children, the process to attend their college of choice is an obstacle course of anxiety and racial bias. And while our experiences as perpetual victims of prejudice are irrefutable, it’s always…
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ACLU Sues Entire School District For Being Racist AF
If racism was a school-sanctioned sport, I’d love to see the white supremacy team from Covington Catholic High School MAGAts face off against the traditional powerhouse bigots of Paw Paw, Mich. because, according to the Michigan chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, the Paw Paw Public Schools might be one of the greatest racism…
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LeBron's I Promise School Offers a Few Important Lessons in Education Reform
Last week, President Trump scoffed—albeit passive aggressively—at basketball icon LeBron James’ intelligence in a tweet, stating, “Lebron James was just interviewed by the dumbest man on television, Don Lemon,” Mr. Trump wrote, “He made Lebron look smart, which isn’t easy to do. I like Mike!” But it looks like LeBron is the one taking Trump…
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Millions of Students Are Quietly Being Taught the Koch Brothers’ Whitewashed Version of Black History
Cash-strapped social studies teachers across America have discovered an exciting new resource that provides lesson plans, study materials and even seminars geared toward elementary, middle and high school students. The lessons are extremely detailed and come with suggestions for activities, multimedia and additional reading. More importantly, unlike many educational tools, most of these materials are…
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The NAACP Will Learn the Pain Associated With Charter Schools
“Before the NAACP came to New Orleans, we never had the opportunity to share,” Kim Ford, communications chair for the New Orleans branch of the NAACP, said exclusively to The Root. Ford helped organize the national organization’s sixth hearing on quality education, which took place in the Crescent City on April 6. “We are a…