education
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Obama Administration Encourages Schools to Clarify Role of School Police
The Obama administration is asking schools and colleges to clarify the role of law-enforcement officials who serve campuses, the Washington Post reports. According to the report, the recommendations come after several violent encounters between school police and students, sparking debate about whether authorities are actually keeping children safe or arresting them for no reason. “The…
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How 1 Black-Owned Ga. School Is Revolutionizing Education for the Gifted
Claire Anderson’s son, Caleb, started reading at 8 months. By 18 months he was in the first grade. Realizing that Caleb was gifted, Anderson, who lives in Metro Atlanta, was determined to ensure that he would have the best resources available so that he would remain intellectually stimulated and challenged. And so she went on…
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Don’t Be Surprised if Colin Kaepernick Has More Schoolkids Sitting Out the Pledge
Editor’s note: Once a month, this column will tackle broader questions about what the country should do about gaps in achievement and opportunity. Colin Kaepernick is a role model whether you like it or not. Many view Kaepernick’s choice of protest as disrespectful to the flag, our armed forces and America itself, but the vitriol…
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4 Questions Parents Should Ask a Principal or Teacher to Ensure Their Child’s Success
Failing schools that service low-income black kids will continue to get away with egregious levels of educational neglect because they know no one will hold them accountable, unless parents are savvy enough to demand what their children deserve. Here are four questions that focus on school culture, instruction and assessment that parents should ask their…
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Let White Leaders Defend Institutional Racism; Let Black Leaders Defend Black Lives
If one looks and listens closely, black reform advocates and charter leaders are responding to the mythology that black people don’t want charter schools or reform in general. For most black folk, however, not liking reform equates to not liking institutional racism, which impacts our communities no matter how many black and brown people an organization hires.…
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High School Alumni Raise Money to Create Scholarship in Philando Castile's Name
Alumni from Central High School in St. Paul, Minn., banded together over the weekend to host a fundraiser in order to raise money for a scholarship meant to honor Philando Castile, the Star Tribune reports. According to the report, more than 500 attended Sunday’s event—which included music, food and kids’ activities—at the St. Paul’s Dunning Recreation…
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Why the Black Lives Matter Movement Has to Take on Charter Schools
Black school systems are treated like black men and women in America. Urban schools are broken up, experimented on and policed in efforts to improve them. The reformers expect students, teachers and parents to be grateful and accept test-score growth in return, just as black communities were expected to be grateful when crime dropped even as…
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Where Education Reform and Sexism Collide: Firing Female Teachers and Expelling Black Girls Props Up Patriarchy
Editor’s note: Once a month, this column will tackle broader questions about what the country should do about gaps in achievement and opportunity. Tucked away from the hoopla and ruckus of the Democratic National Convention at a quaint restaurant a few miles away, approximately 200 people gathered at a fundraiser for Rights4Girls to rally around…
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The Democratic National Convention Didn’t Talk About a Black Agenda, so We Did
On Wednesday, as Philadelphia’s center was overrun by throngs of Democratic conventiongoers, The Root and legendary Philadelphia radio station WURD 900 AM collaborated blocks away on Broad Street to discuss what the black agenda might be—especially after what is shaping up to be the most contentious presidential election in nearly 50 years. In the war…