BY JOHN BRIDGELAND AND CARMEL MARTIN, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR — 06/07/18 Every day, teachers perform the heroic work of educating children. In the process, they make dozens of quick judgments about their students. Of course, teachers are no different from the rest of us — we all do this. Unfortunately, research shows these snap judgments are often influenced…
Category: Failing Schools
Chicago promised that closing nearly 50 schools would help kids in 2013. A new report says it didn’t.
By Valerie Strauss May 24, 2018 In 2013, the Chicago school district closed 49 elementary schools and one high school program in the face of a $1 billion deficit, the largest mass school closure in the country’s modern history. Schools officials and Mayor Rahm Emanuel made this promise to nearly 12,000 mostly African American students from…
With A-F grades off the table, Tennessee gets creative about rating its schools under federal law
BY MARTA W. ALDRICH JUNE 11, 2018 Tennessee’s plan to start grading its schools this year has taken a big detour. Days of online testing problems this spring forced officials to toss out a new A-F grading system, under development for more than a year as part of Tennessee’s sweeping plan to usher in a new era of…
Why our schools are failing
Most teachers do not teach because of the money. Updated Jun 13; Posted Jun 12 By Robert Wilkerson When people say our schools are failing, they have overstated the problem. The truth is many of our schools are failing, but some are doing quite well. The ones that are failing are not failing because prayer was taken out…
SAISD’s Martinez: Charter, Traditional Public Schools Should ‘Work Together’
EMILY DONALDSON Despite rhetoric that increasingly pits traditional public schools against charters, most parents don’t care which form their children’s public education takes as long as they are learning, San Antonio Independent School District Superintendent Pedro Martinez told a national charter school conference Monday. “Families want an environment where their children are going to thrive,” Martinez…
Editorial: Education funding is still broken
Sunday, June 17, 2018 Last week, several hundred students, teachers and parents marched from Franklin High School to city hall to protest budget cuts that are decimating faculty and shortchanging Franklin’s children. The district is slated to lose 14 positions. That’s on top of the 14 positions the school district cut over the past two years. Franklin’s…
African-American teachers push messages of affirmation, success at Philadelphia school
“I’ve been that child under the desk crying because my father wasn’t around,” said one African-American teacher. by Ron Allen and Leah Smith / Jun.16.2018 / 2:29 PM ET PHILADELPHIA — “You’re great!” That’s what every student hears from teacher Herman Douglas when they enter his seventh-grade class at Mary McLeod Bethune Elementary School in a neighborhood…
How America’s Schools Have (and Haven’t) Changed in the 64 Years Since the Brown v. Board Verdict — as Told in 15 Charts
By KEVIN MAHNKEN | May 13, 2018 Thursday marks the 64th anniversary of the Supreme Court abolishing segregated schools in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case. That means a generation of Americans has been born, attended public schools, matured into adulthood, raised children of their own, and now reached retirement age — all outside the shadow of…
Does Race Matter in Education? New Survey of Millennials Reveals Conflicting Opinions on Equity
By KEVIN MAHNKEN September 14, 2017 The prevalence of race in American schools has been reexamined in recent years, as new reports indicate growing segregation more than six decades after Brown v. Board of Education. But a new study of millennials reveals surprisingly mixed views when it comes to equity and the need for racial integration. Respondents also voiced strong — if occasionally…
Public Schools For a New Generation: 5 Reasons Why Millennials Will Bend the Arc of American Education
One of my goals this year is inspiring fellow millennials to join the work of improving America’s public schools. Last November, I wrote in The 74 about the results of a poll showing that millennials believe education provides the best opportunity for success in life — much more so than factors like how much money you have or…
Standing Strong for Public Education! 