2nd grader headed to Vanderbilt

When students believe in the school they attend, something is working. KIPP Primary academy received a “C” and an 83.5 on their Student Performance Score on last year’s state report card. Among the student body, 69% are performing at or above grade level and 94% receive a lunch subsidy. The best data point, however, is the smile and excitement on the face of Ronald Anthony Clark Jr. or “Dooda” – as his… Read More

MK Asante on Baltimore, mental health and teaching

Happy 90th Birthday Baba Malcolm

#ManifestJustice

  Aaron Sandnes for #ManifestJustice #educationjustice

The Real Work of Education Reform

This Mother’s Day weekend I thought so much about Samaria Rice, a mother whose mother’s days will never be the same again.  A mother who has had to deal wtih a living nightmare. That which I still cannot bring myself to watch; that which still even as I write makes my eyeballs spontaneously spout and my heart clench. What were her dreams and hopes for her child? What were her fears for him?… Read More

ULEAD the pack in developing leadership among black ed reformers

Black students and families are the main consumers of public charter schools in New Orleans and have been most vocal about the lack of diversity in the teaching staff and school leadership as well as a lack of local control over the city’s schools. Many are asking what is being done to diversify school leadership in the city? The Cowen Institute released a brief on charter management organizations (CMO) in New Orleans… Read More

How zero-tolerance policies are hurting our children

Families in Louisiana are calling for an end to zero-tolerance policies and suspension laws because they do not address student behavior and disproportionately target poor people and students of color. Secondlineblog’s Andre Perry discusses on his latest CNN appearance that the “vigorous enforcement of lower level offenses with the aim of reducing or preventing high level offenses penalize the people who are being targeted by these laws and policies.” Under zero-tolerance policies… Read More