Pennsylvania

On February 27th, the Opportunity to Learn Campaign will be hosting a webinar on racial justice with the Applied Research Center, an OTL ally. The webinar will provide advocates and organizers with valuable tools for framing and combating racial disparities in our nation's education system. Sign up here!

Education organizers and advocates from 18 cities across the country made a "Journey for Justice" to the nation's capitol this week to make their case in person against school closures. They testified at a hearing before the US Department of Education and even met with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan! They protested that the DOE's policies that favor closing underperforming schools rather than investing in them is doing irreparable harm to students by disrupting their communities and discriminating against schools serving primarily Black and Latino students.

Our grassroots allies from Journey for Justice are taking their fight to end school closures to the US Department of Education! Representatives from 18 cities across the country will testify at a hearing before the US DOE in Washington D.C. on Tuesday, January 28th, 2013. See this press release for more details. And follow Journey for Justice on Twitter @J4J_USA!

I first heard the phrase "school-to-prison pipeline" twelve years ago in a meeting with a small group of Mississippi parents. Over a decade later, the movement to end school pushout has grown so strong that hundreds of advocates and organizers flocked to last week's first-ever U.S. Senate public hearing on the school-to-prison pipeline. The hearing alone was not the victory these advocates and organizer seek, but it was an important win on the road to implementing policies that keep students in school and learning, not lost in a maze of suspensions, expulsions, and court referrals.

Need some help developing or advocating for policies in your state to tackle school pushout and end the school-to-prison pipeline? Then look no further than this newly released state policy guide from the Opportunity to Learn Campaign! The guide provides advocates and policymakers with recommendations for ending the ineffective and discriminatory practice of out-of-school suspensions as well as a summary of the significant action and legislative proposals that are already underway in states to address our national pushout crisis.

Check out this amazing video chronicling Journey for Justice, a protest event held in Washington, D.C. in September! Advocates from across the country (including several OTL allies) traveled to the nation's capital to rally and march against school closures, which disproportionately affect low-income communities and communities of color. Before being given the axe, these schools are often set up to fail: they're chronically underfunded and unable to provide the types of resources and opportunities students need to succeed. As the advocates in the video say, "Justice is equitable funding for all our schools."