Concerns about the importance and need to mobilize Black and Latino voters in 2016 and future elections have reached a fever pitch. But in many states and cities there are counterproductive disenfranchisement actions being taken that disempower Black and Latino communities — the takeover of their public schools. In this attack on democracy, governance by locally elected school boards is stripped away altogether.Read more >
The Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation (WRF) hosted a statewide tour demonstrating to participants Arkansas’ readiness for education reform and investment. The tour moved funders and advocates, including the Schott Foundation for Pubic Education, to create a full-fledged campaign. Read more >
Bill Kopsky, Executive Director of Arkansas Public Policy Panel, warns against the path that Little Rock schools are on. But despite the dire situattion, "there are things we can do."
"First, Little Rock doesn't have an education problem as much as we have a poverty problem. There is plenty we can do about that. Real neighborhood revitalization and supports for families would pay huge dividends for our city and our schools. Our city needs a plan for strengthening our neighborhoods."
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Chicago teacher Xian Franzinger Barrett shares he he participated in the CTU strike on April 1:
"In this moment, we know our students and the dreams we share are worth fighting for. We dream of a city where we aren't treated as second-class citizens by our leaders due to our address or skin color or legal status. We dream of a city where our students grow to be better leaders; leaders of, by and for our communities." Read more >
Recent research has documented that black girls are punished at school at rates that are even more disproportionate than those experienced by black boys. For example, they are suspended six times more often than white girls. Morris calls this "a story untold," and she sets out to tell it in her new book, Pushout: The Criminalization of Black Girls in Schools. Read more >
A new report unearths data that points at schools that are more concerned with hiring police officers than counselors. Of the largest five districts in the U.S., three have more officers than counselors. They are New York City, Chicago and Miami-Dade.
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