Our Nation Can No Longer Neglect Marginalized Students

by John H. Jackson, Schott Foundation President & CEO
For far too long we have known that too many children enter school buildings languishing under the burden of poor physical or emotional health, disabilities, and cloaked with residue from conditions of neglected communities, all of which create systemic barriers to their academic and career progress.

Yet, we continue to approach the task of increasing their opportunities to learn with simplistic narratives and solutions—more tests—more turnover—more short-term grant cycles—while labeling their schools, their parents and even the students themselves as “failing.”
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Sit in It: Philanthropy Must Embrace Discomfort and Rapid Change on the Road to Achieving Equity

To achieve the equity we all claim to be in search of, philanthropy must have a look (no, a deep long gaze) in the mirror and have some very uncomfortable conversations about who we are, what we believe, and how we could adapt our approaches to new realities and environments where change is constant. Read more >

Why Talented Black and Hispanic Students Can Go Undiscovered

New evidence indicates that schools have contributed to racial disparities by underestimating the potential of Black and Hispanic children. But that can change: When one large school district in Florida altered how it screened children, the number of Black and Hispanic children identified as gifted doubled.
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Vouchers Found to Lower Test Scores in Washington Schools

The examination of the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, the only federally funded voucher program in the country, by the Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences, found that students who attended a private school through the program performed worse on standardized tests than their public school counterparts who did not use the vouchers.
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Three Big Problems with School ‘Choice’ that Supporters Don’t Like to Talk About

Let it be said that, yes, there are some wonderful charter schools. And yes, there are lousy traditional public schools. That isn’t open for debate. The question is whether the remedies pursued as part of school reform efforts are really helping the problem or hurting.
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Mass. Achievement Gaps Tell Disturbing Tale of Two States

Despite having the best public education system in the country, literacy remains a stubborn problem in the Commonwealth: 43 percent of Massachusetts third-graders do not read at grade-level. Even more concerning is that more than 60 percent of black and Latino children are not proficiently reading by the end of third grade. The numbers are even bleaker for English language learners.
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Trump Administration Rolls Back Michelle Obama's Healthy School Lunch Push

Former first lady Michelle Obama might find some of the latest actions by the Trump administration pretty difficult to stomach.

On Monday, newly minted Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced a rollback of school lunch standards championed by the former first lady, declaring at a Virginia school that the administration would "Make School Meals Great Again."
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Schools of Opportunity Application Window Extended to May 15

The Schools of Opportunity project arises out of the reality that existing recognitions strongly favor schools that enroll students who, outside of school, have the richest opportunities.

Accordingly, this project recognizes high schools that have demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to equity and excellence by giving all students the opportunity to succeed.
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