New Orleans Warns Others about School Takeover

Ten years after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans has a very different educational landscape, and it's one that many students, parents, and educators are unhappy about. A recent conference sent out a strong warning to other cities that "relinquishment" reform policies, in which the state takes over local school districts and replaces "failing" public schools with chartered ones, hurts children and communities—and, unfortunately, these takeovers are spreading rapidly across the country. Read more>

175+ Groups Ask Congress to End High-Stakes Tests

This week over 175 civil rights and education groups signed on to a letter asking legislators to abandon the high-stakes testing of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act's most recent iteration, No Child Left Behind. Written by Jitu Brown, the National Director of the Journey for Justice Alliance, the letter joins the debate over the role of testing and accountability in ESEA. Read more>

Op-Ed Gives Guidance for Progressive School Reform

NYU Professor Pedro Noguera outlines a clear direction for Mayor de Blasio and progressive school reform efforts in his latest op-ed. Noguera emphasizes that although de Blasio has made progress in some educational areas, he needs to create a clearer narrative of change in order to inspire communities to support and build on that progress. Read more>

Filling the Vaccum Left Behind by High-Stakes Tests

John Merrow predicts that high-stakes testing is on its way out, and argues organizers and educators need to clearly articulate what should replace it. He suggests arts-based schools would be one way of filling the void. Read more>

MA Immigration Movement Fights for In-State Tuition

In mid-July, the Massachusetts-based Student Immigrant Movement led hundreds of students and allies in the fight for in-state tuition for undocumented students during a hearing before the state's Joint Committee on Education. Read more>

NYC Moves Closer to Just School Discipline Practices

School discipline has long needed severe reforms in order to disrupt the school to prision pipeline and keep students in school. In a recent op-ed, Kavitha Mediratta, applauds New York City's ongoing progress towards fixing these issues. Read more>

2015 KIDS COUNT Data Book Released

The Annie E. Casey Foundation's annual publication, The KIDS COUNT 2015 Data Book, collects data from all 50 states and uses it to evaluate how kids across the U.S. are faring in terms of their health, education, economic well-being, and family and community. The 2015 report shows that although some gains have been made, there are still many areas for concern—particularly for children of color. Read more>

How We Can Help More Students be Ready for College

Graduating high school doesn't always mean that students are ready for college. To address this fact, the Rennie Center for Education Research & Policy has released a new policy brief that provides one concrete way to help prepare students: early college programming in high schools. Read more>