Students of Color

Most of My Students Didn’t Know Any College Graduates But That’s Not Stopping Them From Going to College!
School Choice

Most of My Students Didn’t Know Any College Graduates But That’s Not Stopping Them From Going to College!

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Taylor Cook is a college counselor in Rochester, New York. She grew up in Rochester, New York, until the age of 8 before moving to Fairport—a suburb a few miles east of the city. After graduating high school, Taylor enrolled and graduated from Nazareth College with degrees in Spanish and international studies. “I can’t believe… Continue reading Most of My Students Didn’t Know Any College Graduates But That’s Not Stopping Them From Going to College!

No Sliding For These Brownsville Students This Summer!
School Choice

No Sliding For These Brownsville Students This Summer!

Laura WatersLeave a comment

Assemblywoman Latrice Walker worked the group of energetic children gathered Thursday in the Brownsville Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library like a master teacher. “Every time you hear a name, I want you to clap twice,” Walker told the students ranging from kindergartners to second graders as she read the book “Stevie,” by John Steptoe.… Continue reading No Sliding For These Brownsville Students This Summer!

Transfers: The Play On School Diversity NYC – And I – Needed
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Transfers: The Play On School Diversity NYC – And I – Needed

Alina AdamsLeave a comment

Transfers, a play about two students from the Bronx, one Black, one Hispanic, who are competing for a scholarship at an elite, Massachusetts liberal arts university, was originally developed in the summer of 2016 at Vassar College. But it arrives in New York City in 2018, smack in the middle of a raging controversy about… Continue reading Transfers: The Play On School Diversity NYC – And I – Needed

So Let Me Get This Straight: If Black Kids Come to a School, the School is Going to Automatically Fail?
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So Let Me Get This Straight: If Black Kids Come to a School, the School is Going to Automatically Fail?

Vivett DukesLeave a comment

It’s over 50 years since the historic Supreme Court vote that ushered integration into public schools into the public school system of United States of America.  Yet in 2018 rich white people are still up in arms about the mere mention of allocating seats in their segregated schools for minority children. They didn’t want our… Continue reading So Let Me Get This Straight: If Black Kids Come to a School, the School is Going to Automatically Fail?

Unraveling the “Paradox” of School Choice: A New Report from the New School Gets More Wrong Than Right
Blog · School Choice

Unraveling the “Paradox” of School Choice: A New Report from the New School Gets More Wrong Than Right

Laura WatersLeave a comment

The New School’s Center for New York City Affairs issued a report today called “The Paradox of Choice: How School Choice Divides New York City Elementary Schools” and I find it underwhelming. Lead authors Nicole Mader, Clara Hemphill and Qasim Abbas draw broad conclusions from limited data sets, leave important questions unacknowledged (let alone unanswered),… Continue reading Unraveling the “Paradox” of School Choice: A New Report from the New School Gets More Wrong Than Right

Is Education a Zero Sum Game?
Accountability · Blog

Is Education a Zero Sum Game?

Alina AdamsLeave a comment

Zero-Sum Game: A situation in game theory in which one person’s gain is equivalent to another’s loss, so the net change in wealth or benefit is zero. (Definition: Investopedia) Admissions, a play by Joshua Harmon, ends its run at the Lincoln Center Theater this Sunday, May 6. Admissions stars Jessica Hecht (Susan, wife of Carol,… Continue reading Is Education a Zero Sum Game?

The First Step towards Achieving Educational Equity for Black Students Must Be Hiring More Black Teachers
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The First Step towards Achieving Educational Equity for Black Students Must Be Hiring More Black Teachers

Vivett DukesLeave a comment

According to  CNN, “a Texas charter school is apologizing after a teacher gave an assignment to an eighth grade American History class, asking students to list the positive aspects of slavery.” As outraged as I am, I wish I could write that what happened at Great Hearts Monte Vista School is an isolated incident —… Continue reading The First Step towards Achieving Educational Equity for Black Students Must Be Hiring More Black Teachers

How Are De Blasio’s School Improvement Plans Doin’? Some Answers from NAEP
Accountability · Blog · School Choice

How Are De Blasio’s School Improvement Plans Doin’? Some Answers from NAEP

Laura WatersLeave a comment

“How’m I doin’?” Ed Koch used to ask, when taking the temperature of the Gotham electorate. How are you doing, Mayor de Blasio, specifically regarding New York City traditional public schools’ showing in the just-released “gold standard” assessment called NAEP, short for  the “National Assessment of Education Progress”? Don’t ask. Or, more productively, let’s dig… Continue reading How Are De Blasio’s School Improvement Plans Doin’? Some Answers from NAEP

How Deeply Do You Think About Language?
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How Deeply Do You Think About Language?

Vivett DukesLeave a comment

“I’m having a hard time getting through this because of the language. The constant referral to incarcerated individuals as inmates speaks to the inhumane vantage point from which they are viewed by society. Imagine if we all were forever referred to by the result of our worst decision in life?” This was my response to… Continue reading How Deeply Do You Think About Language?

Low-Income Communities Say Yes to the Test Because Knowledge is Power!
Accountability

Low-Income Communities Say Yes to the Test Because Knowledge is Power!

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(This post is by Sam Radford, president of the Buffalo Schools District Parent Coordinating Council and a member of the High Achievement New York coalition. It was originally published in the Buffalo News.) Most people are familiar with the “opt-out” effort, a group that encourages parents to withdraw their children from annual state assessments in Math… Continue reading Low-Income Communities Say Yes to the Test Because Knowledge is Power!