A few years ago, on a return flight from some random conference, I was settling in to read my Time magazine with Sheryl Sandberg, when the passenger next to me begged to read it when I was through. This beautiful Indian woman and I spoke for three hours, breaking all my inflight rules. I learned her and her husband were… Read more →
There’s no place like home, right? When Dorothy clicked her heels three times, she was immediately transported to familiar ground—her home in Kansas. For many of us, the same sentiment applies to how we make decisions about our schools. Decision-making at the state and local level—home—is important, and many parents and educators have advocated tirelessly for this. With the passage… Read more →
To President Trump: I was one of the 470,000 women who marched on Washington Saturday, the day after your inauguration, holding a sign that was earnest but not angry, focused on the aspirations I have for my young adult daughters. In a million years I couldn’t have imagined I would ever be writing you a letter (let alone putting the… Read more →
Career and technical education (CTE) is undergoing a change across American schools. No longer does it resemble the vocational training programs of 10 or 15 years ago that, oftentimes, wordlessly tracked students viewed as low academic performers into meager-paying jobs. This change is important for a number of reasons, but perhaps none as essential as delivering on education’s promise to… Read more →
Listening to the hearing for Betsy DeVos, Donald Trump’s choice for Education Secretary, I thought of the 50 million preK-12 children she will affect in her role, as well as the millions of college students . Then, as we so often do as human beings, I went from the macro to the micro. I thought of loved ones and friends… Read more →
More than two decades after the fact, my family still refers to fifth grade as my “lost year.” My experience had been so lacking in academic rigor that when I found myself at a new school the following year, my sixth-grade teacher told my parents to give me extra work at home so I could catch up. He told them… Read more →
Factoring polynomials is sometimes the one obstacle that stands between a community college student and the chance of earning a degree. And it looks like California is trying to do something to change that. It’s no secret that when students get tracked into college remedial courses–typically math, but also English and writing courses–they get discouraged by having to pay for material… Read more →
2016 was certainly the year of talking about equity around this country. Through data, the media and some brave storytellers, we figured out that students of color don’t experience school the same way white students do…again. By this I mean, this is not a new problem in our communities, we are just the new people are talking about it. School… Read more →
Rhode Island has never found national rankings to be its friend whether about education, family prosperity, or drug use and sadly, too many of our lawmakers and leaders prefer to criticize the lists or argue about the risk of making comparisons rather than stare our deficiencies in the face and strive to get better. Luckily, our Governor Gina Raimondo does pay attention… Read more →
I’ve been procrastinating about writing this post. Why? Because while I believe all people should speak their truths, I’m cautious about doing so when it comes to school choice and my kids. Let me be frank: My truth is that of a white, passing-as-privileged suburban mom (my husband and I are self-employed – so we’re honestly not as privileged as… Read more →