Black families are more dissatisfied with their neighborhood school options than other groups, and the more segregated the neighborhood, the more dissatisfied they are. Those were two big takeaways highlighted in a recent Brookings Institute summary of a new survey by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.…
charter schools
2 Things the NAACP Got Right on Charter Schools
While I think there is a lot wrong with the NAACP’s look at charters, they did get two things right. One is a substantive policy that we should take up, and the other is more of an admission that hopefully will lead us to a better conversation and meaningful action. First, let’s look at the…
The Continuing Fight for the Soul of the NAACP
The NAACP was born from a marriage of convenience that has never been reconciled. White liberals and Black liberationists, like W.E.B. Du Bois, had very different visions of the role of the organization and its tactics. Those schisms are still playing out today in efforts like the misguided charter school resolution released this week. But…
A History Lesson for Randi on Black Education in America
America’s system of education was built for racial dominance. Anyone who actually studies history knows that. So it was curious to read the Times article “Teachers Union Chief; School Choice Rooted in Segregation” this week, where AFT president Randi Weingarten singled out “school choice” for its purported racist roots, when a more accurate title really…
2 Big Takeaways in the Latest Charter and District Comparisons in Oakland
If you haven’t seen Informing Equity: Student Need, Spending and Resource Use in Oakland’s Public Schools, you should. It is a critical first step in understanding what is happening in the difference public education sectors in Oakland and across the range of schools. I will excerpt the reports own big takeaways, but there are two critical…