Education

Universities are businesses. They are in the business of education. There will be no change in the retention rate of black students at predominantly white universities until there is a demonstrated financial benefit (beyond costs) to doing so.read more

Across the country, school administrators are making cops and metal detectors as much a part of the school day as teachers and textbooks. So-called zero-tolerance disciplinary policies are transforming the campus into hostile territory, alienating communities and pushing vulnerable students to give up on their education.read more

To ease the budget crisis, one state after another is taking an ax to higher education. This is cruel and shortsighted.read more

In that crowd-pleasing, humorous-but-firm paternal style, the President described how he and his wife hold their own kids to high standards. But progressive protesters outside were none too happy with him.read more

President Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan have shown leadership by not giving in to anti-gay extremists.read more

Fourth grade is the peak year for girls' self-esteem. Nine-year-old girls feel great about themselves. But by fifth grade it is a whole different story.read more

In a recent interview with NEA Today, you said you read my book “36 Children” in high school and wrote an essay about it in college. “The book had a big impact on me,” you said, adding that it gave you “tremendous hope” to address the “challenges that teachers in tough communities face.”read more

My guest today is the poet and labor activist Mark Nowak, who is the author of an amazing new book called Coal Mountain Elementary.

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Educators should shed their subordinate status and sense of inferiority. Schools work best when teachers — in dialogue with parents and other citizens — design the educational experience, not corporate officials.read more

The absence of health care is a huge but needless barrier for my students to overcome.read more

President Obama needs to examine the No Child Left Behind Act.

“Our schools fail too many,” he said, in his inaugural address.read more

I am going down to Washington, D.C. to ask for a handout.read more

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