Zachary Wright

Zachary Wright is an assistant professor of practice at Relay Graduate School of Education, serving Philadelphia and Camden, and a communications activist at Education Post. Prior, he was the twelfth-grade world literature and Advanced Placement literature teacher at Mastery Charter School's Shoemaker Campus, where he taught students for eight years—including the school's first eight graduating classes. Wright was a national finalist for the 2018 U.S. Department of Education's School Ambassador Fellowship, and he was named Philadelphia's Outstanding Teacher of the Year in 2013. During his more than 10 years in Philadelphia classrooms, Wright created a relationship between Philadelphia's Mastery Schools and the University of Vermont that led to the granting of near-full-ride college scholarships for underrepresented students. And he participated in the fight for equitable education funding by testifying before Philadelphia's Board of Education and in the Pennsylvania State Capitol rotunda. Wright has been recruited by Facebook and Edutopia to speak on digital education. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, he organized demonstrations to close the digital divide. His writing has been published by The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Philadelphia Citizen, Chalkbeat, Education Leadership, and numerous education blogs. Wright lives in Collingswood, New Jersey, with his wife and two sons. Read more about Wright's work and pick up a copy of his new book, " Dismantling A Broken System; Actions to Close the Equity, Justice, and Opportunity Gaps in American Education"—now available for pre-order!

Posts By Zachary Wright

School Choice

Black Kids Don't Need to Sit Next to White Kids to Learn

Over the last decade, and indeed for longer than that, those fighting for justice, many of them White, have largely looked to integration as the panacea for educational inequity. The Center for...

Charter Schools

Democrats Are Finally Talking Public Education, But You Probably Won't Be Invited to the Table

I couldn’t believe it. Finally, education was going to take center stage at the 2020 Public Education Forum. All the major Democratic candidates (and some not so major) will be there, including Vice...

Charter Schools

School Choice Is Progressive

“Progressive” is a slippery word. The very term denotes improvement, progress, and thus is by nature a desirable term with which to self-apply. But "progress" is in the eye of the beholder. What...

student support

We Need to Learn About Trauma to Help Kids Who Need Us Most

Everywhere you look, our schools are filled with traumatized children; children struggling not just to learn and succeed, but to survive. Too often, we think that trauma happens elsewhere. Not in our...

equity

Leveling' Teachers Doesn’t Always Level the Playing Field for Kids

Imagine you’re a new teacher in a traditional public school district. You have spent the summer planning for and worrying about the upcoming year. You have scanned and re-scanned your ever-changing,...

student support

In the Age of Social Media, Our Kids Need All the Mental Health Support They Can Get

As a parent in his mid-thirties, I know that my childhood is totally unlike the childhood of my children. Sure, that’s a truism. But perhaps it is also truer now than at any other time in history....