Teaching
A Chicago Teacher's Struggle to Get Kids to College in a Culture of Violence and Fear
Not so long ago, I learned that one of my former students, a fun-loving, academically strong kid who is now in high school, had a handgun stashed underneath his clothes in his dresser drawer. Some...
opportunity gap
Helping English-Language Learners Avoid the Summer Slide
Growing up in Denver, my mother made me attend a summer reading program at a public library every year. And every year I endured being made fun of by my classmates who didn’t understand why I had to...
Charter Schools
It’s Time to Give Charter Schools Equitable Funding
This year’s National Charter Schools Week is an especially poignant celebration as many states are reaching 20th and 25th anniversaries of their charter school laws (our state of Connecticut...
Poverty
Look, I'm Not the Enemy But Investing in Education Without Accountability Just Doesn't Work
My recent visit to the Network for Public Education’s annual conference in North Carolina has yielded much fruit. In addition to an extended blog conversation with Peter Greene on the topic of...
Poverty
In Charlotte, Children Still Wear the Garment of Disadvantage
The bustling Southern city of Charlotte, North Carolina, is once again grappling with segregated schools, a problem we had all but conquered nearly 40 years ago. Unfortunately, for too many poor...
New York
Peter Cunningham Reflects on the 2016 Network for Public Education Conference
I arrived in North Carolina for the 2016 conference of The Network for Public Education and the first person I met is the organization’s founder and the intellectual godmother of the anti-reform...
