There is perhaps no issue in American education more intractable or more painful than the persistent gaps in educational outcomes between Black and Brown students and their white peers. In our ongoing coverage of education, The Hechinger Report explores how white students are given advantages every step of the way, how racism is woven into the system — from the way schools are funded to the material students are taught — and what’s being done to make change.
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A college where the graduation rate for black students has been zero percent — for years
Alexis Turner listened carefully as the administrators at the freshman orientation for Kent State University at Ashtabula ticked through the student groups she could join on campus that fall: English Society, Psychology Club, Student Veterans Association. She left the auditorium apprehensive. There was no Black Student Union, Latino Student Union or Multicultural Society.
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COLUMN: Black and Brown boys don’t need to learn ‘grit,’ they need schools to stop being racist
Everyone seems to think that a lack of “soft skills” is the reason why students of color aren’t ready for college and careers. More schools and after-school programs are teaching students how to have “grit,” compassion and a “growth mindset.” Under the new federal education law, states are encouraged to use “nonacademic” factors to hold…
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Texas’ discipline push sends kids to ‘jail-like’ campuses
Angela Comfort still can’t explain exactly what went wrong. Her son, Jordan, an honors student in Garland, Texas, got in trouble with school officials this February for distributing flyers on campus about a protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Students all over North Texas were planning a walkout, and the teen was eager to participate.…
America’s fastest-improving school system still falls short
It seems like a tale of two school systems. Washington, D.C., has emerged as the fastest-improving school system in the nation, according to a major new analysis of student test scores released last week by researchers at Stanford, Harvard and Dartmouth. The Education Scorecard analysis, which compares more than 5,000 school districts across 38 states,…
OPINION: Against all odds, a small school in a big city is changing lives by focusing on emotions
Schools routinely administer academic assessments to get a handle on what incoming students know, and how best to help them learn more. They should do the same for what’s going on inside a student’s heart, taking a lesson from “the toughest prep school in America,” which Benedictine monks have run for more than 150 years…
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