February 2020
The Secret Shame: How America's Most Progressive Cities Betray Their Commitment to Educational Opportunity for All A recent report from brightbeam, The Secret Shame: How America's Most Progressive Cities Betray Their Commitment to Educational Opportunity for All, highlights the outcomes for students of color in America's most progressive cities. The report uncovers that highly prosperous cities with progressive residents have particularly poor outcomes for children living at the margins. Brightbeam researchers found that students in America's most progressive cities face greater racial inequity in achievement and graduation rates than students living in the nation's most conservative cities. Some of the findings from the report include: Progressive cities have larger achievement gaps than conservative cities Progressive cities, on average, have achievement gaps in math and reading that are 15 and 13 percentage points higher than in conservative cities, respectively. In San Francisco, for example, 70% of white students are proficient in math, compared to only 12% of black students reaching proficiency - a 58-point gap. In Washington, D.C., 83% of white students scored proficient in reading compared to 23 percent of black students - a 60-point gap. In contrast, three of the 12 most conservative cities Virginia Beach, Anaheim and Fort Worth - have effectively closed or even erased the gap in at least one of the academic categories examined.
Explore the full report and recommendations for taking action.
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A STRONG FOUNDATION: Three State Policy Priorities to Give Every Student Effective, Diverse Teachers One of the most consistent takeaways from education research over the last two decades is the importance of finding and retaining great teachers, yet school systems across the country continue to struggle with teacher recruitment and retention. A shortage of teachers in key subjects and a failure to even identify--much less retain--highly effective teachers leaves many districts in an annual scramble to fill teaching vacancies before the first day of school, often without good information on their new teachers' performance or a strategy to improve it. Teacher preparation programs often exacerbate the problem by failing to train enough teachers in the grades and subject areas their local districts and students need most--and by certifying too many teachers who aren't ready to help students learn. On top of it all, the current approach to teacher training and hiring has created a teacher workforce that's far less ethnically and racially diverse than the student population in all 50 states--a gap that's only growing, with real consequences for all students, but especially students of color. Together, these challenges fuel the stubborn inequities that affect millions of students every single day. This new report from TNTP, outlines a policy agenda that can help boost the number of great teachers in any state by: Strengthening teacher pipelines Improving certification rules Diversifying the teacher workforce Along with the recommendations, the report outlines examples of states that have implemented some of these policy ideas along with stories from practitioners showing why they matter. The report also includes detailed profiles of the teacher policy landscape in eight data-rich states--Arkansas, California,
Delaware, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Tennessee, and Texas.
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Inequities in Advanced Coursework: What's Driving Them and What Leaders Can Do Black and Latino students across the country experience inequitable access to advanced coursework opportunities. They are locked out of these opportunities early when they are denied access to gifted and talented programs in elementary school, and later in middle and high school, when they are not enrolled in eighth grade algebra and not given the chance to participate in Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), and dual enrollment programs. As a result, these students are missing out on critical opportunities that can set them up for success in college and careers. A new brief from The Education Trust, explores the ways Black and Latino students are locked out of advanced coursework opportunities, examining the particular types of barriers school systems put in their way. The report offers actionable solutions for state, district, and school leaders.
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What We Read in January From Achieve the Core: Core Connections: Excellence and Equity in the Classroom From Data Quality Campaign: It's a New Decade. Here's What That Means for Education Data From Education Next: Put Whole Language on Trial From EdReports: Redefining Engagement: How Baltimore City Public Schools Transformed its Approach to Adopting Instructional Materials From Education Week: Most Popular Stories of the Decade
From New America: (Learning Opportunity 2/6) Equity and Education in 202: Innovations in Teaching and Learning within PreK-12 Schools From Teaching Tolerance: Black History Month: Teaching the Complete History From The 74: In Our 21st Century World, It's Time to Invest in 21st Century Teaching Materials - and Train Educators to Use Them From UnboundEd: The Complexion Of Teaching And Learning Episode 1 "From Roots to Reconstruction"
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