Ohio's Columbus City Schools developed a new urban grow-your-own principal pipeline. This pipeline emphasizes the cultivation of equity-centered principals who can address educational and social disparities in transformative and sustainable ways. Drawing from research and professional literature and from district and stakeholder engagements,…

IDEA provides essential guidance and legal support for students with disabilities, yet its conceptual and systemic framework tends to promote a focus on student deficits. Thus, teachers and IEP team members may have low expectations of students with disabilities and fail to encourage the development of their talents. Lisa DaVia Rubenstein, Charles…

The need for equitable access to high-quality preschool has recently gained unprecedented attention. As states and districts strive to expand access while promoting quality, curriculum quality has emerged as a critical component of preschool programs that promote young children's learning. Yet many educators make curricular decisions with…

As more K-12 school districts have hired equity officers, questions have arisen about their role and effectiveness. A recent Heritage Foundation report, for example, found that schools with equity officers have the lowest achievement outcomes. Mary Rice-Boothe and Tanji Reed Marshall point out, however, that student achievement is not the only…

The English learner (EL) population has grown by 35% in the last 20 years. However, in addition to new students being identified as ELs, the EL subgroup is being inflated by students who are not being reclassified within a reasonable and developmentally appropriate timeframe. These students, often labeled long term ELs (LTELs), are a product of…

Leadership gurus often put creating a "shared vision" at the top of their pyramid of what successful leaders do. These visions are best when they are an anchor or a North Star -- unwavering goals that the district works toward. Author Jon Saphier proposes this North Star for districts: Make every school an engine for continuous…

Early intervention and identity-building can promote the idea among students that everyone is a math person. Natalie Parker-Holliman and Tenisha Marcel-Herbert share practical tools and strategies that schools and teachers can use to build students' confidence and strengthen their mathematical foundation. They highlight the significance of culture…

A team of researchers wanted to learn whether AP teachers using a project-based learning (PBL) approach could develop students' deep learning of knowledge and skills while preparing them for their AP exams. They used a randomized controlled trial to evaluate the Knowledge in Action (KIA) project-based curricula for AP courses. KIA students…

Policy makers have taken more interest in career and technical education (CTE) in recent years, but evidence regarding what kinds of programs produce the most important outcomes is still emerging. Shaun M. Dougherty summarizes what recent research tells us about the impact of these programs. Evidence has shown that CTE-dedicated schools, career…

Shantel Meek of the Children's Equity Project talks with Kappan about the challenges facing early childhood education. These include the splintered nature of the system, a lack of funding, and the low status and pay afforded to the early childhood workforce. Although early care programs, such as Head Start, have helped children in poverty,…

There is a cultural mismatch between teachers and students in classrooms across the U.S. that, despite teachers' best intentions, too often leads to student harm. Mentors are uniquely positioned to interrupt conscious and unconscious bias that leads to inequitable practices but often have difficulty holding the necessary hard conversations. Among…

Maine's Portland Public Schools has for years been committed to racial equity, but that commitment has been both an asset and a barrier to making the district hospitable to educators of color. The district's progressive and anti-racist stance led many white educators to assume that their colleagues did not experience interpersonal or institutional…

In the 21st century, what does a defensible, equitable model of gifted and talented student identification look like? For too long, gifted education's reason for being has been unclear, and the students it has served have been from too narrow a segment of the student population. With renewed attention to equity and personalized learning, gifted…

The question of achieving equity remains an enduring concern for K-12 teachers and school leaders. Work toward equity and social justice in K-12 schools requires the authentic participation and engagement of racially marginalized students and families. Van Lac, Érica Fernández, and Katherine Cumings Mansfield offer real-life examples of what it…

No Child Left Behind and the Every Student Succeeds Act have made accountability central to conversations about education policy. But neither statute articulates a clear vision of what constitutes "quality" or "equity" in education, nor do they include a mechanism to ensure that schools have sufficient resources to pursue that…