Pretext for Learning
Our school systems are structured around the simple plan that students learn to read for the first few...
Hearts and Minds
As the Russian army proceeds with its invasion of Ukraine, our natural inclination to defend the weaker, younger, more democratic nation against its aggressive, giant, authoritarian neighbor is suppressed by the fear that any...
What Does It Mean to Ask ‘How Does Ukrainian Compare with Russian?’
To ask “How does Ukrainian compare to Russian?” is to admit that you’ve heard of Russian but didn’t realize that Ukrainian was even a language. It is not your own fault, it’s a consequence...
Assessing Change
Our ability to adapt to new situations is key to success. However, change often happens too slowly for us to recognize it, so it takes a sudden, dramatic shift in circumstances to spur a...
Capitalizing on America’s Languages
We’re at an unprecedented point of opportunity for education reform in the U.S., but we need to ensure that adopted reforms rejuvenate our systems and make them more flexible to suit the diversity of...
Rebuilding a Diverse Edustructure
For some Americans, the federal government investing a single dime in education is considered an overreach of power and an insult to the Constitution, which lays out that the responsibility for all functions not...
Taking Digital Communication to Heart
As pandemic-induced school shutdowns have accelerated remote learning, the importance of personal connections between students, their teachers, aides, mentors, and peers has become a major concern—especially for marginalized students, including multilingual learners, who have...
Take Poverty out of the Literacy Equation for Good
The federal economic stimulus package passed last month achieves something progressives have dreamed of for decades: monthly assistance for...
Building a New Deal for Educators
As we celebrate this month’s confirmation of the first U.S. education secretary, Miguel Cardona, to have learned English as a second language, maybe we can afford ourselves some optimism about the future of public...
Arguing for Good Reason
The outrageous attack on the U.S. Capitol shocked the world, but the environment in which such violent sentiment was allowed to brew has been years in the making. The campaigns against mainstream media, against...