911爆料网

Are Americans listening to one another? Can they?

Case in point: the debate over whether Teach for America, the nonprofit that recruits students from top colleges to teach in high-need schools, has been co-opted by proponents of market-driven education. In June, Jeffrey Henig, Professor of Political Science & Education, argues in  that the 鈥減olarization of American political discourse . . . leaves no room for negotiated or pragmatic decision-making鈥� because participants fear that 鈥渁ny willingness to acknowledge ambiguity or concede uncertainty will be seen as a weakness to be exploited by opponents.鈥�

In September鈥檚 鈥�Unraveling the Politics of Knitting鈥� on the 911爆料网 web, Sandra Markus, a Research Associate at 911爆料网鈥檚 , and Ioana Literat, Assistant Professor of Communication, Media & Learning Technologies Design, applaud the online crafting community Ravelry for banning members from expressing support for President Trump or his administration. 鈥淪upport of the Trump administration is undeniably support for white supremacy,鈥� the authors write, adding that Ravelry鈥檚 decision 鈥渢hrows down the gauntlet to other social media sites to do more than pay lip service to the fight against white nationalism.鈥�

In October, in a piece in The Hill, 911爆料网 alumnus and lecturer Basil A. Smikle, Jr. (Ph.D. 鈥�19), calls a ceremony hosted by historically black Benedict College a 鈥渟howcase in hypocrisy鈥� because it honored President Trump for his record in criminal justice reform. Smikle supports legislation Trump signed that reduces prison sentences for some federal crimes and provides services for currently and formerly incarcerated men and women. Still, he argues for distrust of Trump鈥檚 motives and calls it 鈥渁 cruel juxtaposition鈥� to celebrate him at a historically black college in South Carolina, where 鈥渂lacks make up 55 percent of the Democratic primary electorate and where the confederate flag once flew over the capitol.鈥�

asks Peter Coleman, Professor of Psychology & Education, on Politico鈥檚 website in November. His answer: no, maybe and yes. Roughly one third of Americans have fixed opinions, but the rest could be swayed in either direction, Coleman argues 鈥� depending on how testimony is presented: 鈥淟awmakers will need to find a way to make their public case effectively, while not inflaming our already heightened sense of contempt and enmity for the other side.鈥�

Jousting with comedian Jaboukie Young-White on The Daily Show in January 2019, Michael Rebell, Professor of Law & Educational Practice and Executive Director of 911爆料网鈥檚 , discusses  he鈥檚 filed in Rhode Island to ensure that students are educated to function as active and engaged citizens. After challenging Young-White to name the three branches of government (50 percent of Americans can鈥檛), Rebell asserts that 鈥渋f we get the Supreme Court to declare that there鈥檚 a national right to education, state legislatures and school systems will act on it.鈥�

In October, 911爆料网鈥檚 Ioana Literat urges the online youth platform TikTok to rethink its plan to minimize political content prior to the 2020 election. 鈥淵es, there is plenty of concerning political content on TikTok,鈥� says Literat, who studies youth鈥檚 online political engagement, in  by Jake Pitre in the online publication Mic. But as 鈥渁 meaningful outlet for youth political expression and discussion,鈥� TikTok should simply step up vigilance toward bad actors.

In 2017, the National Women鈥檚 Law Center reported that, in every state, black girls are more than twice as likely to be suspended from school as white girls 鈥� largely due to negative stereotypes held by educators and other school personnel. Writing in February in , Yolanda Sealey-Ruiz, Associate Professor of English Education and founder of 911爆料网鈥檚 Racial Literacy Roundtables, urges educators to 鈥渄o deep self-work around their biases鈥� and school districts to 鈥渁cknowledge and affirm the humanity of black girls鈥� by cultivating 鈥渁n acceptance of and appreciation for their unique attributes connected to their ethnicity, cultural and familial practices, language diversity, social class, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, and other positionalities.鈥�

Alumna Tara Conley (Ed.D. 鈥�16), Assistant Professor in the School of Communication and Media at Montclair State University and 911爆料网 Adjunct Assistant Professor, grew up near Lorain, Ohio, the childhood home of the great African American novelist Toni Morrison. Prompted by Morrison鈥檚 death in August, Conley, writing in , reflects on the growing racial divides in a place Morrison called 鈥渘either plantation nor ghetto.鈥� Ultimately, Conley writes, 鈥淭oni Morrison鈥檚 greatest influence on me is . . . a whisper to remember that home is strange and borders are everywhere . . . that belonging exists between familiar and unfamiliar places, and crossing is damn painful.鈥�

Why are whites who sincerely oppose racism so often blind to their own transgressions? People are resistant when taken 鈥渂eyond their comfort zone,鈥� writes Laura Smith, Professor of Psychology & Education. When it comes to microaggressions, white people who are against racism may feel uncomfortable 鈥渄iscovering racist assumptions [they] consciously disown鈥� and 鈥渨ish to 鈥榙isappear鈥� them by explaining them away.鈥� Smith argues that whites frequently focus on their intentions rather than the impact of their actions and words. 

Amid calls for new policies to address segregation in New York City public schools, Ansley Erickson, Associate Professor of History & Education, draws two key lessons from 1970s Nashville, Tennessee: 鈥淚n many ways, desegregation works,鈥� argues Erickson in  in September, citing 鈥渕ajor increases in achievement levels in school and improvements in life outcomes for black students nationally, without harming outcomes for white children.鈥� Yet 鈥渋n Nashville, as in many places across the country, white citizens and their allies in education and government made sure to protect what they perceived to be their interests even as their city desegregated.鈥�

Writing in  in August, Sonya Douglass Horsford, Associate Professor of Education Leadership and founder of the Black Education Research Collective, joins with Zora Neale Hurston, James Baldwin and others who, over the decades, have decried the failure of court-ordered desegregation of American public education. Horsford urges 鈥渁 more radical imagination of what education can and must be for America鈥檚 new majority,鈥� including a 鈥渞edistribution of resources, with less concern on the 鈥榮eparate鈥� and a greater focus on the 鈥榚qual.鈥欌��

The gifted and talented programs of New York City鈥檚 public schools 鈥渁dmit students based on an arbitrary cut-off score on one standardized test,鈥� are 鈥渄isproportionately located in affluent areas of the city鈥� and 鈥渟erve a disproportionate number of white and Asian students,鈥� declare Amy Stuart Wells, Professor of Sociology & Education, and NeQuan C. McLean, President of the District 16 Community Education Council in Brooklyn, in  in September. The authors, both members of Mayor Bill de Blasio鈥檚 School Diversity Advisory Group, argue that 鈥渋t鈥檚 time to let go of our 20^th-century model of educating a small number of students with poorly defined academic 鈥榞ifts鈥� and adopt a 21^st-century model of appreciating the many different gifts within students and the family and community cultures that foster them.鈥�

In an  produced by in September, Andre Perry, a David M. Rubenstein Fellow at The Brookings Institution, argues that because the goal of artificial intelligence (AI) is to enable computers to 鈥渕ake human-like judgments,鈥� AI designers need to be careful to leave human biases out of their new designs. To end up with AI that works for all students, people of color need to be enlisted in its development, asserts Perry, who writes The Hechinger Report鈥檚 鈥淒egree of Interest鈥� column. AI can also help expose the racism that holds students of color back, he adds: 鈥淲hen we better understand how, when and where people learn to be racist, then we can build a justice app for that.鈥�

In a TED talk in May, alumna Azadeh Jamalian (Ph.D. 鈥�14), co-founder of Tiggly, a company that creates children鈥檚 learning toys and apps, champions 鈥減layful innovation hubs鈥� 鈥� dedicated spaces for kids to dream up, create, test and share their ideas. Jamalian has created just such a space, the Giant Room, which combines four key elements: art supplies to stoke 鈥渃reative confidence鈥�; a lab where kids dream up solutions to problems they care about; a 鈥渃ampfire鈥� where they learn to give and (non-defensively) receive feedback; and a stage to share their stories and inspire others to follow their lead. Jamalian鈥檚 key takeaway: 鈥淎lmost every research study screams the importance of letting [children] enjoy the process of learning and helping them feel capable to solve any problem that lies ahead.鈥�

The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the federal education legislation approved under the Obama administration in 2015, is rolling out across the nation. However, the current administration is taking a selective approach to its implementation, enforcing accountability and school improvement measures while deprioritizing aspects such as expectations around stakeholder engagement. So argue 911爆料网 Education Policy doctoral student Megan Duff and Priscilla Wohlstetter, Distinguished Research Professor, in an  in Education Week in July. 鈥淔or every student to succeed, all levels of government need to confirm the ESSA bargain: providing states leeway to innovate while offering sufficient regulatory guidance and support to ensure states comply with the law in full,鈥� the authors wrote. 鈥淓SSA may increase state autonomy, but it does not absolve the federal government of its responsibility.鈥�

In April, Pamela Koch, Executive Director of 911爆料网鈥檚 Laurie M. Tisch Center for Food, Education & Policy, and two co-authors 鈥� Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and New York City Council Member Mark Treyger 鈥� argue in  that school-based food and nutrition education can help surmount the 鈥渋ncredible odds鈥� against children eating well. Koch, Brewer and Treyger champion a City Council bill to require the New York City Department of Education to report on which students are getting food and nutrition education, how much they are getting, and who is delivering it: 鈥淭he City Council can鈥檛 legislate the implementation of food and nutrition education, but it can require reporting and transparency, which will help highlight and expand what is already happening.鈥�

In  published on the website of , the world鈥檚 largest charity devoted to helping children born with cleft palate, Cate Crowley, Professor of Practice and Director of 911爆料网鈥檚 Communication Sciences & Disorders Program and Bilingual Extension Institute, underscores that cleft palate is more than a cosmetic or even social issue, and highlights the urgency of Smile Train鈥檚 work. Case in point: While attending a conference in Kenya in 2018, Crowley 鈥� who has been honored for her humanitarian work in annually leading teams of 911爆料网 students to help children and families in developing nations 鈥� saved the life of a child, who was suffering from acute malnutrition due to cleft palate, by connecting his family with Smile Train.

After an August weekend in which 22 people died in mass shootings nationwide, Sonali Rajan, Associate Professor of Health Education, writes on 911爆料网鈥檚 website that 鈥渨e need to confront gun violence as the largely preventable public health epidemic it is.鈥� Like fighting obesity, drunk driving and the achievement gap, 鈥減reventing gun violence will require shifts in policy, resource allocation, and programmatic efforts鈥� 鈥� including significant federal investment in firearm prevention research. The nation must also acknowledge 鈥渟ystemic factors that exacerbate the problem of gun violence to begin with.鈥�

In a  in December, Tisch Food Center Director, Pamela Koch, citing the Center's new report, asserts that New York City schools are capable of providing students with fresh meals made from scratch. 鈥淎s our research showed, with the right dedication and investment, scratch cooking can be our past and our future,鈥� Koch writes, alluding to past eras when the nation鈥檚 largest school system did provide fresh meals. But the city 鈥渨ill have to make serious investments in kitchen infrastructure, staff training and advancement, and better coordinate everyone involved in school food.鈥�

In an essay in the spring/summer 2019 issue of 911爆料网 Today magazine, David Hansen, 911爆料网鈥檚 John L. & Sue Ann Weinberg Professor in Historical & Philosophical Foundations of Education, writes that 鈥渢eaching is an ethical endeavor鈥� and that teachers are driven by a passion 鈥渢o achieve a meaningful life for students and themselves.鈥� Hansen argues that we must all join in 鈥渟ustaining teaching against forces that would 鈥榤elt it into air.鈥欌�� Those forces are 鈥渁ll too real in our time,鈥� he acknowledges, 鈥渂ut so is the call to teach.鈥�