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Text of the page (random words):
ose children who will benefit from more targeted instructional support to reduce the likelihood that they will fall further behind in their reading development the goal is to deliver effective and evidence based reading intervention early that is likely to prevent reading failure before it becomes entrenched read more about a common sense approach to demystify universal reading screening with multilingual students proficiency or penalty grade retention policy and its implications for english learners in utah june 30 2026 by tiffany broadbent one common goal of public education is to ensure all students reach academic mastery in fact most u s states have agreed upon a set of aligned standards of mastery through the common core to that end it may make sense to lawmakers that students repeat third grade and get another at bat if they weren t able to reach reading proficiency this theory of change accountability in action has prompted many states to reinforce their literacy legislation with retention provisions eighteen states including the district of columbia require grade retention for nonproficient third graders with varying good cause exemptions oklahoma and utah both added retention requirements in their 2026 literacy legislation our study seeks to determine whether the theory of change used by lawmakers aligns with existing research on grade retention in the aftermath of burgeoning grade retention policies scholars and stakeholders are questioning whether retention will improve outcomes or if it will become another reform that unintentionally punishes marginalized families by interviewing stakeholders in one of utah s most diverse school districts granite we aimed to answer the following question what are the long term implications of retention provisions in utah s literacy legislation for third graders through qualitative interviews and a literature review on the impacts of grade retention we found that rather than targeting evidence based interventions the policy risks displacing responsibility onto families least equipped to absorb it read more about proficiency or penalty grade retention policy and its implications for english learners in utah time the missing ingredient in literacy reform june 25 2026 by jack schneider and ashley carey guest authors jack schneider and ashley carey are two of the co authors of on the clock the centrality of time in teacher work a new research brief published by the albert shanker institute across the country states are rushing to adopt science of reading legislation the motivations are sincere and the research base is substantive new curricula promise better outcomes professional development workshops aim to equip teachers with evidence based practices data systems can help educators track student progress from a distance it seems comprehensive enough to close the nation s yawning literacy gaps but policymakers have largely overlooked a critical ingredient that will almost certainly determine whether these reforms prove successful and if you re a teacher you probably already know what it is consider ms smith a second grade teacher with a decade of classroom experience she s committed to her students and she understands why the new literacy approach matters she wants to implement it well but she s drowning the new curriculum requires her to learn new instructional methods the assessment system requires one on one reading screeners for each of her 24 students a process that eats up two full instructional days new data management systems demand hours of tracking and reporting and all of this has been added to everything ms smith is already doing read more about time the missing ingredient in literacy reform juneteenth truth telling and the power of union supported educators june 17 2026 by karla hernández mats our guest author is karla hernández mats a respected voice for public education who brings a deep understanding of the education system from inside the classroom to executive leadership who is currently chair of educated we stand and an aft vice president as we commemorate juneteenth a day that marks both delayed freedom and enduring resilience we are reminded that history is not just something we inherit but something we actively teach shape and defend in today s educational landscape that responsibility carries new weight across the country educators are navigating a growing number of policies and political pressures designed to narrow curriculum discourage honest conversations and promote a version of teaching that is sanitized disconnected and ultimately self centered these efforts do more than limit content they attempt to redefine the purpose of public education itself shifting it away from critical thinking identity development and collective understanding but classrooms do not thrive under silence students do not grow from half truths the research presented in unionized teachers of color s interpretations of the silencing of diversity discourse in florida an intersectional qualitative study underscores a critical truth educators of color consistently emphasize the importance of teaching authentically by drawing on lived experiences cultural knowledge and historical accuracy to foster deeper student engagement and identity development this is not supplemental work it is essential read more about juneteenth truth telling and the power of union supported educators the accountability gap d c schools and students with disabilities june 4 2026 by tiffany broadbent when i first moved to d c it took me some time to get used to the school system multiple city agencies share oversight of public schools and enrollment is split nearly evenly between traditional public and charter schools making finding a teaching job strenuous lots of separate fingerprint appointments it wasn t until i was in the classroom that i grasped how exhausting this fragmented system is for families witnessing the difficulty of transitioning from a public to a charter school was one of many consequences of this fragmentation one of my parents moved to an online charter school because she was told her family would get more targeted support only to realize that she had to quit her job to monitor her child s lessons adequately due to her child s adhd in december 2024 the u s department of education s office for civil rights ocr confirmed these challenges by releasing a report from their investigation on dcps for discrimination of students with disabilities swd in this report the commission highlighted two findings of discrimination dcps relies on due process complaints to deal with injustice and they fail to provide transportation services for swd that require it these observations contribute to a larger pattern of fragmented governance for marginalized students the district of columbia s education governance system is structurally fragmented in ways that obscure accountability and prevent meaningful community participation because d c functions simultaneously as a city and a state its education agencies operate across overlapping and competing jurisdictions with no single body held democratically accountable for outcomes this fragmentation did not flourish on its own policy actors have prioritized market based ideologies that treat parents like consumers in a free market as a result of this neoliberal model families in need are left with improper access to school resources and civic engagement both community and researcher voices agree that d c s governance system requires structural reform to enforce democratic accountability and promote equitable access to high quality public and charter schools to all students read more about the accountability gap d c schools and students with disabilities do one size fits all literacy programs serve english learners may 21 2026 by tiffany broadbent my teaching experience in a bilingual school versus a dual immersion school couldn t be more different although they shared one commonality the balance between engaging and overburdening english learners els was hard to strike in the bilingual school language barriers impeded my classroom daily although our lessons were taught bilingually my co teacher and i struggled to understand each other and often dealt with miscommunications the administration mandated that state tested subjects be taught in english exclusively implying that bilingual aims were on the backburner to test scores our el students were constantly on call to translate for the non spanish speakers who didn t understand the content which distracted them from focusing on their coursework and put improper pressure on them to synthesize and interpret lessons but in the dual immersion dli school i struggled to get my el students involved at all i didn t even know which of my students were enrolled in the dli program but i wrongly assumed that because i taught almost all the els in my school that many of them would be enrolled to take advantage of its academic benefits in the dli program students were eligible to receive a certification in bilingualism which could be leveraged for college and career advancement i was shocked to find that despite the dli program offering their native language only a few of my 250 students were enrolled the program marketed bilingualism as a career investment but one aimed at english dominant students acquiring a second language not at students who were already bilingual and had the most to gain from formal recognition of that skill these experiences reflect a broader pattern in how state policy has approached english learners investing in programs that promise inclusion while rarely centering the students those programs are meant to serve the data reveals this gap as 50 of els who are in the u s school system since kindergarten fail to reach proficiency within 6 years read more about do one size fits all literacy programs serve english learners voter suppression will not have the last word may 1 2026 by reverend dr cassandra gould our guest author is reverend dr cassandra gould the national political director of the faith in action national network democracy aka governance by the people depends on full and equal civic participation free and fair elections are its foundation ensuring that citizens choose their representatives not the other way around at its core democracy rests on a simple but powerful principle every vote carries equal weight regardless of a person s race income education or social standing yet for black americans that principle has always been contested from reconstruction to jim crow to the present day black political participation has been met with coordinated resistance through law policy and violence yet it has also been black political action organizing strategizing marching litigating and voting that has repeatedly forced this nation closer to its democratic ideals read more about voter suppression will not have the last word equity and fairness equals civic and business success april 27 2026 by stanley s litow guest author stanley s litow is a professor at columbia university author of breaking barriers how p tech schools create a pathway from high school to college to career and the challenge for business and society from risk to reward a columnist at barron s and an albert shanker institute board member education leaders across the us have been working overtime in response to a range of very serious changes in federal policies that seem to have a consistent goal of undermining what had been long standing commitments to both equity and diversity such commitments were designed to reverse a history of discrimination not just in education but in a host of segments of american life including the workplace recently one of new york s most iconic headquartered businesses ibm agreed to pay 17 million to the us department of justice doj to settle a claim that their diversity equity and inclusion programs were discriminatory and unlawful while ibm has fully denied engaging in any practices that were discriminatory in any way some will interpret the payment as an admission of guilt the doj cited that ibm provided diversity training programs bonuses based on achieving diversity goals and considered diverse candidates for promotions there was a time those practices addressing the need for more equity in the workplace were honored rewarded and modeled not penalized over more than a century ibm has always prided itself on being a leader in addressing the need for diversity and equity in the workplace something that was directly connected to long term bottom line business success while ibm is not a perfect employer a look at ibm s history speaks volumes about their progress read more about equity and fairness equals civic and business success the wright hire what maryland s decision tells us about literacy reform april 7 2026 by esther quintero when maryland recruited dr carey wright to lead its public school system the choice seemed striking a strongly democratic state turning to the architect of literacy reforms from a deeply republican one read more about the wright hire what maryland s decision tells us about literacy reform pagination current page 1 page 2 page 3 page 4 page 5 page 6 page 7 page 8 page 9 next page last page last search search share recent blog posts encore careers serving the public interest after 80 a common sense approach to demystify universal reading screening with multilingual students proficiency or penalty grade retention policy and its implications for english learners in utah time the missing ingredient in literacy reform juneteenth truth telling and the power of union supported educators publications is america still a democracy by eric chenoweth a research brief by eric chenoweth the principal author of democracy web analyzing the political state of the united states as it approaches the 250th anniversary of its founding through comparison of the country s ratings in the varieties of democracy project and freedom house reports the adequacy and fairness of state school finance systems eighth edition a national evaluation of the k 12 school finance systems of all 50 states and d c published by researchers from the albert shanker institute university of miami and rutgers graduate school of education what would bayard rustin do by eric chenoweth eric chenoweth is director of the institute for democracy in eastern europe and principal author of democracy web an online comparative study guide for teachers students and civic activists he worked with bayard rustin in various capacities in the late 1970s and 1980s blog archives august 2026 1 july 2026 1 june 2026 4 may 2026 2 april 2026 2 our mission the albert shanker institute endowed by the american federation of teachers and named in honor of its late president is a nonprofit nonpartisan organization dedicated to three themes excellence in public education unions as advocates for quality and freedom of association in the public life of d...