Closing schools was supposed to decrease possible COVID contacts, helping to flatten the curve. But opening schools might actually be safer than the unregulated alternatives that parents have come up with for educating and caring for their kids during the workday.
Tag: Education Equity
Race-Conscious Policies—Including Affirmative Action—Are Necessary For Addressing Racial Inequity
Affirmative action recently survived yet another legal attack when the First Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Harvard’s favor in a case challenging affirmative action.
This latest case against Harvard demonstrates that color-blindness cannot uproot this country’s legacy of racism. We must face race head-on to meaningfully address the racial inequality that persists in our society.
COVID-19 Threatens Decades of Progress on Gender Equality. This World Children’s Day, We Must Fight Back.
COVID-19 has left no one untouched, but it has had an especially pernicious impact on girls—most particularly those from already marginalized communities.
From a dramatic rise in sex trafficking in Malawi, to spiraling rates of sexual violence in India, from subversive restrictions on access to abortion in the U.S. to an increase in teen pregnancy and female genital mutilation in Kenya, it is clear that COVID-19 is an existential threat to gender equality.
“The First Woman in This Office, But Not the Last”: Four Ways to Empower a New Generation of Women Political Leaders
Research shows that women politicians make for more equal and caring societies, and that their increased representation in office improves health, education and welfare outcomes for the entire population. So how can we foster the next generation of effective women leaders?
Pandemic Exacerbates Already High Levels of Stress Among Women Faculty
The need to rapidly shift courses to remote instruction and meet research and service obligations while also ‘working’ from home has further intensified the already demanding conditions of academic work. Women have been hit hardest. The pandemic has exacerbated existing gender and other inequities among faculty.
Clinton and Albright Commemorate 25 Years Since the Beijing World Conference on Women
In a webinar marking the 25th anniversary of the UN Fourth World Conference on Women, former Secretaries of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Madeleine Albright reflected on their work in Beijing and its continuing impact. Ambassador Melanne Verveer led the discussion, titled “Beijing +25: Commemorating a Watershed Moment for Women’s Rights” and hosted by the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security.
The Need for ‘Learning Pods’ Creates a Generation of Unexpected Teachers
While many industries have halted hiring in the face of the global pandemic, one is actively seeking workers: elementary school education.
“Learning pods” are popping up across the country: Students from multiple families gather in one home to receive otherwise inaccessible in-person instruction.
The Key To Keeping Students Safe? Counselors, Not Cops
Fueled by zero tolerance policies, school districts across the country frequently push kids out of school and toward the juvenile and criminal justice systems. The presence of police officers in schools makes a bad situation worse, too often punishing students who are Black, Latinx, LGBTQ and/or have disabilities.
Our children need more nurses and counselors, more social workers and school psychologists—not more police.
Teachers Face Backlash Over Black Lives Matter Posters
As the new school year begins in the midst of the pandemic, students and teachers are adjusting to a multitude of changes, with districts nationwide shifting to distance learning systems. But in addition to coping with remote instruction, many teachers are trying to address the summer of protests for racial justice in their classrooms. And some of them are being persecuted for it.
The Educational Value of a Black Teacher
The coronavirus is offering a chance to ‘reimagine’ education, but if the new landscape doesn’t include efforts to recruit and retain more Black teachers, reform will be a farce.
If the purpose of education reform is to boost students’ academic outcomes, reduce suspensions, raise expectations, and even recruit (less racist) teachers into the profession, research suggests that increasing the number of Black teachers should be part of any serious strategy.