The Equity Line contains original analyses, commentary, and “on the ground” stories of students, parents, educators, and activists all over the nation striving to improve education. It chronicles our efforts, as well as those of partners and friends who are working toward the shared goal of closing gaps.
Student Blog: How the Pandemic Helped Me Find Purpose
by KaMya BurrellAt the beginning of the pandemic, I felt clueless and trapped, knowing that I would be spending weeks, and now months, stuck at home with my family. I’d been i…
ExtraOrdinary Districts – Season 4 is Coming!
The Education Trust is about to launch Season 4 of ExtraOrdinary Districts.In our first two seasons we provided in-depth profiles of school districts that are …
Profile in Education Equity: Kristen Smith
by Ed TrustKristen Smith is the Louisiana director of programs and organizing for Leadership for Educational Equity, a nonprofit leadership development organization inspi…
Why I Teach Where I Teach: To Continue the Latino Legacy
by Irene Sanchez“Do you want to watch history?Or do you want to make history?”This is a question that the former leader of the 1968 Azusa High School walkouts, Victor Gonzalez…
Profile in Education Equity: Erika Beltran, Leadership ISD
by Ed TrustErika Beltran is the chief of advocacy and policy at Leadership ISD, a Texas-based organization that helps community leaders advance academic excellence and ra…
Advanced Coursework Equity Act is a Big Opportunity for Students of Color to Access Advanced Courses
by Courtney Bollig and Kayla PatrickOur national attention span is currently functioning like a TV that switches between several anxiety-inducing channels. On one channel: Schools are struggling …
“All Children are Born to Thrive”: Why Social, Emotional, and Academic Development (SEAD) Matters
After months of distance learning, unfinished instruction, social isolation, and missed activities during the summer months, many of the nation’s students will…
Listening to Educators of Color
by Eric Duncan and Simone Hardeman-JonesThe Education Trust and E4E recently convened a small group of educators of color from across the country to hear about their experiences during the sudden shi…
Mirrors and Windows: Investing in Educators of Color
by Katie CasterI teach middle school science and English as a second language (K-5) in Boston Public Schools. I am adopted from El Salvador. Every day, I bring my Latinidad i…
Hungry Kids Continue to Struggle Through a Pandemic During Summer Months
America’s kids have already endured what has been undoubtedly the most nontraditional school year of their young lives. However, the summer months bring added …
Profile in Education Equity: Educare DC
by Ed TrustEducare Washington DC is a full-day, year-round early childhood program in Ward 7 serving 304 children ages 6 weeks to 5 years, and their families. Last year, …
“What Did We Hear? What Did We Learn?”
In a lively conversation, Tanji Reed Marshall and Karin Chenoweth wrap up Season 3, ExtraOrdinary Districts in Extraordinary Times, by talking through what the…
“We’ve been planning, planning, planning.”
“If we’re face-to-face, we’ll be pretty good with that. If we’re remote, we’re 80% there,” says superintendent Corey Miklus in Seaford, Delaware, about the upc…
“Schools that already had cohesive cultures did the best.”
Dr. Sonja Santelises joins ExtraOrdinary Districts in Extraordinary Times to discusses the Black Lives Matter protests and the decisions she faces as superinte…
“Our hope is to come back as close to normal as we possibly can.”
By using gyms and deploying every possible teacher, even if they don’t have all the proper certifications, Steubenville’s superintendent Melinda Young is hopin…
“Virtual learning on steroids.”
Increased costs in the face of massive budget cuts means that the already difficult task of re-opening school buildings becomes even more complicated. “It’s ov…
#COVID19PBL Educators Connecting Across the Distance and Exhibiting Anti-Racist Values
by Joe TrussMy school’s transition to distance learning was much like a lot of principals. We rushed to pass out technology, upload assignments to Google Classroom, and an…
“We have the resources.”
“The money exists to ensure that all students are served,” says Tricia McManus, the brand-new deputy superintendent of Winston-Salem Public Schools in North Ca…
Why I Teach Where I Teach: To Use My White Privilege to Close Opportunity Gaps
by Hannah TurnerI teach English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) at Argyle Middle School, which is five miles away from the house I grew up in and in the same school dis…
Why Schools Should Consider Online Coaching for Teachers
“Rrrr – aaaa – t.” A five-year-old boy on my computer screen looked up at his teacher quizzically. He was unsure of what the word was, so his teacher patiently…
