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.
When Kids Get Lost In Compliance
by Brooke HaycockUPDATEDThe graduation rates for students with disabilities surfacing in the news are enough to make the stomach of any parent of a child with an Individualized…
News on Taking the Student Loan Fight to Individual Colleges
by Michael DannenbergUPDATEDIn response to a wave of student, alumni, and advocate activism, this week the University of Virginia (U.Va.) flipped on financial aid. Although they’d …
Saving for Pell
by Kate TrombleThe Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) 2014 estimates tell us one important thing about the Pell Grant program: It is sustainable — and it can stay that way i…
US Flying High in the Olympics, But Struggling With Academics
by Allison HorowitzAs we await the opening ceremonies for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, much is still up in the air: Will Shani Davis and Shaun White become the first American …
The Intellectual Discipline Required to Improve Schools
by Karin ChenowethWhen you do your best work and find you still aren’t successful, that’s a hard moment that takes intellectual discipline and even a bit of courage to face. But…
The Students Who Will (and Won’t) Get to DREAM In-State
Every year, 65,000 undocumented students who have lived in the United States for at least five years graduate from high school. Only 5-10 percent of them, thou…
How a Provost Ignites Change
by Judy KarasikToday, the only technology in José Cruz’s office is a telephone. He’s provost at California State University, Fullerton, a campus of 38,000 students. And he sa…
Echoes From the Gap
by Brooke HaycockAs a playwright-researcher at Ed Trust for the last 12 years, my job has been to gather and tell other people’s stories — primarily those of students and educa…
A Treasure Trove of Information About Unexpected Schools
by Karin ChenowethIn Huffington Post this week, I write about why I think it’s important to learn from what I call “unexpected schools,” which are high-performing and rapidly im…
A State Play Is Crucial (But It’s Not the Only One Needed) For College Affordability
by Mary Nguyen Barry and Michael DannenbergStates are the No. 1 driver of rising college tuition.When state budgets get tight, state legislatures cut higher education funding in part because they know s…
The State of Our Union Is Inequitable
by Kate TrombleUPDATEDEveryone has their wish list item for President Obama’s State of the Union speech tomorrow. But rather than using this platform to discuss the silver bu…
Wondering What Everyone Else Is Talking About
by Karin ChenowethThis week in the Huffington Post, I write about an interview I heard recently with Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor that made me reflect once again about …
Exceptional Schools, Exceptional Educators
by Ed TrustWe’ve talked a bit about Dispelling the Myth (DTM) schools, but we haven’t given you much of an opportunity to hear directly from them.Until now, that is.Ed Tr…
Data Overload: What to Make of Different Measures of Degree Attainment
by Marni BrombergConsider these two statistics about degree attainment, both from trusted sources: 2012 graduation rate at four-year colleges: 56 percent (from the Integrated P…
Obama’s Higher Ed Summit: A Sign of More to Come?
by Meredith WelchIn the weeks leading up to the State of the Union, we typically see groundwork for what is to come on the big night. The recent focus on higher education has u…
Walkthroughs: More Than Just Passing Through
by Karin ChenowethIn the past few months, two former principals of Dispelling the Myth schools — Barbara Adderley, formerly of M. Hall Stanton Elementary, and Molly Bensinger-La…