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.
2024-25 Better FAFSA Advocacy FAQs
by Ed TrustIn December 2020, Congress passed the bipartisan FAFSA Simplification Act that mandated a new, simpler Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), which …
Introducing our Third Cohort of Justice Fellows
Everyone deserves a chance — and some people need a second, maybe even a third. Here at EdTrust, we believe that every student should get a high-quality educat…
Avoiding The Talk: A Closer Look at Educator Influence on Racial Disparities in School Discipline
by Eric DuncanEarlier this year, a friend asked me to speak to her 10-year-old son about the importance of school and why he needed to remain focused and engaged. Listening …
What the Most Recent CRDC Can Tell Us About Student Discipline
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) released the long-awaited data from the 2020-21 Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) — disaggregated information that is usual…
The New CRDC Data Is Out: What To Be Excited About and What to Watch For
by Ivy MorganLong-awaited data from the most recent Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) has been released. This new data from the 2020-21 school year provides an important,…
Highlighting the Afro in Afro-Latinidad
by Manny ZapataGrowing up, I was immersed in Latin culture all the time: watching baseball with my dad, eating my mom's delicious arroz con pollo guisado (rice with stewed ch…
Breaking Down the Nation’s Math Scores
by Kristen Hengtgen and Hector BiaggiThe National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), or the Nation’s Report Card, released its 2022 math test scores in late 2023, and the results were dist…
Profiles in Education Equity: Byron Johns, Co-Founder, Black & Brown Coalition for Educational Equity and Excellence
by Ed TrustByron A. Johns is the co-founder of the Black and Brown Coalition for Educational Equity and Excellence (BBC), working with Identity, a Latino advocacy organiz…
Why We Launched the New York Campaign for Early Literacy
by Jeff SminkRochester, New York is my hometown. My grandparents emigrated there nearly 100 years ago, and my mother is a graduate of the Rochester City School District. I …
3 Things You Need to Know About Ongoing Reading Reform Efforts
On a road trip as a child, my brother and I proudly corrected a “mistake” my father made, and he sarcastically joked that us learning how to read was the worst…
A Call to Action This Black History Month
by Denise ForteEvery Black History Month is an opportunity to reflect on how far we have come and how much work is yet to be done. For me, this Black History Month takes on e…
The Importance of Embedding Equity into Principal Pipelines
by Nathan KrihaIn 2013, as I was grappling with yet another high school calculus lecture, a school administrator knocked on the classroom door, quietly made eye contact, and …
Teachers Need to Learn How to Teach Reading Effectively
by Ron NobleEvery teacher has that handful of indelible memories of their teaching experiences, when the impossible becomes possible in an instant. One of mine happened in…
Rigor and Representation in Children’s Books Foster a Love of Reading
Like millions of adults of a certain age, my reading journey began with libraries and public television. One standout show was Reading Rainbow, where the host,…
The Literacy Crisis in the U.S. is Deeply Concerning—and Totally Preventable
Frederick Douglass said, “Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.” This was true in the 19th century, when he was decrying the notion that enslaved p…
The New Gainful Employment Rule Set to Protect Black Borrowers From Predatory Colleges
In October 2023, the Department of Education published its new rule on gainful employment, which is designed to protect students attending career training prog…
The Power of Advocacy
by Denise Forte“Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed. If people all over the world… would do this, i…
How FAFSA Delays Will Impact College-Going Decisions of Low-Income Students and Students of Color
Well, there’s good news and bad news. On the plus side, the normally arduous Free Application For Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) has been simplified — pared down …
2022 PISA Results Are in, and the Results are Grim—But There are Ways for U.S. Students to Succeed in a Global Economy
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) just released their 2022 Program for International Assessment (PISA) for reading, math, and sc…
Why Education Equity is So Important, Right Now
Recently, we’ve seen a fierce backlash against education equity — including a ban on affirmative action in college admissions and a rolling back of diversity, …