Student Success

Growing up, Eric Osborne never considered a career in the technology industry. “The message we got in school was that it just wasn’t something African-American people thought about or did” Osborne says. Besides, computer science classes didn’t exist in the Florida schools where he grew up and there were no mentors pushing Osborne toward STEM […]

Almost four years after the tragic shootings in Sandy Hook, a new elementary school has opened to young students in Newtown, Connecticut. The $50 million, 86,000-square-foot Sandy Hook Elementary School opened in late August to 400 students in pre-K through grade 4. The building includes a number of new safety measures, such as secure doors, […]

Districts and states that have done the best job graduating homeless students have now seen some of their practices enshrined in federal law as part of the Every Student Succeeds Act. “The things some districts are doing well are now instituted as expectations for all districts” says Barbara Duffield, director of policy and programs for […]

Twenty-three states have sued the federal government over a directive from the U.S. justice and education departments allowing transgender students to use bathroom facilities consistent with their gender identity. School leaders must also “provide transgender students equal access to educational programs and activities even in circumstances in which other students, parents or community members raise […]

DeRay Mckesson is the interim chief human capital officer for Baltimore City Public Schools in Maryland, managing personnel, staffing, benefits and other related issues. The civil rights activist and former Baltimore mayoral candidate returns to the human capital office, where for 2 1/2 years he oversaw key reforms as a strategist and special assistant. He […]

Equity in K12 education doesn’t mean the same thing as equality. In fact, achieving true equity often requires providing lower-income schools and students with more resources than are given others in the same district, says Joel Boyd, superintendent of Santa Fe Public Schools in New Mexico. “Fair student funding means some students are funded at […]