Boys do better with male teachers and non-white students better with a same-race teacher, studies show. Yet, 77 percent of teachers are female and 80 percent are white, reports Claire Cain Miller in the New York Times. “We find that the effect is really driven by boys,” said Seth Gershenson, an economist studying education policy at American University. “In the elementary school setting, for black children and especially disadvantaged black children, the effect of having even

A Maryland high school’s “Unity Day” activity meant to confront and tear down stereotypes ended in tears, reports Emily Chappell in the Baltimore Sun. Students were told to write down stereotypes and slurs — whatever came to mind — on posters. At the end, the posters were torn down to symbolically tear down the stereotypes. “There were people crying” at the negative comments, said Sophie Dommermuth, a junior. A “large number” of students were “insulted or emotionally upset” b

Percentage of children and youth ages 3–21 served under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) by race/ethnicity: 2014–15 Don’t set racial quotas for special education, writes Jerome Woehrle on Liberty Unyielding. The Education Department is soliciting public input on delaying or dumping an Obama-era regulation that threatened funding of districts that  disproportionately place blacks and Latinos in special education. The rule should be repealed, writes Woehrl

Philadelphia’s discipline reforms, which limited suspensions, improved attendance but not achievement for previously suspended students attending schools that complied with the new rules, concludes a new study. Never-suspended students “experienced worse outcomes in the most economically and academically disadvantaged schools.” Only 18 percent of Philadelphia schools fully complied with the new policies, while 60 percent were “partial compliers,” reports Evie Blad in Educatio

White teachers’ low expectations for their black students could become “self-fulfilling prophecies,” concludes an analysis published in Education Next. When evaluating the same black student, 33 percent of black teachers expected the student to finish college, compared to 24 percent of white teachers, the study found. There was no difference in predictions for white students. Teacher expectations affect student success, conclude Seth Gershenson, a public policy professor at A

“They’re trying to take away our history,” said President Trump at an Arizona rally. He cited the middle-of-the-night removal of The University of Texas Confederate statues at the University of Texas. (In addition to Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis, UT removed Gov. Jim Hogg, who was not a Confederate because . . . ?) Sportscaster Robert Lee and Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee You can’t take away history. It’s still there, with or without statues. But you can teach it poorly

Asian-Americans look alike to Princeton admissions officers, reports Molly Hensley-Clancy on BuzzFeed. She analyzes documents produced in an Education Department investigation of alleged bias against Asian-American applicants. Michael Wang filed a bias complaint against Princeton, Yale and Stanford. One admissions official described an applicant as a “first-generation Chinese student whose own life has not been easy, trying to make the lives of others better through service.

Posters calling for “white Americans” to report “illegal aliens” alarmed  Gustavus Adolphus College students, who flooded Bias Response lines with complaints. Who were the alt-rightists proclaiming “America is a white nation?”  It turned out to be the Minnesota college’s “Diversity Leadership Council,  reports Campus Reform. In a statement, the Council said  it had posted the signs in hopes of  “forcing individuals to have dialogues about forms of hate and bias.” There was so

Universities are creating “Bias Response Teams” to investigate offensive speech, reports the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE). Forty-two percent of these teams include police officers. “Bias” is defined very broadly, writes Robby Soave in Reason. It may include “hateful speech impugning gender, race, political belief, religion, disability status, gender identity, or sexual orientation.” The University of Kentucky protects “smoker status,”while “body shape”