On his first day in the classroom, Henderson was cursed and threatened by one of his students. He called a monitor to escort the student to the office. He was back within five minutes with a note saying, “OK to return to class.” Henderson blames the legacy of racism, fatherless ness, traumatic experiences and “the false promise of meritocracy” for classroom chaos. Henderson rejects the cliches about kids’ rights, writes Larry Wilson, who’s on the Pasadena Star-News editorial

When schools provide Saturday catch-up classes, disadvantaged students earn higher scores, but advantaged students do worse, concludes an analysis of Florida data by David Figlio, dean of Northwestern’s School of Education and Social Policy, and researcher Krzysztof Karbownik. The study looked at 12 school policies and practices: seven produced much different outcomes for disadvantaged and advantaged students. For example, summer school for all students was linked to lower sc

In the U.S., disadvantaged kids start school behind on vocabulary and cultural experiences, then fall farther behind as they go through school, writes Marc Tucker. In top-performing countries, such as Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Finland, Flemish Belgium and Canada, students don’t arrive at middle or high school years behind. “No one waits” till middle school “to fix what is wrong.” When students start, in kindergarten or first grade in top-performing countries, their teac

School choice shouldn’t be controversial, writes Chris Stewart on Citizen Ed. School Choice Week reminds us that “hundreds of thousands of children are on waiting lists for charter schools,” he writes. “There are many more students with special needs for whom private programs would be better, but they lack the financial support to access those schools. And, there are the students for whom homeschooling would make a world of difference.” Stewart sees choice opponents as “paren

Open the doors to advanced classes to a wide range of students, argues AP social studies teacher Nate Bowling on EdWeek Teacher. “Students of color and low-income students are underrepresented in accelerated courses,” perpetuating inequality, he writes. They “deserve access to rigorous, engaging coursework.” As Washington state’s 2016 State Teacher of the Year, Bowling visited many schools filled with “diverse, energetic, chatty students.” But diversity ends at the classroom

Washington, D.C. students who win the voucher lottery earn lower math scores than lottery losers, especially in elementary school, concludes a U.S. Department of Education study. There was no significant difference in reading scores. “Parents overwhelmingly support this program,” said Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, a big fan of school choice in all its forms. Actually, the study didn’t find that, except in one area. Parents believe private schools are safer. “Previous resea

Students at KIPP South Fulton Academy in Atlanta. “No excuses” charters are more effective ways to improve prospects for disadvantaged children than trying to create schools that integrate poor, middle-class and affluent students, concludes Amy L. Wax, a Penn law professor, writing in National Affairs. The most thought-provoking part of the essay deals with the desire to change the habits and behaviors of the poor, writes Checker Finn. Both models “assume that, to succeed in