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After Fisher: affirmative action and Asian-American students

Michele S. Moses, University of Colorado; Christina Paguyo, Colorado State University, and Daryl Maeda, University of Colorado After eight years, the Abigail Fisher case finally has been put to rest. In a landmark judgment on June 23, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of race-conscious affirmative action in university admissions. Abigail Fisher, a white woman, had sued the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) for its race-conscious admissions policy after she was denied admission. She had argued that the university violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Supporters of race-conscious admissions programs are understandably gratified. But …

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Shaping America’s Future: Thoughts on Educating the Hispanic Community in the United States

Hispanics are the fastest-growing minority in the United States. Because they are rapidly making up a significant proportion of our population, it’s important to consider how we as a nation can invest in their success. To do this, we’ll have to look at the specific challenges many Hispanics are experiencing in America, especially when it comes to education. This is just a glimpse of what we can do to achieve education equality for all Americans. Why it’s important to serve the Hispanic community in the United States In the 2014-2015 year, minorities were the majority, according to the U.S. Education …

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Racial inequality starts early – in preschool

Esther Canty-Barnes, Rutgers University Newark On Wednesday, July 6, the four-year-old daughter of Diamond Reynolds witnessed the killing of Philando Castile by a Minnesota police officer. She and her mother sat in close proximity to Castile when he was shot. A 2009 Department of Justice study showed that more than 60 percent of American children had directly or indirectly been exposed to violence within the past year. Exposure to such violence has long-term physical, psychological and emotional implications. When these children enter school, they have unique needs. Many are ill-prepared for the social, emotional and academic rigor that is anticipated …

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Are all black students falling behind?

Kevin O’Neal Cokley, University of Texas at Austin A recent report by The Education Trust, a nonprofit working on educational justice, reveals that while there has been an improvement in graduation rates at four-year public institutions for all students, the improvement is smaller for black students. According to the report, the gaps in graduation rates between black and white students have either stayed the same or did not show the same increase as they did for white students. The report shows that even among institutions that improved overall graduation rates from 2003 to 2013, more than half of them (53 …

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Why the charter school debate has moved beyond ‘better’ or ‘worse’

Joshua Cowen, Michigan State University The charter school debate is getting even more heated. Recently, charter opponents launched a campaign from the steps of the Massachusetts State House to warn that charter schools were “sapping resources from the traditional schools that serve most minority students, and creating a two-track system.” Similar opposition has been voiced by critics across the country as well. So when it comes to educating kids, are charter schools good or bad? Differing views Minnesota authorized the first charter schools in 1991. Charter schools are public schools that are independent and more autonomous than traditional schools and …

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Why the baby brain can learn two languages at the same time

Naja Ferjan Ramirez, University of Washington Any adult who has attempted to learn a foreign language can attest to how difficult and confusing it can be. So when a three-year-old growing up in a bilingual household inserts Spanish words into his English sentences, conventional wisdom assumes that he is confusing the two languages. Research shows that this is not the case. In fact, early childhood is the best possible time to learn a second language. Children who experience two languages from birth typically become native speakers of both, while adults often struggle with second language learning and rarely attain native-like …

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When Trump proposed a wall and California tore one down

Prop 58 bilingual, dual-language programs improve education prospects for all kids. Next stop: finding teachers This article was written by PATRICIA GÁNDARA As the election results were rolling in across the country signaling that Donald Trump would become the 45th  president of the United States, nearly three-quarters of Californians had voted to restore bilingual education in California. The Trump campaign had been overtly anti-immigrant, while the restoration of bilingual education was an affirmation of the valuing of the children of immigrants. How could California and the nation be at such great odds? In 1976, California was one of the first states …

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4 Reasons Why Classrooms Need Diversity Education

School climate and school culture directly impact student success. As a result, it is particularly important for the school culture (and the classroom culture) to reflect, acknowledge, and celebrate diversity. Taking these feel-good ideals and making them a reality can be tough for educators, especially with so many other initiatives on their ever-tighter schedules. But I think that this is so important that as an educator, you must take the time to do it. How to celebrate diversity in the classroom is another article, but for now, I want you to begin your journey with knowing exactly why it’s important. …

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Access to equity in education is more critical than ever for the next administration

Six ways to level the playing field This article was written by JESSIE WOOLLEY-WILSON Equity in education is more important than ever. Although the divide between the haves and the have-nots in this country has been widening for years, the 2016 presidential race and, in particular, the surprising victory by Donald Trump underscored the growing discontent caused by unequal access to the American Dream. The outcry we heard on both sides of the political spectrum should make clear the extraordinary burden and risk created by income inequality, which is now at its highest level since the Great Depression. While the …

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Are Teachers Playing a Rigged Game?

Teachers in America have a high workload, are expected to transform their students’ lives, and have to navigate a larger—often broken—ecosystem at the same time. In other words, teachers are expected to be superheroes. But is this expectation realistic, or is it setting teachers up for failure? What’s a superstar teacher? Calculus is such a hard subject for students to learn, and it’s not one that many are enthusiastic about. But that obstacle didn’t stop Jaime Escalante, whom the movie Stand and Deliver is based on. In this Edward James Olmos classic, he takes control of a class of dropout-prone …

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