Ethical Schools (Ethical Schools)

We interview Kym Vanderbilt, Lecturer and Professional Development Liaison in the Early Childhood/Childhood Department at CUNY/Lehman College. Kym describes her students’ concerns about meeting the needs of teacher assistants and parents as well as children. She talks about the test-heavy teacher certification process, which is both intimidating and expensive for aspiring teachers of limited means, and how she tries to create a more welcoming and supportive environment for her students, staying in touch with them long after they become teachers themselves. To give us context, Kym gives us a fascinating overview of the complicated history of early childhood education.

The post Kym Vanderbilt on ethical early childhood teacher preparation first appeared on Ethical Schools.

Amy interviews Leo Ackley, who emigrated to Finland in the 1972. He taught art, history of architecture, design, and engineering in Finnish schools for 37 years. We discuss the Finnish system. Teachers have autonomy to develop their own curricula. Finnish administrators are answerable to teachers rather than the other way around. Homework is rare and...

The post Leo Ackley on teaching in Finland’s consistently superior schools first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We interview Lev Moscow who, for the last 14 years, has taught history and economics at The Beacon School in New York City. Lev reflects that advisory, done well, can serve as a venue for students to explore questions of ethics, purpose and happiness. He talks about balancing the history curriculum to include non-European perspectives. Getting students to read more than a few sentences is perhaps today’s teachers’ greatest challenge and Lev explains his approach.

The post Lev Moscow offers advice for secondary school teachers first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We speak with Dr. Mark Santow, Chair of the Department of History at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth. Dr. Santow and his middle school son, along with 12 other plaintiffs, are suing the state of Rhode Island in federal court under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution for failing to provide civics curricula and other components of an adequate education to some Rhode Island students. The suit is especially notable because most education equity cases are brought in state courts. We discuss the racial, socioeconomic, and political underpinnings of educational inequality.

The post Mark Santow on Suing Rhode Island for Educational Equal Protection first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We speak with Melissa Rivers, Principal of the Scammon Bay School in Alaska’s Lower Yukon, a mile from the Bering Sea. The isolated, tight-knit Yupik Eskimo community is subsistence-based, harvesting moose and salmon. Students are artistic and learn by making things, but also must prepare for standardized tests designed for very different environments. For the past several years, Scammon Bay has participated in a cross-cultural exchange program run by the Alaska Humanities Forum to promote understanding among Alaska’s urban and rural communities.

The post Melissa Rivers on Community-Based Education in Rural Alaska first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We speak with Adjoa Jones de Almeida, Director of Education at the Brooklyn Museum. We discuss the significance of “art as experience.” Ms. Jones de Almeida describes art’s transformational power to educate and empower students of all ages, both personally and politically. The Museum partners with teachers across the academic spectrum and works to include diverse families and communities.

The post Adjoa Jones de Almeida of the Brooklyn Museum on art as experience first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We speak with Jesse Hagopian, an editor for ReThinking Schools and a long-time teacher in the Seattle Public Schools. He is a co-editor of the book Teaching for Black Lives. Jesse discusses the groundbreaking annual National Week of Action in February that makes four demands of schools: replace zero tolerance discipline with restorative justice, implement...

The post Jesse Hagopian on bringing Black Lives Matter into schools first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We speak with Dr. Ujju Aggarwal, Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Experiential Learning at the New School’s Schools of Public Engagement. Dr. Aggarwal explains how neoliberalism, with its emphasis on individual choice, includes a “right to exclude” and perpetuates discriminatory school admissions, not only to some charter schools but also to district schools and programs, describing in particular the experiences of parents in Manhattan’s District...

The post Ujju Aggarwal on school choice, whiteness as property, and the “right to exclude” first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We speak with Dr. Kiersten Greene, Associate Professor of Literacy Education at SUNY New Paltz, about classroom internet use. Electronic tech’s transformational possibilities can go unfulfilled as schools buy and use tools and materials without evaluating whether they are effective or meet teachers’ needs. Huge funding sources like New York’s Smart Schools bond issue fund...

The post Kiersten Greene on technology in schools: “Are we doing our homework?” first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We speak with José Luis Jiménez, principal of A.C.E. Academy for Scholars, PS 290, in Queens. A queer educator of color, he came out to his students during Pride Month in 2017. If a community is truly welcoming to all, he thought, “you don’t “check a part of yourself at the door.” José encourages his...

The post José Jiménez on gender diversity and sexual identity in elementary schools first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We speak with Paula Rogovin, who taught kindergarten and first grade in NYC public schools for 44 years. Paula empowered the youngest students to become researchers and activists. She encourages students to ask questions (“anything goes”) and research is interdisciplinary, comprising literature, social studies, art, music, and science. Cultural relevance evolves organically from the research. When students discover injustices, Paula encourages them to channel their anger to become agents of change. Paula’s advice for new teachers, “Teach what you are required to teach, and stretch it.”

The post Paula Rogovin: Creating a social justice early childhood classroom first appeared on Ethical Schools.

Dr. Harriet (“Niki”) Fayne of Lehman College School of Education describes strategies to support new teachers and “second stage” teacher-leaders. She discusses ways to attract teacher candidates, reduce early-years attrition, and help teachers grow while staying in the classroom. Lehman builds ethics into leadership training and maintains long-term relationships with its graduates and the schools they teach in.

The post Ed schools as allies to new teachers of color first appeared on Ethical Schools.

Quentin Walcott (“Q”), a leading NYC and international anti-violence educator and activist, creates programs that help transform men and boys — even batterers — into activists against violence. He focuses on the intersections of violence — race, class, and gender — and its impact on marginalized communities. Q is Co-Executive Director of CONNECT, a nonprofit that approaches domestic violence systemically and holistically, including in school- and after-school programs. CONNECT helps males reassess their perceptions of masculinity and fatherhood. While perpetrators need to be held accountable, so do institutions and public leaders.

The post Reframing masculinity: Stopping violence against women and girls first appeared on Ethical Schools.

Jia Lee, NYC special education teacher and union activist, talks about the unfairness of the Fair Funding Formula, the school-to-prison pipeline, and the tendency of schools to re-traumatize vulnerable students. She also highlights the contrast between NYC Chancellor Carranza’s call for more culturally responsive classrooms and the City’s newly-mandated MAP tests, and the gap between what the United Federation of Teachers does and what it could do.

The post Special education: How students and their teachers are shortchanged first appeared on Ethical Schools.

This is an encore. Our conversation with Stephanie Carnes about Central American immigrant youth was one of our most popular. Enjoy it with our wishes for a safe and happy holiday.

Stephanie Carnes is a trauma-focused bilingual school social worker in a large public high school in New York’s Hudson Valley. Stephanie worked as the lead clinician in a federally-funded shelter program for unaccompanied children from Central America and as a consultant she challenges the districts and agencies with whom she works to re-envision the meaning of an inclusive community. We talk about the necessity to normalize mental health care, how to create safe environments for immigrant children in American schools, and the power of their resilience.

The post Post-traumatic growth and resilience: Creating safe environments for Central American immigrant children first appeared on Ethical Schools.

Margaret Blachly of Bank Street’s Center for Emotionally Responsive Practice describes how to fit materials, curriculum, and relationships together to create an emotionally safe classroom. Emphasizing the importance of a deep understanding of child development, she tells how important it is to know each child’s “story.” Margaret shares what she’s learned as a dual-language and special ed teacher and gives advice to new kindergarten teachers. Reflecting on Dewey’s Education and Experience, she talks about the ethical dimensions of teaching and the connections between the classroom and the larger society.

The post Emotionally Responsive Education: “inviting and containing” first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We speak with high school science teachers and trans men, Sam Long and Lewis Maday-Travis, who have developed resources and trainings to help biology teachers develop gender-inclusive curricula. Science tells us that sexual and gender diversity is both normal and positive.

The post Gender Inclusivity: Where Science and Ethics Intersect first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We speak with New York State Regent Luis O. Reyes on the evolution of multilingual education in New York, beginning with the ASPIRA Consent Decree that in 1974 established bilingual education as an entitlement for Puerto Rican and other Latinx students. NY is gradually transitioning to bicultural and bi-literate education. The Regents’ Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Education Framework represents the way forward.

The post Multicultural Education: Challenges and Aspirations first appeared on Ethical Schools.

This is an encore. We interview Lev Moscow who, for the last 14 years, has taught history and economics at The Beacon School in New York City. Lev reflects that advisory, done well, can serve as a venue for students to explore questions of ethics, purpose and happiness. He talks about balancing the history curriculum to include non-European perspectives. Getting students to read more than a few sentences is perhaps today’s teachers’ greatest challenge and Lev explains his approach.

The post Advice for Secondary School Teachers first appeared on Ethical Schools.

Student activists Coco Rhum and Hebh Jamal describe what real integration of NYC schools would look like and how to achieve it. Bringing sharp analysis and insight from their experiences as leaders in IntegrateNYC and Teens Take Charge, they were interviewed by Lev Moscow on our sister podcast, acorrectionpodcast.com.

The post NYC schools: still separate and unequal first appeared on Ethical Schools.

Kate Belin teaches math at Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School, a progressive public school in the Bronx, where she implements the Algebra Project, an initiative that connects math to students’ lived experiences. We talk about the synergy between the Algebra Project and Fannie Lou, both of which have their roots in the history of the civil rights movement.

The post The Algebra Project: Math Literacy and Empowerment first appeared on Ethical Schools.

Yasmin Morales-Alexander of Lehman College dispels the myth that Latinx parents don’t engage in their children’s education. Genuine parent-school engagement is based on schools’ recognition of families’ cultural values and traditions. “Family engagement is a cultural practice.”

The post Parent-school relationships in early childhood programs: Family engagement is driven by families first appeared on Ethical Schools.

Dr. Carla Shedd, associate professor of sociology and urban education at The Graduate Center, CUNY, studies the interactions with institutions of low-income Black and Latinx students and how institutional racism impacts children from even before birth. Children who attend integrated schools have sharper awareness of inequities than their counterparts in segregated schools and communities. The “carceral continuum” is more comprehensive than the “school to prison pipeline” and comprises all encounters with institutions. Carla also talks about professionals’ ethical responsibilities and responses and how to create safe spaces.

The post Black and Latinx students, institutional racism, and the carceral continuum first appeared on Ethical Schools.

Maud Abeel, nationally-recognized education consultant, focuses on college and career readiness for middle and high school students, including “match and fit.” The earlier the students begin to think about postsecondary options, the better. There are myriad resources for students and their families, many of them free and online. Maud discusses cohorts, groups of high school classmates who enter college together and support one another, increasing their likelihood of success. She also talks about obstacles and dilemmas counselors face, including overwhelming caseloads.

The post Navigating college and career pathways: Self-knowledge, preparation, and parameters first appeared on Ethical Schools.

The Algebra Project founder and president--and lead organizer of the famous 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer voting rights campaign--talks about math literacy as an organizing tool to guarantee quality public school education for all children. Bob Moses describes the Algebra Project’s strategies to connect math to students’ life experiences and everyday language. The interview is divided into two episodes.

The post The Algebra Project: Bob Moses on math literacy as a civil right – Part 1 first appeared on Ethical Schools.

The Algebra Project founder and president–and lead organizer of the famous 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer voting rights campaign–talks about math literacy as an organizing tool to guarantee quality public school education for all children. Bob Moses describes the Algebra Project’s strategies to connect math to students’ life experiences and everyday language. The interview is divided into two episodes.

The post The Algebra Project: Bob Moses on math literacy as a civil right – Part 2 first appeared on Ethical Schools.

David Adams is Director of Social Emotional Learning at NYC’s Urban Assembly, a network of schools that does not screen students. David focuses on the intersection of academic and technical skills, social-emotional competencies, and career development to create social/economic mobility. Students must have a relationship with the teacher or the content for optimal learning. Perspective-taking is central to ethical development. Schools have to “know their ‘why’” and be able to explain it in plain language.

The post Centering SEL for social and economic mobility first appeared on Ethical Schools.

Drs. Tony de Jesus, Anthony Johnston, and Don Siler of University of St. Joseph recount their intervention in a multiracial high school in crisis. White students had instigated a “game” of addressing Black students as the n-word. We discuss the impact of racialization in the Trump era on white students, students of color, and the school community as well as actual and potential responses by schools.

The post The “Name Game”: racialization in a suburban high school first appeared on Ethical Schools.

Lindsey Dixon, Director of Career Readiness at Urban Assembly, talks about helping students make more informed college and career decisions. The current model is restrictive and outdated, leading to suboptimal outcomes for the majority of students. Hands-on experiences and self-reflection programs can help young people better prepare for fulfilling careers and lives.

The post Post-Graduation Planning: Helping students to explore myriad options first appeared on Ethical Schools.

Dr. Carmen Mercado, CUNY professor emeritus, talks with us about the importance of self-study, sharing diverse perspectives in class, and reflective writing in her own development and that of her students. She shares her experiences as one of the first bilingual classroom teachers and teacher educators in NYC. Carmen’s book, “Navigating teacher education in complex and uncertain times: connecting communities of practice in a borderless world,” was published in 2019.

The post Teaching as research: Auto-ethnography of a pioneering bilingual teacher educator first appeared on Ethical Schools.

Jason Garcia of SoBro, a South Bronx community-based organization, describes how after school staff members help young people deal with the effects of trauma. Staff members teach content, guide students through transitions, and help students build long term relationships. SoBro’s youth workers wear many hats -- guidance counselor, social worker, referral source -- filling in where schools and families lack resources.

The post Creating a safe haven: Changing lives after school first appeared on Ethical Schools.

Dr. Anthony Johnston, associate professor of education at University of St. Joseph, explains text guided literacy as a framework for teaching literature. A former English teacher, Dr. Johnston resists the current emphasis on close reading. Text guided literacy encourages readers to extrapolate from the text, to take the perspective of a fictional or historical character, and to make connections between the text and their own lives. As well, empathy is a catalyst for ethical actions.

The post Text guided literacy: Literature as experience in English class first appeared on Ethical Schools.

Dr. Don Siler, a researcher and inservice teacher educator, himself a former high school dropout, discusses how art classrooms invite students to be themselves, to explore their lived experiences, and to work on projects that mean something to them. Student engagement in the art classroom can be leveraged across subject areas by incorporating both the arts and art-based pedagogy throughout the curriculum. Student outcomes improve when we broaden the ways in which students get information, process the information, and demonstrate their understanding of the information.

The post Engaging young black men in school: What we can learn from art class first appeared on Ethical Schools.

Master basketball coach Mark Jerome speaks candidly about social emotional complexities in sports culture and how his own ethical sensitivities have evolved over his decades of playing, coaching, and parenting. Mark describes enormous inequities in schools’ sports resources and discusses bullying and abusive parental behavior, as well as what he loves about basketball.

The post High school sports: Ethical challenges and considerations first appeared on Ethical Schools.

Diana MTK Autin, parent advocacy leader, describes how distance learning fails to meet the needs of many students and exacerbates inequities. She leads several organizations that help parents advocate effectively for their own families and also for systemic change. The pandemic's impacts are likely to be felt by students for a long time, and unless students' rights are defended, long-standing legal protections may be weakened with devastating effects.

The post Vulnerable students’ needs and rights in pandemic: Threats and opportunities first appeared on Ethical Schools.

Dr. Heather C. Hill of Harvard Graduate School of Education looks at the research on culturally responsive education and SEL programs. She examines components of successful professional development programs, and how they apply to SEL and CRE. Well-designed curricula give teachers a framework on which to build and perhaps self-reflect. Daily classroom practices that build trust and engagement are important. Even if the professional development is high quality and teachers embrace the strategies, principal leadership and support is critical for learned practices to continue over time.

The post Culturally responsive practice and SEL: Effective professional development and programs first appeared on Ethical Schools.

Cynthia Trapanese, a teacher who spent 17 years as a pediatric chaplain, observes that we are all grieving right now, and that adults need to be aware of their own feelings of loss in order to help children and families effectively. During this period of isolation, children miss not only extended family, especially grandparents, but also their friends, classrooms, and the details of their school days. The impact of prolonged separation from school will be long-lasting. Cynthia is holding webinars for teachers and parents, and shares tips and resources with us.

The post Grief and loss: Supporting students, families, and teachers in a pandemic first appeared on Ethical Schools.

Keith Hefner and Betsy Cohen of Youth Communication discuss their 40-year-old organization. Professional editors help students develop personal stories, which are shared with their peers. Writers experience self-reflection, readers develop empathy and gain strength from knowing others' experiences, and teachers acquire better understanding of their students. Youth Communication also offers curricula and materials for teachers to implement.

The post Student stories: SEL through writing and sharing lived experiences first appeared on Ethical Schools.

Jill Herman, founding principal of East Side Community H.S, now at Bank Street College, raises essential questions: To whom should a principal be accountable? How can social emotional learning and academics be integrated? What do we mean by an ethical school?

The post The principal as “keeper of the vision”: Fostering and protecting an ethical community first appeared on Ethical Schools.

Misha Thomas, longtime consultant with Therapeutic Crisis Intervention for Schools, discusses how schools can develop trauma-informed systems for resolving behavioral conflicts and crises. He explains that schools should prioritize a culture of trust and authenticity, and establish school wide expectations that crises will be explored in context of students’ lived experiences. As an outside consultant, Misha freely shares with clients his observations on systemic issues.

The post Therapeutic crisis intervention: a consultant’s role in creating an ethical school culture first appeared on Ethical Schools.

Richard Miller, who taught in progressive NYC secondary schools for 28 years, talks about teaching students to think like historians, weighing different sources and drawing their conclusions from evidence. The past gives context to the present, and understanding historiography, or how history is interpreted over time, equips students to view current issues from multiple perspectives.

The post Why teach history? Knowing “why” shapes “how” first appeared on Ethical Schools.

Dr. Sherry Deckman speaks about creating classroom environments that challenge cultural and social hierarchies. Teachers need to be aware of the lenses through which they view the world and their students, especially lenses that center Whiteness. She discusses everyday anti-racism for educators and creating humanizing spaces for all students, as well as the isolation that teacher educators of color often feel.

The post Challenging hierarchies: The role of the social justice teacher educator first appeared on Ethical Schools.

In light of the pandemic, which has disproportionately impacted BIPOC, and BLM uprisings, we’re revisiting Jon’s interview with Jason Warwin of The Brotherhood/Sister Sol. COVID-19 has devastated Bro/Sis’s community of Black and Brown youth and their families. And despite the pandemic, Bro/Sis staff and members are joining protests to demand systemic change. We’ll check in with Jason and then listen to the interview from last June.

The post Crises and opportunity: A holistic approach to supporting and empowering youth first appeared on Ethical Schools.

Manhattan's Beacon High School students are fighting for racial equity in NYC's highly segregated school system. Three student activists talk about their experiences in the elite public school, the student-led demonstrations and teach ins, and the Beacon Union of Unions' comprehensive list of demands.

The post Students demand equity and inclusion: call for admissions, curriculum, counseling changes first appeared on Ethical Schools.

Dr. Michelle Fine speaks about better alternatives to standardized tests for students to demonstrate college-readiness. NYC's Consortium Schools, which use Performance Based Assessment Tasks, collaborated with CUNY to open CUNY's 4-year colleges to more low-income Black and Latinx applicants. Students, especially Black males, did better at college than test score-admitted peers. Dr. Fine gives a passionate call for democratic school cultures based on student initiated work and collaborative revision.

The post Reimagining college admissions: Performance assessment pilot at CUNY first appeared on Ethical Schools.

Zahava Stadler, Policy Director of EdBuild, explains how housing discrimination and state funding policies disadvantage Black and low-income districts. EdBuild has reported on funding schemes throughout the country, documenting a $23 billion annual funding gap between White districts and districts of color. Ms. Stadler describes how states could allocate education dollars more equitably, benefitting at least 70% of students.

The post Savage inequalities: How school funding intentionally privileges white, wealthy communities first appeared on Ethical Schools.

Toni Smith-Thompson, Senior Organizer at NY Civil Liberties Union, discusses the importance of replacing police presence in schools with restorative practices. Toni envisions ethical schools, in which all students feel both appreciated by and accountable to school communities, and conflicts are resolved internally. Students returning to school, many of whom will have experienced trauma associated with the pandemic and police violence, will need nurturing, not punitive measures.

The post Too Late For Reform: Abolishing the Police in Schools first appeared on Ethical Schools.

Last year we interviewed Mark Santow, one of the plaintiffs suing the State of Rhode Island under the 14th Amendment for failing to provide some students civics curricula and other components of an adequate education. After we revisit our interview, Dr. Santow updates us on the suit and reflects on the lawsuit’s particular relevance at a time of pandemic and the Mobilization for Black Lives.

The post *UPDATE* Civics education: A Constitutional right? first appeared on Ethical Schools.

Nia Morgan and Anahi Ortiz Fierros of Urban Youth Collaborative describe how police and metal detectors humiliate and traumatize students. The story of the "fork in the backpack" illustrates the system's absurdity. And while NYC school arrests are down overall, Black and Latinx students are arrested at much higher rates than white students. NYS legislature considers Solutions Not Suspensions Act. Campaigns for police-free schools are taking place around the country.

The post Police and metal detectors in schools: Student perspectives first appeared on Ethical Schools.

Dr. Alan Singer, Dr. Pablo Muriel, and Gates Millennium Scholar Dennis Belen-Morales, three generations of teachers, describe how they center student activism in their project-based social studies and history classes while giving students the tools to pass the NYS Regents exams. Dr. Singer was Dr. Muriel’s high school teacher, and Dr. Muriel was Mr. Belen-Morales’ teacher in turn. Now all three are at Hofstra University. Part 1 of a two-part series that contains lots of specific strategies for teachers and passion for civics education.

The post Supporting student civic activism: Social studies on steroids – Part 1 first appeared on Ethical Schools.

Dr. Alan Singer, Dr. Pablo Muriel, and Gates Millennium Scholar Dennis Belen-Morales, three generations of teachers, describe how they center student activism in their project-based social studies and history classes while giving students the tools to pass the NYS Regents exams. Dr. Singer was Dr. Muriel’s professor in college, and Dr. Muriel was Mr. Belen-Morales’ high school teacher and college professor in turn. Now all three are at Hofstra University. Part 2 of a two-part series that contains lots of specific strategies for teachers and passion for civics education.

The post Supporting student civic activism: Social studies on steroids – Part 2 first appeared on Ethical Schools.

World renowned educational consultant Bill Stroud talks about schooling within our capitalist culture and the impact that on-line learning will have on teachers' autonomy and teacher-student relationships. He discusses similarities and differences among classrooms in different countries, the potential impact of the Movement for Black Lives on schools, and what envisioning a different system of schools would look like.

The post Audit culture: The dehumanization of education first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We speak with Monica Chen, veteran teacher and executive director of Factory Farming Awareness Coalition. Monica tells us how cow’s milk became a staple in school lunches even though most children of color do not have the ability to digest lactose, the main carbohydrate in dairy products. She explains how checkoff programs like Got milk? mislead the American public into thinking these are healthy foods for human children.

The post Food injustice: The corporatization of school meals first appeared on Ethical Schools.

Social studies teacher David Edelman and student Raúl Baez speak about their class's "Virtual Walking Tour of Slavery in New York City" and other projects in which students become teachers. David's goal is to instill curiosity and encourage students to connect history to their lived experiences. He shares suggestions for virtual teaching and teacher collaboration.

The post Busting out of the classroom: Connecting local history to everyday life first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We welcome back Monica Chen of Factory Farming Awareness Coalition. She describes the animal-agricultural complex that exploits workers in meatpacking plants and animals in factory farms and devastates communities and the environment. Monica introduces FFAC's culturally-competent virtual lessons and presentations for students from middle school through university, customized for all subject areas. Students who want to become social justice activists, with food as the hub that connects worker rights, sustainability, and environmental racism can apply to FFAC’s intern program.

The post Consumption as ethics: Talking with students about food first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We speak with Mica Pollock about US vs Hate and Schooltalk. Student anti-racism messaging in any medium can catalyze youth activism. Comments embedded in teachers’ everyday communication can impact students’ lifetime trajectories.

The post Antiracism: Lessons for the classroom and faculty lounge first appeared on Ethical Schools.

Ellen McHugh, long time activist and Public Advocate Williams's appointee to the NYC Citywide Council on Special Education, delves into the challenges facing parents of students with special education needs. Ethical relationships among educators, parents, and the students themselves are crucial to these students' success. Too often educators minimize the importance of parental input even though the law requires that they be equal partners in their children’s educational planning. Remote and hybrid learning has added new obstacles to and opportunities for partnerships between parents and educators.

The post Parent voice: Supporting families with special needs first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We speak with Meira Levinson, Professor of Education at Harvard, about her website justiceinschools.org and books of “hard cases,” designed to help educators and youth workers think about the ethical implications of their decisions. Often, there are no perfect solutions, and  these decisions can have far-reaching consequences in children’s lives. A former teacher herself, Meira would like teachers to be able to consult with specially trained school ethicists.

The post Practicing ethics: Case studies first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We speak with Dr. Emily Penner, who studied the impacts of two programs in which students delved into their respective races, ethnicities, and communities. San Francisco's was designed for academically-struggling students of a range of ethnicities. Oakland's was designed for young Black men across academic achievement levels, as part of the district's "targeted universalism" approach. The results, in both cases, were dramatic.

The post Identity-focused classes: Experiments in cultural relevance first appeared on Ethical Schools.

Daarel Burnette II of Education Week delves into the history of Black communities demanding education and school boards conspiring to deprive them of opportunities and resources. We zoom in on Virginia's reparations to Black citizens, now in their 60's, who were excluded from schools when Prince Edward County shut its schools to avoid integration. Mr. Burnette, a “military brat,” theorizes about why children of Black military families do so much better academically than their civilian peers.

The post Education denied: What should reparations look like? first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We welcome back Lev Moscow of the Beacon School to discuss his approach to teaching political economy, which actually applies to any social science. It's not primarily about the numbers but about the human choices behind them. How do we determine who gets paid what and who gets to spend 80,000 hours in a lifetime engaged in meaningful work? Also, how our mantra of continuous economic growth will end life as we know it.

The post Teaching economics as political and ethical choices first appeared on Ethical Schools.

Stacey Cervellino Thorp and Naima Moffett-Warden teach drama at Manhattan's famed LaGuardia High School, and Abigail Rivera is a senior in the drama studio. Although all LaGuardia students are extraordinarily talented, their families, neighborhoods, and middle schools have vastly different resources. Students and faculty, led by students of color, have won changes and are demanding more steps to make the school more accessible and the curriculum more culturally responsive.

The post Students leading change: Inclusiveness at an elite school first appeared on Ethical Schools.

Dr. Kim Butler, who leads Rutgers's Africana Studies program, says that while we usually teach history and social studies in discreet, testable units, events are complex and interconnected. Slavery throughout the Americas was central to the development of capitalism. Dr. Butler describes how working class students often can't choose a liberal arts education because they have to focus on getting jobs.

The post Holistic history: The African diaspora first appeared on Ethical Schools.

Dr. Mandy Savitz-Romer of Harvard Graduate School of Education sees counselors as schools' academic conscience, the hub for providing holistic support to students. To be effective, they need a seat at the leadership table. Respondents in Savitz-Romer's 1000-counselor survey described obstacles and successes in serving students during the pandemic.

The post Empowering school counselors to support struggling students first appeared on Ethical Schools.

Dr. Randy Capps, Director of Research for U.S. Programs at the Migration Policy Institute, surveyed Latinx high school students to see how fear of deportation – of their parents, relatives, friends, or themselves – impacts their mental health. The students, roughly half foreign-born and half US-born, suffered anxiety, depression, and PTSD at significantly higher rates than other students their age. Strong bonds immigrant students formed with one another were a source of mutual support. Students who engaged in public policy activism showed improved mental health.

The post The impact of deportation policies on Latinx students’ mental health first appeared on Ethical Schools.

Dr. Christiana Best, who spent thirty years in the New York City child welfare system before becoming a full-time academic, discusses her personal experience of being left behind in Granada while her mother settled in the US. Dr. Best, now an assistant professor of social work at St. Joseph’s, delves into the difficulties of providing holistic support to immigrant children and families, who are (justifiably) hesitant to trust government agencies.

The post BIPOC and undocumented: A trauma-filled intersection first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We speak with Swarthmore's Dr. Edwin Mayorga, who explains how abolitionist classrooms and schools create "freedom as a place" in contrast to racial capitalism. Teachers are the lead inquirers and try to "move at the speed of trust," helping to create classrooms full of joy. Edwin describes Philadelphia's Kensington Health Sciences Academy as a school where teaching and learning are based on establishing relationships of mutual respect.

The post Abolitionist education: Creating liberatory spaces (Part One) first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We continue our conversation with Dr. Edwin Mayorga of Swarthmore College. We discuss the corporatization of schools that reduces students to their test scores. Dr. Mayorga encourages educators to center joy and healing. Schools should be liberatory rather than places that are too often focused on punishment and surveillance. Schools, as "localized nodes of political power,” should adopt democratic processes that cultivate voice, participation, and collaboration. As an organizer, he encourages coalitions of people resisting different aspects of racial capitalism, including those fighting destruction of the planet and exploitation of other species.

The post Abolitionist education: Creating liberatory spaces (Part Two) first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We speak with middle school teachers, Debbie Holecko and Claudia Bestor, and their former student, Rafel Alshakergi, about a student-led research project that led to ethical civic engagement. Rafel explains how the experience emboldened her to ask questions and “speak [her] mind." The project, which got national attention, cut against Ohio's high-stakes test orientation; many teachers are afraid to do project-based learning because Ohio doesn't have tenure and bases 40% of teacher evaluation on student test scores. The teachers discuss how to meet standards through project-based learning. This interview is just a joy to listen to!

The post Students doing original research: Project-based learning in Ohio first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We speak with Samuel E. Abrams of Teachers College, Columbia University. The root problems in K12 education — including poverty-related stress and underpaid and underprepared teachers — are pervasive and expensive to fix. So instead, the U.S. has  adopted a “commercial mindset,” measuring success through standardized test scores and increasingly outsourcing school management to for-profit and nonprofit corporations. Dr. Abrams explains what we can...

The post Dodging responsibility for our children: Reducing learning to test scores first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We speak with Dr. Judith King-Calnek, United Nations International School’s first Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Since UNIS faculty and students come from all over the world, they draw on one another’s backgrounds and lived experience in presenting and analyzing social issues. Faculty, parents, alumni, and, especially, students are involved in new DEI initiatives. Students are actually writing curriculum, providing feedback, and delivering DEI modules to...

The post Students as experts: Diversity, equity, and inclusion first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We speak with Dr. Julie Sugarman of the Migration Policy Institute about meeting the needs of English Learners. We discuss the meaning and implications of ELs “falling behind” during virtual instruction and difficulties administering upcoming English language proficiency tests. Dr. Sugarman talks about a model for incorporating ELs into planning. She also talks about what is lost (and gained) through technology, given the importance of personal relationships to teaching and learning.

The post Supporting English Learners: pandemic and post-pandemic solutions first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We speak with Dr. LaToya Baldwin Clark, assistant professor at UCLA School of Law. Dr. Baldwin Clark explains how school boundaries are used for racial exclusion. In many cases, schools don’t just reflect, but cause, segregated neighborhoods. Dr. Baldwin Clark argues that closing the education gap isn’t just about bringing up the bottom, but bringing down the...

The post Policing attendance boundaries: Education as private property first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We continue our conversation with LaToya Baldwin Clark of UCLA School of Law. Dr. Baldwin Clark explains how the special education system advantages White middle class families. Poor families and families of color tend to lack cultural capital to navigate the system and advocate effectively for their children. While resources flow to White children with special needs, Black children tend to be stigmatized and placed...

The post Systemic racism in special education: Parent participation legitimizes inequities first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We speak with Beacon PTA members Toni Smith-Thompson and Robin Broshi about NYC’s new requirements and the school's proposed admission plan. Then we listen back to last June's interview with activist students from the Beacon Union of Unions.

The post UPDATE: Moving toward admissions equity and culture change at Manhattan’s Beacon High School first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We speak with Dan Callahan, Assistant Superintendent for Secondary Education in Peekskill City School District, 45 minutes north of Manhattan. The low-income district in wealthy Westchester is 70% Latino, including many students from immigrant families. We discuss how the district has adapted to rapid demographic changes and schools' role in helping students meet challenges. Mr. Callahan reflects on the decisions he and his staff make that impact students’ lives in very concrete ways, and the tension between consistency, applying the same rules for all students, and specificity, looking at the totality of circumstances in each individual case.

The post Districtwide decisions: Day to day ethical considerations first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We speak with Mark Lieberman, Education Week tech reporter. Pasco County FL schools give the sheriff records of students deemed "destined to a life of crime." NYS Education Department funded facial recognition of school visitors to schools. Hackers hold district data hostage for ransom. We discuss legal and ethical privacy issues in the age of tech, including the dilemmas for teachers if a "D" leads to a police database.

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We speak with Michele Washington, longtime early childhood lecturer at Lehman College, about expertise at the preschool level. Head Start, pre-K, and 3-K teachers can support children and families in myriad ways once parents or guardians trust them. Cultural humility is essential; teachers need to understand and respect their children's families and communities.

The post Early childhood education: It is play, but it is not “babysitting” first appeared on Ethical Schools.

Dr. Bradley Carpenter, associate professor of educational leadership at Baylor University, speaks about developing and supporting antiracist school principals. Very few leadership prep programs prioritize or embed antiracism principles or practices. A principal committed to centering antiracism needs to have a full equity audit of existing curriculum and practices and to lead faculty members through the emotionally laborious process of examining everyone’s own privileges...

The post Antiracist school leadership: Courage and commitment first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We speak with Jillian McRae and Sam North, English and history teachers at Ossining (NY) High School, and their student, Alaysha. For 15 years, Sam and Jillian have co-taught a college-level course called "racism, sexism, and classism: a popular approach." They focus on pervasive systems of power, and encourage students to discuss their own experiences of privilege, disadvantage, and intersectionality.

The post Teaching the “isms”: Students’ lived experiences in context first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We speak with Dr. Marsha Daria of Western Connecticut State University. Dr. Daria teaches undergraduate courses in the Department of Education and Educational Psychology. She explains how in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder, the department reconfigured its curriculum to center social justice, equity, and self-reflection. She discusses the department's recruitment initiatives to increase teacher candidate diversity.

The post Toward antiracism: The evolution of an undergraduate teacher ed program first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We speak with Grace Alli Brandstein, an improvement and instructional coach with the New York City Department of Education. Ms. Brandstein works with Bronx high schools that the State has designated as needing support. This is part one of a two part interview. Today, we discuss challenges teachers and students at these schools face, and their everyday achievements. Ms. Brandstein talks about the impacts, both positive and negative, of being rated as needing improvement, especially the pressure it puts administrators, teachers, and students. Next week, Ms. Brandstein talks about abolitionist education.

The post The bigger picture: High school improvement in the Bronx first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We continue our conversation with Grace Alli Brandstein, a school improvement and instructional coach supporting struggling high schools in the Bronx. This week, Ms. Brandstein focuses on humane, antiracist education, and explains Dr. Gholdy Muhammad’s construct of literacy as identity, skills, intellect, criticality, and joy. She also speaks about the conditions for successful adult learning, giving teachers the training they need to lead one another and the space to coalesce around a shared vision, expectations, and protocols.

The post Shared visions: Creating an abolitionist school culture first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We speak with Dr. Sue Winton of York University in Toronto about the effects of private money--much of it from parents- that replaces decreased public funding of schools. Fundraisers and fees for special programs benefit affluent schools and the children who already have the most access to opportunities. Low income parents often feel pressure to donate beyond their means for their children's sake.

The post Exacerbating inequality: Private money in public schools first appeared on Ethical Schools.

As of today, March 31st, 2021, over 550,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. We're reposting our conversation with Cynthia Trapanese former grief counselor, now teacher, who explains that the adults in a school need to grapple with their own losses in order to help children and families.

The post Grief and loss: Supporting students, families, and teachers in a pandemic (encore) first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We speak with Dr. Sarah Diem of University of Missouri and Dr. Anjalé Welton of University of Wisconsin, Madison. They discuss the seemingly neutral "colorevasive" policies that actually reinforce racial inequity. Drs. Diem and Welton present an action protocol for school and district leaders who seek to create antiracist schools.

The post Making antiracist change: A template for educational leaders first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We speak with Herminia (Ita) Saldana, parent coordinator at MS 328, a middle school in Washington Heights, Manhattan. Every public school in NYC has a parent coordinator. Virtually all of the MS 328 students are current English Language Learners or have tested out of ELL status. As parent coordinator, Ita encourages and facilitates parent engagement as both advocate and navigator. She also helps recent immigrant families to access all kinds of community services as they adapt to life in NYC.

The post Ethical outreach: a parent coordinator anchors immigrant families first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We talk with Marianna Azar, Director and Chair of the NYC DOE's Institutional Review Boards. The IRBs review all research proposals conducted through the schools to make sure they are conducted ethically and that the benefits to the students outweigh any burdens. In Part 1 of a 2-part interview, Ms. Azar describes how the IRBs work and their impact on researchers, schools, students and parents. Next week we’ll continue exploring the ethical issues that confront IRBs, including issues raised by Big Data.

The post Students as subjects: Ethical considerations of research in schools first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We continue our conversation with Marianna Azar, director of NYC Department of Education’s Institutional Review Boards (IRBs). This week, Ms. Azar discusses the potential privacy dangers created by collection and dissemination of research data, strategies to combat them, and the need to strengthen the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

The post Research in schools (Part 2): Safeguarding the data first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We welcome back Zoe Weil, of the Institute for Humane Education, along with Laura Trongard, Oceanside (NY) High School teacher to discuss how teachers are implementing IHE’s Solutionary program. Laura describes how students adopt habits of solutionary thinking in their schoolwork and their lives. Zoe talks about IHE’s new micro-credential program, an online course that prepares teachers to use the solutionary framework. The new edition of Zoe’s book, "The World Becomes What We Teach,” with new content on pandemics and racial tensions, will be released in June.

The post Creative problem solving: Developing solutionary thinkers first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We talk with Dr. Ann Ishimaru of the University of Washington about correcting the power imbalance between schools and low-income families and families of color. We also discuss “learning loss” and why families of color are much more reluctant than white families to return to in-person learning as the pandemic eases.

The post Building communities of trust: transforming family-school relationships first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We speak with Dr. Sam Abrams of the National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education (NCSPE) at Teachers College, Columbia University. Dr. Abrams describes his analyses of statistics released by local and national education systems and widely disseminated by the media. Sometimes the reports are wrong or misleading, which can have serious consequences...

The post Critical analysis: not just for students first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We speak with Dr. Steven Cohen of Tuft's Department of Education about helping teachers to think critically about race and class.. He talks about the importance of listening to students over time, even watching the media they watch, to get a better understanding of their life experiences. He describes how to create fair strategies for resolving conflicts and for grading and he explains how to introduce complex subject matter in ways that students find relevant.

The post Creating antiracist classrooms: Listening and other essential skills first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We speak with Dr. Daman Harris and Dr. Inger Swimpson of Building Our Network of Diversity, the BOND Project, in Montgomery County MD, which provides spaces for Black and Latino men to support one another in their teaching and their lives. Although having Black teachers benefits Black and white children alike, U.S. schools have few Black teachers, and even fewer Black men. BOND works to make schools better places for boys of color, making it more likely that they’ll go into teaching, and better for Black men, so they’ll be more likely to stay in teaching. Networks and partnerships, especially with HBCUs, are crucial.

The post Black men as teachers: Recruitment, retention, development, empowerment first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We speak with Dr. Linda Nathan of the Center for Artistry and Scholarship and the Perrone-Sizer Institute for Creative Leadership about her experience in creating progressive schools. Dr. Nathan says all teachers, no matter their subject areas, should have expertise in teaching reading and students with moderate disabilities. The arts are central to her educational vision. Dr. Nathan talks about how to achieve predictable and collaborative authentic assessment of student work and how to deal with standardized test requirements when necessary. She also describes why "grit" is not enough for student success when students are caught in the insidious web of a racist system.

The post Holistic education: Joy, wellness, and rigor first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We speak with Anisa Heming and Corey Metzger of the U.S. Green Building Council and ASHRAE about a new report on schools' efforts around the country to protect against COVID-19 by improving indoor air quality. Like so much else about schools, air quality comes down to resources, in this case, for infrastructure and maintenance. Also, there has been no central source of reliable information for district administrators. While COVID-19 has drawn our attention to air circulation and ventilation, there are other reasons to be concerned about air quality. Not only are there other airborne pathogens, but studies show that learning improves with better indoor air quality.

The post Air quality in schools: At the intersection of technology and equity first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We speak with Betty Collins, eighth grade teacher in Tulsa County, Oklahoma. Ms. Collins speaks about conservatives' hostility to Critical Race Theory, which looks at the role of systemic racism in US history. We discuss a just-enacted law in Oklahoma that tries to ban teaching history that may make any students "uncomfortable" and how unions and educators are responding.

The post Authentic history: Too uncomfortable for white kids? first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We speak with University of South Carolina law professor Derek Black about the history of education as a core government service and the current wave of voucher laws in red states. Professor Black argues that these will permanently reduce education funding levels and threaten the very existence of public schools. We also talk about the #RedforEd resistance and the need to substantially increase funding for schools with many low-income students.

The post The attack on public education: Will public schools survive? first appeared on Ethical Schools.

We speak with Shayla Ewing, English and drama teacher in Pekin, Illinois, about supporting teachers experiencing secondary and primary trauma, which the pandemic intensified. We also talk about the how and why of teaching about white privilege in an all-white classroom.

The post Addressing teachers’ trauma; plus, antiracist teaching in a white classroom first appeared on Ethical Schools.

In our guest episode of Lev Moscow's podcast, A Correction, Professor Walter Mignolo of Duke discusses decoloniality, a radically different way of thinking and teaching which rejects the "naturalness" of racial capitalism and its development. Lev and Dr. Mignolo discuss what this can look like in high school and college classrooms.

The post Teaching differently about being “modern”: Questioning Western mindsets first appeared on Ethical Schools.