From the Race to the Top to the Plunge to the Bottom
As bad as the Obama/Duncan era was for public education, the current administration is even more hostile, much more corrupt, and more committed to an all-sided privatization agenda.
Updates
Rethinking Schools is Hiring a Membership Associate
Summary Membership Associate needed for half-time work in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This position is responsible for Rethinking Schools’ (RS) customer/member relations and maintaining the central Salesforce database of all constituents of […]
Wash Your Hands: Navigating Grief and Uncertainty in the Time of the Pandemic
By Linda Christensen I hadn’t ever planned to teach online, but the Saturday before our college campus closed because of the coronavirus pandemic, I decided to cancel our face-to-face class […]
“Rethinking Ethnic Studies” Is a Finalist for the 2019 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards
We’re pleased to share Rethinking Ethnic Studies has been recognized as a finalist in the 22nd annual Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards. Foreword Magazine, Inc. hosts an […]
The New Teacher Book is a Finalist for the 2019 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards
Edited by Linda Christensen, Stan Karp, Bob Peterson, and Moé Yonamine We’re pleased to share The New Teacher Book: Finding purpose, balance, and hope during your first years in the […]
Education in the Time of the Coronavirus
Now is not the time to pull away from social justice education activism, but to find new ways to express it. As schools go onto the internet (at least for older students) — or into hibernation — we need to make sure this happens in a way that does not promote greater inequality.
The Coronavirus and Our Work
(Ricardo Levins Morales) First, we hope that you are safe and healthy. This is a stressful and frightening time for everyone, and the uncertainty of where the coronavirus pandemic is […]
Rep. Barbara Lee Calls for Climate Education in All Schools
“We need to teach every young person the human impacts of climate change and how to combat the climate crisis before it is too late.” By Bill Bigelow Congresswoman Barbara Lee […]
“Just Look Outside” — Teaching Climate Change in Alaska
By Soren Wuerth This story is part of Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 250 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story. The first week of […]
Teach the Fossil Fuel Industry — Our Students’ Enemy
By Bill Bigelow This story is part of Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 250 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story. A while back, I […]
Teachers Strike for Their Lives and Their Students
By Bob Peterson Tens of thousands of teachers went out on strike last Thursday. Not in West Virginia or Los Angeles — but in Colombia’s five largest cities. And they […]
On September 20th, if Our Students Are Not in the Streets, Let’s Bring the Streets to Our Students
By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca At the end of August a group of student activists presented a letter to the Portland, Oregon, School Board regarding their plans to walk out of school […]
New York Post Attacks Rethinking Schools
Dear Rethinking Schools friends, Have you seen the recent attacks on Rethinking Schools? Over the past couple of weeks, the New York Post published two pieces attacking social justice teaching […]
The Green New Deal and Our Schools
By the editors of Rethinking Schools As Mark Hertsgaard and Kyle Pope wrote recently in The Nation, “There is a runaway train racing toward us, and its name is climate change. […]
Take Sides for the Earth and Teach Climate Justice
TEACHING CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS As we celebrate Earth Day, we invite you to join us in taking sides for the Earth by teaching climate justice and becoming […]
Hip-Hop Artist Macklemore Donates to Match School District Purchases of the Book Teaching For Black Lives
Macklemore Donation Match We’ve got some great news about Teaching for Black Lives! Hip-hop artist Macklemore is donating up to $10,000 to match dollar-for-dollar school district purchases of Teaching for Black Lives. […]
Black Lives Matter At School National Week of Action Feb. 4 – 8, 2019
We call on educators to make commitments to teach social justice, anti-racist curriculum and foster student conversations about the Black Lives Matter movement. We also call on educators to grow […]
#StandWithOkinawa: We Need The World With Us
By Moé Yonamine “Don’t cry here,” an 86-year-old Okinawan grandmother I had never met before told me. She stood next to me and took my hand. I had been visiting […]
Students “Warrior Up” for Climate Justice
[This is the third installment of our new environmental justice column — Earth, Justice, and Our Classrooms — and celebrates the annual two-day “Climate Justice Fair” at Madison High School […]
The Midterms, Trumpism, and the Increased Racialization of American Childhood
By Julio Angel Alicea When Donald Trump was making waves for his bigoted statements about Mexicans, Muslims, and women during the Republican primaries, my high school students, most of them […]
LeBron’s School Should Be Every School — Public, Fully Funded, and with Arms Around the Community
By Ari Bloomekatz There are few public schools receiving as much attention these days as LeBron James’ I Promise School in Akron, Ohio — and it’s because it’s just that: […]
“This Is Our Time, This is Our Moment”: Los Angeles Teachers Are Ready to Strike
An interview with Arlene Inouye, chair of UTLA’s bargaining committee By Ari Bloomekatz Mediation between the Los Angeles Unified School District and United Teachers Los Angeles failed in mid-October, and […]
Despite National Outrage, Scholastic Defends Children’s Books Celebrating Trump
By Deborah Menkart His buildings reached into the sky. His businesses just grew and grew. Then Trump became our president — people wanted something new. Believe it or not, this […]
Nurturing Student Activists in the Time of Trump
By the editors of Rethinking Schools The 2018–19 school year has begun at a time of terrifying climate disruption, seemingly endless war, spectacular inequality, xenophobic and fascist revival, police brutality […]
ED ALERT: Fighting Manufactured Chaos in Puerto Rico’s Public Schools
By Mercedes Martínez and Jia Lee August 13 marked the first day of school for more than 319,000 students and 22,000 teachers in Puerto Rico. But instead of feeling prepared […]