A place for educators to find thought-provoking news, conversation and support for those who care about diversity, equal opportunity and respect for differences in schools
Students Beware: Ability Grouping Ahead
Grouping by perceived abilities is fraught with peril for students. Take a look at a video that explores this common practice and offers some effective alternatives.
Time to Bury the “Lost Cause”
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell has declared April Confederate History Month. His original seven-paragraph proclamation was full of paeans to grey-clad heroes but nowhere mentioned the agonies of slavery. This understandably offended African Americans, and McDonnell spent a day or so getting beat up in the media.
The Great Fulton Fake-Out
Remember Constance McMillen? She’s the lesbian teen in Fulton, Miss., who fought to take her date to the prom and wear a tuxedo. Her case drew national attention after she and the American Civil Liberties Union challenged the Itawamba County School District. The district had banned same-sex prom dates and decreed that only male students could wear tuxedos.
The High Price of Bullying
A year ago today, Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover took his own life. The Springfield, Mass., boy was about a week shy of his 12th birthday. His suicide came after months of brutal taunting that began when he entered sixth grade the previous September.
Follow the Little Red Wagon
Zach Bonner is on the road again in his mission to bring public attention to the hardships faced by homeless kids. Last December, the Florida sixth-grader began his 2,478-mile hike from Tampa to Los Angeles. Members of his family walk with him and follow along in a loaned RV.
Stand Up and Be Counted
An important date awaits in April, and it’s coming sooner than April 15.
The Census Bureau has designated April 1 as "National Census Day," the date for mailing census forms to bureau offices. Households that don’t get their forms sent off by then will get a visit from a census taker.
Enduring Images Captured the Conscience of the Nation
A powerful collection of Civil Rights-era photographs is on display now through August 2010 at the Bronx Museum of the Arts. If you can’t organize a class trip to the museum, consider taking your students on a virtual tour of the era.
There’s a New Sheriff in Town
“Few civil rights are as central to the cause of human freedom as equal educational opportunity.” Education Secretary Arne Duncan offered that remark earlier this month in announcing his department’s renewed commitment to civil rights in American classrooms. He also put the nation’s schools on notice: The Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights was back on the case. It has been missing in action for nearly a decade, creating either uneven law enforcement or willful injustice.
Our new guide, 
