The hustle never stops. This time, I was racing for an afternoon coffee with fellow entrepreneurs. I threw my University of Virginia Darden School of Busin
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Being a First-Generation College Student Is Rough, So I Wrote a Book on How to Do It Better
We have to do a better job of preparing students for college. As a young man growing up in Columbus, Ohio, the messaging was to simply graduate from high s
Read MoreHow We Can Transform Schools Into Sites of Racial Healing
Students across the nation have joined in solidarity to ignite a long overdue national conversation on gun reform and school safety. So far, they’ve succes
Read MoreWhen Advocating for Students With Disabilities, It’s OK to Be Wrong Sometimes But It’s Not OK to Be Quiet
I remember the first time I spoke up at a national conference in front of my colleagues. We were at a national meeting of a few hundred urban special educa
Read MoreDo We Just Want Our Kids to Get a Job, or Do We Want Them to Change the World?
To those of us who observe, study and serve America’s public education system, it would seem that, similar to public housing, we have only been marginally
Read MoreIf You Give White Teachers Guns, I’m Pulling My Black Son out of School
On December 14, 2012, a shooter walked into Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, and killed 20 children and six adults. My firstborn son w
Read MoreCoffee Break: Memphis Education Leader Natalie McKinney Is Doing the Right Thing for Families for the Right Reasons
Last fall, former Shelby County Schools policy director Natalie McKinney assumed leadership of Whole Child Strategies, a nonprofit created to help Memphis
Read MoreHe Was Tortured by Police and Sent to Prison for 24 Years for a Crime He Didn’t Commit. Now He’s Telling His Story to Students.
As a teenager on the streets of Chicago’s South Side, Darrell Cannon learned not to trust the police—a lesson that continues to resonate for young Black me
Read MoreA Chicago Principal Dies Fighting to Give His Students the Best Education Possible
What if every teacher approached his or her work with legacy in mind? What if all educators viewed the future of other people’s children—i.e., their studen
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