After a flurry of proposals early in the presidential primary campaign, as predicted, public education reassumed its usual place near the bottom of the national political hierarchy. The dynamics followed the normal pattern from recent years. While plenty of the presidential debates — and intervening media coverage — featured discussion of higher education affordability and...

“Oscar, are you there? Make sure to unmute yourself please!” Like thousands of teachers across the nation, I muttered this phrase in my new virtual classroom. Curriculum and instruction have taken on a completely different meaning as schools attempt to navigate the new digital learning environment. My colleagues and I are doing our best to...

The transition to distance learning has caused unprecedented disruption to our education system. Many low-income students do not have internet access necessary for taking classes online. While some districts and charter schools are distributing devices and hotspots, in others, students are making do with paper packets. With all this chaos, though, we still live in...

The COVID-19 pandemic means kids are learning at home now. But parents are also getting a new kind of education. Historically, schools have functioned as a kind of black box. Many teachers and administrators wanted parent engagement — but it was available only to a point. Most commonly, parents were invited to see the results...

Just weeks ago, Brandy Caldwell was finishing up her senior year at Boston’s Brandeis University when she got the notice: The coronavirus was forcing a campus shutdown in two days. For most students, that meant a hasty packing up and a quick car trip home to their parents. But for Caldwell, 22, it wasn’t that...

As the COVID-19 pandemic spreads throughout the United States, the urgent need for health and stability is paramount. In these early weeks of spring, we must work together to minimize transmission and flatten the curve. Yet even as we secure the basic safety of our homes and communities, we must not forget the important, once-a-decade...

Our polarized and tribal politics have suddenly come crashing into a moment where we are now only as strong as our weakest link. The coronavirus knows no party, ideology, ethnicity, or wall. And the virus certainly doesn’t distinguish between those who support differing progressive policy positions on education. A few weeks before our entire city...

As the coronavirus continues its spread across the country, it threatens lives, upends work schedules and shuts down public events. Schools are shutting their doors, sending students home to learn. How are you going to manage it all, even while navigating changing work demands, shopping for life in a pandemic and getting tonight’s dinner on...

What’s a school for in the 21st century? Start with the bedrock: they’re for helping children develop academic skills and access core content, right? Those famous R’s: reading, writing, ‘rithmetic, you know the deal. We also count on them to grow democratic citizens — informed, aware, civic-minded community members. But that’s just the beginning. Public...

The snowballing spread of COVID-19 across the United States has left education leaders — from superintendents and principals to teachers and nonprofit executives — with lingering uncertainty about overall organizational preparedness, gaps in proximate public health infrastructure, and continuity planning. In a moment that demands action, many are wondering what to do next and how to...