Weekend Reads: How New Orleans’ top schools exclude students with the greatest needs

  • The most popular and highest rated schools in New Orleans have become exclusive havens for the privileged. (NOLA.com/Times-Picayune)
  • A Harvard graduate’s spoken-word commencement poem recites the historic obstacles that have prevented African-Americans from getting an education — and proposes ways teachers can overcome barriers that remain. (Boston Globe)
  • New research suggests that racially integrated schools benefit not only their students but their students’ future children. (Hechinger Report)
  • When Deonte Hoard became the 53rd person killed in Chicago this year, his school experienced a crisis it knew was coming. (Buzzfeed)
  • In Detroit, where 94,000 children live in poverty and the need for licensed childcare reportedly exceeds availability by more than 23,000 kids, many children who could benefit from early education aren’t getting it. (Chalkbeat Detroit)
  • The argument for classroom “data walls” is that they incentivize students to do better. But a teacher says they demoralize kids. (Answer Sheet)
  • How a graphic that illustrates the distinction between equity and equality went viral, and morphed in the process. (Medium)
  • In Texas, the banning of Common Core has resulted in new academic standards that sound a lot like you know what. (Hechinger Report via Slate)
  • The recipient of a MacArthur “genius” grant responds to a new critique of the much-debated subject of grit. (NPR)
  • The CEO of testing giant Pearson Education advocates for fewer, better tests. (U.S. News and World Report)