Diversity initiatives like Technical Assistance for Student Assignment Plans can’t succeed without a larger federal strategy to combat segregation in schools. Â
Rachel M. Cohen
Rachel M. Cohen is a freelance journalist based in Washington, D.C., and a former American Prospect writing fellow. Follow her on Twitter @rmc031
Posted inEducation in America
On New Philanthropy, Education Reform, and Eli Broad’s Big Plan for L.A. Schools
The reach, and limits, of billionaire-funded education reform.Â
Posted inEducation in America
School Choice and the Chaotic State of Racial Desegregation
Why no one can say for sure if some school districts are still under federal desegregation order.Â
Posted inEducation in America
Outsourcing Substitute Teachers in Philadelphia Gets Off to a Bad Start
Last spring, officials from the Philadelphia School District announced plans to contract out substitute-teaching services, saying they could not effectively manage the responsibilities in-house. At the time, approximately 60 percent of substitute teaching jobs were filled daily, and officials said a private vendor would be able to fill more open positions. Naomi Wyatt, the chief […]
Posted inMoney, Politics, and Power
Fixing the Public Infrastructure Bottleneck
Why officials need to confront the politics of public-private partnerships in order to tackle much-needed projects.Â
Posted inEconomic Policy
Details Emerge for Baltimore’s Plan to Privatize Public Housing
A little over a year ago I reported on the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD)-the federal government’s new plan to preserve public housing by turning units over to the control of private developers. Instead of Congress supporting public housing through direct subsidies to local housing authorities-a responsibility which they’ve persistently shirked for decades-RAD would enable private […]
Posted inWorking in America
California Teachers Unions Push for Cushion Before Upcoming SCOTUS Case
This fall, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, a case that could severely weaken the power of public-sector unions. The justices will decide whether such unions can charge “agency fees” (also known as “fair share fees”) to individuals who wish to dissociate with their union’s political lobbying but still […]
Posted inEducation in America
There’s Plenty of Evidence on the Value of School Integration
I read an exchange on Twitter yesterday between Maggie Severns, an education reporter at Politico, and CJ Libassi, a researcher at the Education Policy Initiative, an organization committed to “applied, policy-relevant research for improved educational outcomes.” They were discussing my recent piece about Obama’s record on school integration. I was struck in particular by this […]
Posted inEducation in America
Obama’s Mixed Record on School Integration
While a handful of small programs have taken steps toward promoting diversity, desegregation has remained absent from Obama’s signature education initiatives.Â
Posted inCivil Rights in America
How Domestic-Worker Activists Helped Fight Jim Crow
From the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, to Ava DuVernay’s award-winning movie Selma, to #BlackLivesMatter activists who have refused to stay silent in the face of racial injustice, there has been no shortage of civil rights remembrances this year. And yet, there’s plenty about the struggle for racial justice many of us are […]
