Philly's 7th Ward

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Category - Accountability

  • Accountability
  • Equity and Justice
  • Let's Talk About It

Team Trump Wants to Scrap the Office of Civil Rights. Who Will That Benefit?

January 13, 2017
by Sharif El-Mekki
3 min read
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In a community not too far from mine, yet light years away in the tony suburb of Upper Dublin, a group of families lodged a complaint against their local district for consistently discriminatory practices against Black...

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  • Accountability
  • Higher Standards
  • Let's Talk About It
  • Teacher & Principal Pathways

Teacher Colleges, We Need You to Step Up

December 14, 2016
by Sharif El-Mekki
5 min read
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“After 30 years of doing such work, I have concluded that classroom teaching…is perhaps the most complex, most challenging, and most demanding, subtle, nuanced, and frightening activity that our species has ever invented. The...

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  • Accountability
  • Belief Gap
  • Let's Talk About It

Striving for Excellence, Without the Excuses

October 23, 2016
by Sharif El-Mekki
5 min read
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I’m concerned about the growing backlash against what are referred to as “no-excuses” schools. Too often, critics depict overly-rigid approaches to discipline that pave the road from school to prison. I agree that too much...

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  • Accountability
  • Equity and Justice
  • Let's Talk About It

Integration: The Panacea for Low Achievement in Our Schools?

September 30, 2016
by Sharif El-Mekki
7 min read
2 Comments

Integration. The idea brought well deserved cheers with Brown vs Board of Education. Many likely assumed that 60+ years later, deeply segregated schools would only serve as a relic of the past and a sharp pivot in the road for...

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  • Accountability

Talent, Systems, and Accountability or Excuses: Educating the Black Child

August 27, 2016
by Sharif El-Mekki
6 min read
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“I am not accountable for the violence, drugs, pregnancy…in my school.” I wasn’t surprised by this final retort. It was tweeted to me by a seasoned educator. I don’t doubt she loves her students. And judging by some of...

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  • Accountability
  • Belief Gap
  • Equity and Justice
  • Higher Standards
  • Let's Talk About It

The War Waged Within (our Schools) Against Our Black Boys

July 20, 2016
by Sharif El-Mekki
5 min read
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“An educator in a system of oppression is either a revolutionary or an oppressor.” –Lerone Bennett, Jr. There is a war going on. When war is mentioned, most folks will immediately think about what is happening overseas or...

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  • Accountability
  • Let's Talk About It
  • School Choice

Pennsylvania, Pass HB 530! Dont Limit High Quality Options for Our Students

June 30, 2016
by Sharif El-Mekki
4 min read
1 Comment

For many years, the School District of Philadelphia, anti-charter groups, and even high performing charter schools, demanded that charters be held accountable for student achievement. They are right to demand this. Just as...

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  • Accountability
  • Higher Standards
  • Let's Talk About It
  • School Choice

Taking Advantage of Young Scholars

May 19, 2016
by Sharif El-Mekki
4 min read
1 Comment

“With great power, comes great responsibility.” The conditions of our schools clearly communicate to us that we need authentic vanguards for our communities. Although many (vote hungry politicians, district employees...

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  • Accountability
  • Belief Gap

The Lures of the Privileged

May 13, 2016
by Sharif El-Mekki
7 min read
2 Comments

I wanted to weigh in on two recent articles about testing. As a current charter school principal, former Philadelphia School District teacher and principal, recent Principal Ambassador in the US Department of Education, and CEO...

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  • Accountability

Urban School Funding: An Era of Separate and Still Unequal

May 4, 2016
by Kenneth D. Waters
5 min read
3 Comments

What is one to surmise about today’s educational systems, specifically our nation’s public urban school districts in relation to whether or not they are being adequately funded? Dating as far back to America’s seminal K-12...

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