There has been a much needed focus on why only 2 percent of our nation’s classroom teachers are Black males. The U.S. Department of Education recently held a very important National Summit on Teacher Diversity and released a...
Category - Let’s Talk About It
Everyone wants equity. It sounds great. It rolls off the tongue and it goes well in speeches and pontifications. Everyone wants equity until you explain that they would need to decrease their privileges, share their accumulated...
In 2016, the conversation around teacher diversity has become commonplace, insomuch that the U.S. Department of Education (ED) hosted its first national summit on this topic, May 6, 2016. While hosting such a summit is...
Eight years ago, I became principal of Mastery Charter Schools’ Shoemaker Campus in West Philadelphia, to continue a turnaround at one the most oppressed schools in the city that had been plagued by low achievement and...
The other day, one of my colleagues on the recruitment team asked me about an applicant to the Teacher Residency program. I had to ask her to repeat the candidate’s name three times. I was stunned momentarily because I had...
“Community activists live inside of communities. Organizers come in from the outside.” There appears to be significant confusion about community activism, so let me shine a light on the inconsistencies that may be...
“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...
“I don’t need to engage policy makers, I just need to figure out how to work around their policies.” As I reflect on the robust experiences I have had as a U.S. Department of Education Principal Ambassador Fellow (PAF) and...
On Feb. 10, NewsWorks published a letter from “area academics” (“SRC plan to privatize 3 Philly schools a gross overreach, inconsistent”). It is disappointing that these “area academics” selectively used data...
“A teacher (principal) affects eternity; he (she) can never tell where his (her) influence stops.” – Henry Adams As a principal, I often find myself reflecting on the myriad experiences I’ve had learning...