Essential education reporting across America

Diversity & Equity

A woman wearing blue scrubs stands in front of a body of water and green trees.
From Chalkbeat Chicago College and career readiness
Foster care peers aim to support each other in college life through new Illinois initiative
The Youth in Care - College Advocate Program aims to help students who can feel isolated and often struggle to graduate.
By Reema Amin
 
Bags of different sizes and a pink suitcase sit in front of a person sitting in a chair wearing a black jacket and a yellow cap. People sit in chairs waiting in the background.
From Chalkbeat Colorado School Enrollment
Housing help is running out for migrant families. Denver teachers are scrambling to help.
Denver gives newly arrived migrant families 30 days of free housing. When time is up, some families struggle to find somewhere else to go.
By Yesenia Robles and Erica Meltzer
 
Audience members listen to a speaker during a Chicago Board of Education meeting at Austin Career and College Academy High School.
From Chalkbeat Chicago Politics & Policy
Chicago schools need $3.1 billion for ‘critical’ building repairs, district CEO says
The district is seeking a total of $14.4 billion for updates ranging from new roofs and windows to special classrooms.
By Reema Amin
 
An empty school hallway lined with lockers.
Student & School Performance Student & School Performance
Homeless and suspended in California
Homeless students are suspended at higher rates than their peers. ‘They’re being punished, a lot of times, for being impoverished.’
By Amy DiPierro, Center for Public Integrity
 
Students watch as their teacher writes on the whiteboard in a classroom.
From Chalkbeat Newark Diversity & Equity
Philip’s Academy Charter receives award for teacher diversity. Here’s how the Newark school did it.
The New Jersey Department of Education gave Philip’s Academy Charter School an award for diversifying its teacher workforce. Historically, Newark schools have struggled to hire teachers who reflect the makeup of their student population.
By Samantha Lauten
 
Mayor Brandon Johnson sits with Aidan Hughes at a mock broadcast studio at Southside Occupational Academy High School in Englewood. The school provides job training and life skills to older students with more challenging disabilities.
From Chalkbeat Chicago Special education
Chicago Public Schools considers opening more specialized programs for students with disabilities
Officials are considering opening more so-called specialty schools meant to help students with more challenging disabilities transition into the real world.
By Reema Amin
 
Silhouettes of students with their hands raised in front of a map.
From Chalkbeat Chicago School Enrollment
Chicago Public Schools enrollment is stable after more than a decade of decline
Preliminary data analyzed by Chalkbeat shows just over 322,000 students were enrolled as of the 20th day of school, when the district takes an official count. The stable number comes after a decade of dramatic annual declines.
By Reema Amin
 
The exterior and entrance to a building with a brown brick face, marked “Traverse Academy”
From Chalkbeat Colorado Mental Health in Schools
Traverse Academy, first-of-its-kind facility for students in mental health crisis, set to open soon
The Cherry Creek School District built the new facility in Aurora with $19 million in voter-approved bond funding.
By Melanie Asmar
 
An elementary school principal wearing a tutu skirt hugs a student in the gymnasium.
From Chalkbeat Colorado Student & School Performance
At Denver’s Hallett Academy, principal says intentional hiring — and love — helped boost rating
A majority of the students at Hallett are Black, and families say the environment that Principal Dominique Jefferson has created is affirming and joyful.
By Melanie Asmar
 
A group of four students work on worksheets together at their desks. The district has enrolled a smaller and smaller share of students from low-income families over the past decade.
From Chalkbeat Chicago School Enrollment
As Chicago becomes wealthier, the public schools are also becoming less low-income
The shift raises questions about who schools are serving, how they should be resourced, and what the district — and the city — can do as it continues to lose students.
By Reema Amin and Thomas Wilburn
 
A photo of two empty seats for Chicago’s school board members on shared dais. In front of the seats is the table part of the dais. Behind the seats is a gray, matte, and square sign. In the middle of the sign is a circle with a hand holding a torch inside. Above the circle is the words “Board of Education,” curved around the circle. Below is the circle is the words “City of Chicago,” also curved. Wrapping around the words in a half circle is a laurel.
From Chalkbeat Chicago Teaching & Classroom
Chicago’s Board of Education reverses yearslong policy that docked pay from teachers taking religious holidays
Officials say the change was an attempt to address pay inequities.
By Reema Amin
 
A Black woman wearing a green business suit speaks with a colleague.
From Chalkbeat New York First Person
As school leaders, we need to create opportunities for our teachers as well as our students
We’ve failed to show many educators of color that teaching and education leadership are viable career paths.
By Garland Thomas-McDavid
 
MathClass_GettyImages__Carol_Yepes_.jpg
From Chalkbeat Colorado Denver suburbs
These Latina moms in Boulder are concerned about equity in advanced courses. The district says it’s listening and responding.
The district called the student experiences ‘heartbreaking.’
By Yesenia Robles
 
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From Chalkbeat Colorado Chalkbeat En Español
Mamás latinas en Boulder abogan a favor de la equidad en clases avanzadas
Los estudiantes latinos están subrepresentados en clases avanzadas en las escuelas de Boulder, pero los representantes del distrito tienen esperanza en un nuevo esfuerzo aumentando el acceso a las clases de inscripción simultánea.
By Yesenia Robles
 
A close-up of a Black student’s hands. The student is holding a blue pencil with a green eraser.
From Chalkbeat Colorado Diversity & Equity
A Colorado grant helps schools enroll more students in advanced courses
One school and four districts received grant funding in May to spend this 2023-24 school year.
By Yesenia Robles
 
A students with a pencil writes on a white piece of paper with calculators and a green piece of paper nearby.
From Chalkbeat Colorado Chalkbeat En Español
Cómo una escuela en Colorado aumentó la diversidad de estudiantes en sus clases avanzadas
No hay mucha información de un nuevo programa estatal, pero al menos una escuela aumentó la diversidad de estudiantes en sus clases avanzadas.
By Yesenia Robles
 
School buses and an American flag are at the front of North-Grand High School in Chicago, with school buses lined up in front of the campus.
From Chalkbeat Chicago Special education
One week into the school year, more than 700 Chicago students with disabilities are waiting for bus service
Blaming a driver shortage, the district decided this year to limit bus transportation to students with disabilities and those experiencing homelessness.
By Reema Amin
 
A youth in jeans and a jeans vest sits on a swing and looks downward.
From Chalkbeat Chicago LGBTQ+
Illinois is attracting transgender students searching for welcoming schools, gender-affirming care
Families of transgender youth are moving to Illinois, where state law protects gender-affirming medical care and encourages inclusive school policies.
By Max Lubbers
 
A woman with glasses and a black shirt holds a copy of a book
School segregation / integration School segregation / integration
Is school integration a path to racial equality? Journalist Laura Meckler on her new book Dream Town
Meckler describes the lessons from Shaker Heights, Ohio, which has maintained racially integrated schools for decades.
By Matt Barnum
 
Blue bags line a long table in the background, while a few people stand in the foreground.
From Chalkbeat New York Diversity & Equity
This Manhattan adult learning center is helping a surge of African asylum seekers
The city is grappling with an increase in asylum seekers in its K-12 public schools as well.
By Churchill Ndonwie
 
A photo of red brick buildings with mountains in the background
From Chalkbeat Colorado Diversity & Equity
Colorado banned legacy admissions at its public colleges. Two years later, the impact is unclear.
A U.S. Supreme Court ruling on race-conscious admissions has focused attention on legacy admissions, which Colorado banned two years ago. The impact on campus diversity is unclear.
By Jason Gonzales
 
A building with the words “U.S. Department of Education” in gray letters on it.
Politics & Policy Politics & Policy
When can schools consider race in classes and student groups? Biden officials offer guidance.
The new civil rights guidance suggests practices related to curriculum and support for certain groups are permissible, but race-exclusive groups may not be.
By Matt Barnum
 
School district officials sit behind a glass barrier. School board members are behind them on an elevated platform.
From Chalkbeat Chicago Special education
Chicago Public Schools said bus rides for most students with disabilities are under an hour — but others are still waiting for routes
District officials said 47 students with disabilities have bus rides longer than an hour. It’s a steep decline from last year when more than 3,000 had hour-plus commutes.
By Reema Amin
 
A man in a suit and tie greets elementary school children in front of cameras.
From Chalkbeat Chicago Community & Wraparound Programs
Chicago Public Schools reopens for the 2023-24 school year under a new era of leadership
As roughly 320,000 students went back to class across Chicago, the district faces a number of challenges for the new school year.
By Reema Amin, Becky Vevea, and 1 more
 
A young girl holds a blue marker in her hand as she sits at a desk and writes an equation on poster paper.
From Chalkbeat Chicago Student & School Performance
Chicago’s first day of school is almost here. Here are five things we’re watching this year.
The issues include the city’s precarious funding situation, enrollment shifts, and what support will look like for migrant students.
By Reema Amin
 
Parents fill the red chairs of a school auditorium.
From Chalkbeat New York Campaigns and elections
Internal strife roils NYC schools office that administers parent-led boards elections
Only about 2% of NYC parents voted in the recent community education council elections. Turmoil in the office administering the elections may have hurt turnout, some say.
By Amy Zimmer
 
Teens sit at tables scattered around a classroom working on different projects.
From Chalkbeat New York Politics & Policy
NYC must slash class sizes under a new law. The neediest schools stand to benefit least.
Under the class size law, new resources could be funneled to some of the city’s better-off schools.
By Alex Zimmerman and Matt Barnum
 
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From Chalkbeat Newark Chalkbeat En Español
El personal docente de Newark no siempre coincide con la diversidad de la población estudiantil
El distrito realiza esfuerzos de reclutamiento para atraer maestros de diversos orígenes.
By Catherine Carrera and Jessie Gomez
 
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From Chalkbeat Chicago English language learners
As migrant students enroll in Chicago Public Schools, here’s a closer look at bilingual education
More than 5,000 new English learners enrolled in Chicago schools last year. With the first day of school rapidly approaching, a Chalkbeat analysis found a complicated picture of bilingual staffing resources at the district.
By Max Lubbers and Kae Petrin
 
A man in a gray suit smiles for a portrait. In the background is artwork of a young boy.
From Chalkbeat Tennessee Politics & Policy
Q&A: New MSCS board member Mauricio Calvo has one year. Here’s where he hopes to make an impact.
Getting the right superintendent is a ‘humongous responsibility,’ says the longtime head of Latino Memphis.
By Laura Testino
 
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