What We’re Reading This Week: May 19

When it comes to inclusion, this New York school scores high marks

500 Pens

“In 2005 a trio of parents who had children with Down syndrome opened the IDEAL School … with an ideal of inclusion in mind that had no counterpart in the classrooms they visited.”

Inside a High School Training Future Teachers

The Atlantic

“Initiatives like the Future Teachers Academy are so important to schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña. She thinks middle and high schools can help turn the tide, and is encouraging them to start clubs and offer electives to get students thinking about teaching.”

The Deportation Fears of Immigrants With Disabled Children

The Atlantic

“Some advocates say they worry that desperate families with chronically ill or developmentally disabled children are unwittingly putting themselves at greater risk of deportation by seeking legal help.”

As schools adopt social-emotional programs, a new guide offers help

EdSource

“Now a new guide, Navigating Social and Emotional Learning from the Inside Out, published by researchers at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and commissioned by the Wallace Foundation, aims to steer school districts through the thicket of social and emotional learning programs and decide on an approach.”

Lessons On Race And Vouchers From Milwaukee

National Public Radio

“Over the years, though, most voucher recipients have performed no better academically than their public school peers. In some cases they've done worse. So who exactly is benefiting? It's a question that has raised serious misgivings in Milwaukee's African-American community.”

The Case for Black English—In his latest book, John McWhorter celebrates the dialect that has become an American lingua franca. 

The New Yorker

“In his latest book, John McWhorter celebrates the dialect [of Black English] that has become an American lingua franca.”

Intermarriage in the U.S. 50 Years After Loving v. Virginia

Pew Research Center

“In 2015, 17% of all U.S. newlyweds had a spouse of a different race or ethnicity, marking more than a fivefold increase since 1967. In that year, the U.S. Supreme Court in the Loving v. Virginia case ruled that marriage across racial lines was legal throughout the country.”

Education department budget slashes funds for poor students

ThinkProgress

“The budget prioritizes school choice and undermines or eliminates many of the funds poor students rely on to receive a high quality of education.”

Mass. school punishes twins for hair braid extensions.

The Washington Post

“Denying young black women their opportunity to express their cultural identity will not make the school safer, more orderly, or less ‘distracting.’”

Brown v. Board is 63 years old. Was the Supreme Court’s school desegregation ruling a failure?

The Washington Post

“Nationwide, black students are now less likely to attend schools with whites than they were half a century ago. Was Brown a failure?”