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The problems of rural schools are often invisible to the public and policymakers. The solutions may be found in the communities themselves.

For more than 20 years, Teaching Tolerance, based in Montgomery, Ala., has worked to help educators embrace the diverse classroom. We strive toward bias-free schools. We advocate acceptance, respect, equality and safety for all students.

Shrinking there on the stool in the science classroom, I just want to gather my ungraded quizzes and my dignity and flee to freedom. But, I don’t. I sit there, paralyzed by the assault. “We are not your enemies,” I finally counter. “We are not Blake’s enemies.”

We often talk about the teachers who change our lives. We hold them dear in our hearts, conjuring their images and words of wisdom in our dark hours. They continue to guide us throughout our lives, whether they know it or not. What few talk about is the students who change teachers' lives. Yup. It happens that way, too.

When my daughter pulls hard on the heavy glass doors of the Martin Luther King Jr. Laboratory School and races upstairs into her fifth-grade classroom, she is living my dream.

Inspired by a Teaching Tolerance story, this educator asked her third-grade students to create original superheroes modeled after themselves.

A white educator reflects on this reality: Most teachers in the United States are white, which means that many children of color don’t have academic role models who look like them.

Culturally responsive teaching is really about building relationships and validating students. Ensuring the academic success of students takes care and a little tough love.

Celebrating Lacks’ life offers opportunities to teach science and ethics.

Going into children’s communities is the best way for teachers to learn about the cultural wealth existing in homes and to understand the importance of including families in the education of their children.