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This educator reflects on the importance of identifying missteps in civic engagement projects.

I overheard two students talking in class one day about their after-school plans. One said she would be volunteering at the local women’s shelter. I hurried over, excited to congratulate her on this great thing she was doing—being part of her community and supporting marginalized groups. Lesson plans were already beginning to form in my head: writing prompts about social awareness, student interviews with our populations of homeless, hungry, mentally and intellectually disabled and those in poverty. I imagined students writing editorials to the local newspaper about the needs of our community.

The editor of Teaching Tolerance reflects on a peace project that is beating the odds.

Like the more than 22,000 students who visit the Civil Rights Memorial Center each year, Brittney Johnson loved the fountain. The 10-year-old Montgomery, Ala., native had never been to the memorial center, even though it’s just a few miles from her house. And like most visitors she was instantly drawn to the circular black granite fountain out in front. This unique piece of architecture, designed by Maya Lin, is engraved with the names of 40 civil rights martyrs. Next to it stands a wall of water that cascades transparently over Martin Luther King Jr.’s well-known paraphrase of Amos 5:24 -- We will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

Inequitable cafeteria practices stigmatize low-income students.

Earlier this month, hundreds of educators, parents and students gathered at the Educating Youth of Color Summit in Colorado Springs, Colo. That the state’s 4th Judicial District sponsored the event was no accident.

Costumes and makeup aren’t the only markers for cultural appropriation. Dr. Neal Lester explains the prevalence of—and problems with—“figurative blackface.”

An important step in gauging attitudes toward race in your school is assessing school climate. School climate questionnaires can be used to: uncover differences in teacher and student perceptions; open professional