Obama Administration Calls for Less Testing

Last week was Dignity in School’s national week of action to end school pushout. All week parents, students, educators, and activists held events across the country to engage their communities and spread information about ways we can rethink discipline in public schools.
Under a beautiful October sky on the edge of the French Quarter, 700 people from around the country converged on New Orleans. Students, parents, teachers, community activists, labor organizers, policy experts, and advocates of a multitude of issues came together for a weekend of education, collaboration, and engagement.
You can't improve a school by closing it. Here's what you can do instead. This is the final part of the OTL Campaign's infographic series on the issue of mass school closures.
Public schools are the heart of every community, a place where the next generation of doctors, engineers, writers and artists learn and grow. They are where parents, teachers and community members come together to support their children and invest in their futures.
In a recent op-ed, Kavitha Mediratta, lauds the progress made by New York City schools in challenging the school the prison pipeline through their efforts in school discipline reform. Although much, of course, remains to be done, she argues that recent moves by NYC Mayer, Bill de Blasio, herald a step in the right direction.
Grassroots organizers in New York City have been fighting for school discipline reform for years, and their hard work paid off this week when the City Council passed next year's budget with $2.4 million in funding for restorative justice programs.
The New York City Council is considering a bill that would use public school funding to provide NY Police Department safety agents to private schools. In response, Kesi Foster, Coordinator for the Urban Youth Collaborative, wrote an op-ed recently arguing this bill not only hurts public schools financially, but also directly contributes to the school-to-prison pipeline.
The grassroots organization Padres y Jóvenes Unidos (PJU) won district-wide school discipline reform for Denver Colorado a few years ago.
The African American Policy Forum, Advancement Project, Dream Defenders, and others released a new video that powerfully reaffirms the multitude of reasons why #BlackGirlsMatter.