Category: Social Issues in Education

Community Organizing as an Education Reform Strategy Series

Summary: This powerful series was created by the Annenberg Institute for School Reform and the Nellie Mae Education Foundation.

"Community organizing for school reform offers an urgently needed alternative to traditional school reform - one that situates schooling issues within larger economic and social systems, directly attends to issues of power, and builds democratic capacity to sustain meaningful reform over the long term (Anyon 2005; Mediratta, Shah & McAlister 2009a; Oakes & Rogers 2006; Shirley 2009)."

Democratic Dialogue

Summary: Democratic Dialogue is committed to the critical exploration of democratic ideals in education and society through a program of international collaborative research and dissemination. We engage educators, political scientists, sociologists, philosophers, teachers, policymakers, and cultural workers (e.g., artists, curators, and critics) as well as the broader public community who are concerned with ideals, tensions, policies, and practices of education for democracy. Democratic Dialogue reaches across disciplinary, institutional, and national boundaries through innovative research projects and methods of dissemination, community dialogues and events, and the pursuit of creative approaches to projects that engage themes of democracy, education, and society.

Deprived of Dignity: Degrading Treatment & Abusive Discipline in NYC & Los Angeles Public Schools

Summary: This striking report shows that middle and high school students in New York City and Los Angeles are frequently ignored and mistreated in their classrooms, and subjected to harsh discipline policies that punish, exclude and criminalize them. The report uses a human rights framework to document the use of suspensions, law enforcement and other punitive disciplinary strategies that ignore students' educational and emotional needs. Schools with the most repressive policies are overwhelmingly under-resourced, overcrowded and primarily attended by low-income students of color.

Dignity in Schools Campaign

Summary: The Dignity in Schools Campaign (DSC) challenges the systemic problem of pushout in our nation's schools and advocates for the human right of every child to a quality education and to be treated with dignity. The DSC unites parents, youth, educators and advocates in a campaign to promote local and national alternatives to a culture of zero-tolerance, punishment and removal.

This website includes a searchable database of research on pushout, school discipline, and positive alternatives, specific resources for youth, parents and educators, and information about our active campaign projects.

Disrupting the School-to-Prison Pipeline (book)

Summary: This new volume from the Harvard Educational Review features essays from scholars, educators, students, and community activists who are working to disrupt, reverse, and redirect the pipeline. Alongside these authors are contributions from the people most affected: youth and adults who have been incarcerated, or whose lives have been shaped by the school-to-prison pipeline. Through stories, essays, and poems, these individuals add to the book's comprehensive portrait of how our education and justice systems function - and how they fail to serve the interests of many young people.

High Schools for Equity: Policy Supports for Student Learning in Communities of Color

Summary: This is a powerful study showing the benefit of engaging and personalized learning experiences, specifically for students of color. This report studies 5 urban high schools that provide such experiences, describing how these schools support students to take ownership of their learning. The study also presents policy recommendations to help develop and maintain schools like these throughout the country.

The YRNES Report: Youth Researchers for a New Education System

Summary: A powerful study done by youth asking young people in New York City schools about their perspectives on education and schools. The study found that: 1) young people believe their schooling is important to them, 2) resources and access to opportunities are unfairly distributed in our school system and in our schools, and 3) young people want more meaningful opportunities to participate in decision making about schooling.