Education

DC’s Poorest Set to Suffer From Federal Sequester

HUFFINGTON POST 03/13/13 By Michael Shank The District of Columbia’s poverty problem received much-needed attention recently with reporting on how D.C. General has become a home for hundreds of homeless parents and children. The over-crowded and abandoned hospital-turned-homeless shelter has become a testament to D.C. benevolence, ushering in an outpouring […]

Sequester Set to Sock it to D.C.’s Poorest

WASHINGTON POST 03/13/13 By Michael Shank The District of Columbia’s poverty problem received much-needed attention recently with this paper’s reporting on how DC General has become a home for hundreds of homeless parents and children. The over-crowded and abandoned hospital-turned-homeless shelter has become a testament to DC benevolence, ushering in […]

How Mayor Vincent Gray Is Failing DC Students

DIANE RAVITCH 02/18/13 By Diane Ravitch During Michelle Rhee’s book tour, the nation will hear a lot of claims about the dramatic changes she imposed on the D.C. schools, which qualifies her to export her ideas to the rest of the nation. What should other states and cities seek to […]

A Truly Radical Approach to School Reform

WASHINGTON POST 02/11/13 By Michael Shank When it comes to forecasting the educational future of District youth, especially for those living in low-income communities, there are some impressive words and initiatives being thrown around by past and present city leadership. Whether it’s Mayor Vincent C. Gray’s “Raise D.C.,” a recently […]

Gunslinging in America

AL JAZEERA 12/23/12 By Michael Shank Now that the National Rifle Association is playing hard ball by suggesting today that we provide armed guards in every school across America at a cost of nearly $6bn, it is quite clear that this conversation has gotten completely out of hand. The idea […]

Marion Barry’s Quest to Help Ex-Offenders

WASHINGTON POST 12/05/12 By Michael Shank and Lindsay Schubiner D.C. Council member Marion Barry’s ex-offender bill, which is on the city’s legislative hopper and addresses discrimination by granting employment protections, is needed not only in the District but also across America.  It is needed for an estimated 65 million Americans, […]

Education Disparities Persist in D.C.

BET 11/16/12 By Cord Jefferson The nation’s capital now has the worst racial achievement gaps in the country when it comes to educating children. A new op-ed in the Huffington Post dredges up a well known but important topic of conversation: the growing and increasingly entrenched disparities between whites and […]

Racism and Classism in the Heart of America’s Capital

AL JAZEERA 11/13/12 By Michael Shank Of the two rivers that cup our nation’s capital – the Potomac and the Anacostia – the latter of the two is, perhaps, the most apt reflection of where America is at socio-economically. The Anacostia River – the Anglicised namesake of which was first […]

In the Wake of the Shooting, Gun Control Debate Re-Emerges

NEWSY 07/20/12 By Matthew Picht and Anchor Jim Flink Debate about gun control has flared up once again after the mass shooting in Aurora, Colorado. Here’s Sky News. “This argument happens every time there is a shooting incident in America. The last significant argument about gun control was after the […]