New Jersey

Meet Newark’s Own Amanda Gorman, Seventh Grade Poet Makayla Brown

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Posted Feb. 23, 2021

Reyna Morales lives in Oakland, California, and is the parent of two students at a high-performing charter school located in an area with a dearth…

Posted Feb. 22, 2021

“I am a white ally,” the 30 something-year-old white teacher declared emphatically in the diversity and inclusion professional development session. She snapped her fingers to…

Posted Feb. 24, 2021

A month ago, as Amanda Gorman shared her beautiful prose during President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ inauguration, students at KIPP Rise Academy in Newark had…

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White People, Celebrate Black History Month By Facing the Truth of White Supremacy

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Posted Feb. 12, 2021

I was gifted an advanced screening of “Judas and the Black Messiah” earlier this week and it affirmed just how much education equals power, while…

Posted Feb. 16, 2021

I came across an image on social media the other day and it made me stop and think. In it, two boys—one white and one…

Posted Feb. 11, 2021

A war has been waging in my home state of Illinois, and the battle lines have been drawn. In one corner of the ring—the “uber…

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As a Mom of a Son With Multiple Disabilities, I Have the Receipts on Remote Instruction

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Posted Feb. 1, 2021

*Mic check* (Ahem). Educators: Are you aware that this month is Black History Month? Have you asked your students, specifically your Black students, what they’d like…

Posted Feb. 1, 2021

Here at brightbeam, our North Star is “How Are The Children?” As parents look back over the last nine months of COVID-related school disruptions and…

Posted Jan. 29, 2021

From insurrection to impeachment to inauguration—January has been quite a month for current events! And maybe you thought you could safely tune out of politics—at…

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Amanda Gorman Is Climbing That Hill. Now if Only The Rest of Us Would Join Her.

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Posted Jan. 20, 2021

Today at President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’s inauguration, Amanda Gorman stole the show. Lady Gaga? J-Lo? Garth Brooks? No contest. This 22-year-old…

Posted Jan. 20, 2021

November 2016, I walked into my school building to students blocking their peers from coming through my classroom door. They said, “We’re building a wall,…

Posted Jan. 13, 2021

Chicago Public Schools students are back in school.  Well, some of them are. It’s complicated, and getting messier by the minute.  WBEZ Chicago has more…

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Was DeVos Really the ‘Worst Secretary of Education Ever’?

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Posted Jan. 7, 2021

I sat yesterday after school watching the news, Twitter and my email, mortified by the actions unfolding in our nation’s capital (and across the nation),…

Posted Jan. 5, 2021

Imagine an America where every child is valued at the level their creator intended.  Now, let’s hope together that president-elect Joe Biden’s pick for education…

Posted Jan. 8, 2021

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos resigned last night, citing Wednesday’s putsch at the Capitol, Trump’s incitement of violence, and her concern that “impressionable children are watching…

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Here’s What I Will Fight for in 2021

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Posted Dec. 28, 2020

It was that kind of day. Parents and teachers know the one: the day before the holiday break. The day when all grades are due,…

Posted Dec. 29, 2020

This year, due to the coronavirus pandemic, educators nationwide, and the world over, have had to adapt how they provide services to children and families.…

Posted Dec. 29, 2020

2020 was the pits.  More than 300,000 Americans died from COVID. A dearth of presidential leadership that led to the politicization of wearing masks—the single…

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