Eishika Ahmed

Jun 26, 2024 | tcf.org | Jonathan Zabala |Conor Williams |Stefan Lallinger |Eishika Ahmed

Washington Latin is nestled in the tidy, leafy, mostly middle class neighborhood of Fort Totten in Northeast Washington, D.C., close to the Maryland border. The school itself is a bright red brick building that has been newly renovated and boasts a state-of-the art gym. The scholars at “Latin,” as it’s often referred to in D.C., wear uniforms and its pedagogical approach is unapologetically steeped in the classical tradition—Aristotle, Socrates, Latin, Greek, and the rest.

May 22, 2024 | tcf.org | Conor Williams |Eishika Ahmed |Jonathan Zabala |Alejandra Vazquez Baur

The conversation started as school leadership walked back across a field from the low-slung building hosting its robotics lab en route to Purdue Polytechnic High School (PPHS)’s main classrooms. The lab also contains a hydroponic gardening system, so they explained that they’re hoping to increase the amount of the school’s food grown on campus; I asked if they’ve considered using that field to do some outdoor farming.

Jan 23, 2024 | tcf.org | Conor Williams |Jonathan Zabala |Alejandra Vazquez Baur |Eishika Ahmed

Like most schools, the front door at Louisville, Kentucky’s Newcomer Academy has a doorbell with a sign that reads “push button.” But that instruction is followed by a Spanish translation, presionar el boton; followed by the Swahili translation, bonzeya kitufe; followed by the Somali translation, kanda buto; followed by the Vietnamese translation, nut an; followed by the French translation, bouton poussoir; followed by the Arabic translation, اضغط الزر. So why so many translations?

Dec 4, 2023 | tcf.org | Jayla Hart |Conor Williams |Jonathan Zabala |Eishika Ahmed

If you walk into Mrs. Garcia’s classroom at Montecito Community School in Phoenix, Arizona, you won’t see her standing in front of a board teaching her class the day’s lesson. Instead, you’ll see students spread out across the classroom, each exploring their own interests. One student works on a puzzle of the United States, trying to fit each state into its proper location, while two students use a magnet to pick up a container full of paper clips.

Nov 16, 2023 | tcf.org | Jonathan Zabala |Conor Williams |Eishika Ahmed |Alejandra Vazquez Baur

Linguistic diversity has long been growing in U.S. schools. In 2000, roughly 3.8 million (8.1 percent) of U.S. students were classified as English learners (ELs); by 2020, just shy of 5 million (10.3 percent) were. These students represent a remarkable myriad of languages, cultures, and ethnicities, and their success in school and society is essential for the United States’ future.