Rethinking Schools

Their goal was not just to enhance learning within their own classrooms and schools, but also to influence change across the entire public school system in the United States. This aspiration is now realized through Rethinking Schools. Originally, Rethinking Schools started as a local initiative aimed at tackling issues like standardized testing, basal readers, and an over-reliance on textbooks in the curriculum. Since its inception, it has transformed into a well-known publisher of educational resources, reaching subscribers in every U.S. state, all 10 provinces of Canada, and various other countries worldwide.

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Sanctuary Lessons

1 month ago | rethinkingschools.org | Kelly Hayes

On Monday, Feb. 3, Chicago teachers, community members, and some elected officials participated in “walk-in” actions at more than 100 Chicago public schools. Participants rallied to show support for marginalized students — including undocumented youth and queer and trans students — amid Trump’s attacks on immigrants, trans people, and the honest discussion of history in schools.
Educators Beware: The Anti-Defamation League Is Not the Social Justice Partner It Claims to Be

Sep 27, 2024 | rethinkingschools.org | Nora Lester Murad

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) calls itself “the leading anti-hate organization in the world.” But it is not the social justice educational partner it claims to be. The ADL is a divisive political advocacy organization.
Before I Was a Gazan

Mar 25, 2024 | rethinkingschools.org | Naomi Shihab Nye

Naomi Shihab Nye is a poet, songwriter, and novelist. She is the author of numerous books of poetry. This poem is included in Everything Comes Next: Collected and New Poems. Used by permission of HarperCollins. Artist Khaled Hourani’s art can be seen at instagram.com/khaledhourani6.
No, Anti-Zionism Is Not Antisemitism

Mar 22, 2024 | rethinkingschools.org | Bill Bigelow

As the bombs fell in Gaza, one strategy that the right wing and, yes, many “liberals,” adopted to silence activists — and social justice educators — was to claim that to oppose Zionism is automatically antisemitic. In December, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a resolution — 311 to 14, with 92 voting “present” — that “clearly and firmly states that anti-Zionism is antisemitism.” It is not. Yes, there are examples of the entanglement of anti-Zionism and antisemitism.
The Takeover of Houston Public Schools

Jan 5, 2024 | rethinkingschools.org | Larry Miller

Houston’s Independent School District (ISD) is no longer independent. In June 2023, the district — the largest in Texas, with nearly 200,000 students and 274 campuses — was taken over by the state legislature through its Texas Education Agency. Politicians dissolved the elected school board and appointed their own, fired the previous superintendent, and appointed Mike Miles, who has never been a teacher and has no degrees in education.
Students Address Racial Justice at "Model Gary" Convention

Oct 2, 2023 | rethinkingschools.org | Alyssa Bowen

High school senior Saleh Walton stepped before the audience of some 100 New Jersey middle and high school students and educators in the Seton Hall University auditorium on April 27, 2023. Ushering in the first day of the second annual “Model Gary” student convention, her words echoed through the hall, evoking approving grunts and snaps, before the crowd broke into applause. . . . I’m still trying to figure out what we do to you.
Black Land Matters

Jul 18, 2023 | rethinkingschools.org | Leah Penniman

Dijour Carter refused to get out of the van parked in the gravel driveway at Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, New York. The other teens in his program emerged, skeptical, but Dijour lingered in the van with his hood up, headphones on, eyes averted. There was no way he was going to get mud on his new Jordans and no way he would soil his hands with the dirty work of farming. I didn’t blame him.
Writing for Justice

Jul 18, 2023 | rethinkingschools.org | Linda Christensen

Acting in solidarity with others is a learned skill, but not one taught in most schools. I want students to understand that change doesn’t just happen; people work for change — fighting to end police violence, advocating for the rights of women and the LGBTQ community, stocking grocery shelves with produce from local farms, or creating schools where all students receive an engaging truth-telling curriculum.
School Debt: The Great Unequalizer

Jul 11, 2023 | rethinkingschools.org | Eleni Schirmer

In January 2020, mere weeks before the COVID pandemic shut down the world, Philadelphia schoolteachers bundled up and planted themselves in front of Lewis Elkin Elementary School. They were refusing to enter the building. A recent report had revealed unsafe levels of asbestos in the school, and the district had yet to confirm safe test results; a veteran teacher at another school is dying from mesothelioma. Lead paint flakes through the district, poisoning children while sitting at their desks.
What’s in the Water?

May 18, 2023 | rethinkingschools.org | Ursula Wolfe-Rocca

In the spring of 2016, children in Portland, Oregon, walked into their school buildings to find the drinking fountains shut off, the fixtures dramatically wrapped in plastic and tape, and instructions: Do not drink the water. High levels of lead had been found in the water in almost every single building in Portland Public Schools.