Education

The Basics

• Overview Schools can open doors or close them. Funding gaps, harsh discipline and fights over what can be taught all fall hardest on students of color. Parents, students and teachers are organizing for schools that reflect and support every kid.

By the Numbers

Why this matters, in three numbers.

• Black boys were 8% of K-12 students in 2021-22 but 22% of students who got an out-of-school suspension. (U.S. Department of Education Civil Rights Data Collection, via Education Week)
• Only 6% of public school teachers were Black in 2020-21, while about 15% of public school students were Black. (National Center for Education Statistics)
• School districts with the most Black, Latino and Native students get as much as $2,700 less per student in state and local money than districts with the fewest students of color. (The Education Trust (2022))

Key Terminology

Three words that come up again and again on this topic. See all of our key terminology >

• School-to-Prison Pipeline — Policies like zero-tolerance discipline and police in schools that push students out of class and into the legal system.
• Critical Race Theory — An academic framework holding that racism is built into laws and institutions, now used as a label in fights over K-12 lessons.
• Model Minority Myth — The stereotype that some groups, especially Asian Americans, succeed because of their culture, which hides real barriers.

Take Action

Three things you can do this month.

• Ask your senators to back counselors, not cops, in schools. The Counseling Not Criminalization in Schools Act would move federal money away from school police and toward counselors and nurses. It was just introduced in the Senate on Sept. 23, 2026 (S. 5468), and the House version (H.R. 2739) is still in committee. Say: "I'm a constituent, and I want you to cosponsor the Counseling Not Criminalization in Schools Act."
• Give to the Center for Black Educator Development. This Black-led group trains and supports the next generation of Black teachers, starting with high school students. Your gift helps rebuild the Black teacher pipeline.
• Ask your school board how it handles discipline and police. Go to one school board meeting this month and ask how many students were suspended and whether police work in your schools. Advancement Project's free toolkit helps you prepare.

Organizations to Follow

These groups are led by people of color and work on education every day. Follow them for updates and ways to help.

• Advancement Project Works with youth of color to end police in schools and school pushout. Visit their website, and follow @advancementproject on Instagram to get updates in your newsfeed.
• SEARAC Advocates for Southeast Asian American students and families. Visit their website, and follow @searac on Instagram to get updates in your newsfeed.
• National Indian Education Association Advocates for Native students and culturally based education. Visit their website, and follow @niea1969 on Instagram to get updates in your newsfeed.

People to Follow

Organizers, scholars and journalists who know this topic. Follow them to keep learning.

• Nikole Hannah-Jones Journalist, creator of The 1619 Project. Her reporting on school segregation explains how today's school gaps were built on purpose. Follow @nikolehannahjones on Instagram.
• Sharif El-Mekki Former principal, founder of the Center for Black Educator Development. He shares practical ways to recruit, support and keep Black teachers in classrooms. Follow @selmekki on Instagram.
• Clint Smith Writer and former high school teacher. He writes about how we teach and remember slavery, and why honest history belongs in schools. Follow @clintsmithiii on Instagram.

Independent Media

Independent newsrooms and newsletters that cover education often. Read and donate if you can!

• Chalkbeat. Nonprofit newsroom on public schools and education equity. Follow @chalkbeatorg on Instagram.
• The Hechinger Report. Nonprofit news on inequality and innovation in education. Follow @hechingerreport on Instagram.
• Word In Black. Black press collaborative covering Black students and schools. Follow @wordinblacknews on Instagram.
• The 74. Nonprofit newsroom on K-12 schools and education policy. Follow @the_74 on Instagram.

Read, Watch, Listen

A book, a film and a podcast by creators of color to go deeper.

• Read: Punished for Dreaming: How School Reform Harms Black Children and How We Heal by Bettina L. Love. A Columbia education professor shows how 40 years of school reform punished Black children, and what repair could look like.
• Watch: American Promise by Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson. Two Black parents film their son and his best friend for 13 years as they make their way through an elite private school.
• Listen: School Colors by Mark Winston Griffith (with Max Freedman), Brooklyn Deep. A deep look at race, class and power in New York City schools, from Central Brooklyn to Queens.

Talk About It

Not sure how to bring this up with family or coworkers? Try one of these.

• Did you ever have a Black teacher growing up, and do you think it would have changed anything?
• How does our school decide who gets suspended, and do we know who it happens to most?
• Why do you think schools a few miles apart can have such different budgets?