Several Columns on Ferguson and Education Reform

I’ve struggled to stay focused on education policy since Michael Brown’s tragic death in Ferguson. It’s crept into my work in a variety of ways: I did a podcast with the Fordham Institute that included a discussion of what Ferguson means for education reform. I’ve written a couple of columns on why Ferguson should matter to everyone and why it’s so hard for some white progressives to see the extent of the problems with police violence.

Today, I published another column on the strange pushback that some education reformers—like Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and Teach For America’s Brittany Packnett and DeRay Mckesson—have gotten for their support of the Ferguson and Eric Garner protests.

The reticence of some to accept education reformers into the Ferguson movement may be indicative of the dynamic I’ve noted in earlier writing—trust is at an all time low in education. Consider: for these critics, it’s easier to see TFA alums and Secretary Duncan as ‘Trojan Horses’ acting for corporate masters than it is to accept that these folks might be genuinely pained by the injustices in Ferguson and NYC.

Click here to read the full column.