Denise Fawcett Facey

Do you think of the words “gifted” and “minority” as mutually exclusive? Even if you don’t — or won’t admit it — far too many educators act as if gifted African American and Latino students are non-existent or, at the very least, a rarity. That’s why I’m so enthusiastic about the Los Angeles Unified School District’s effort to prove otherwise. (more…)

In keeping with last week’s blog on the need to incorporate African Americans into the curriculum, I’m impressed by a new course that will be offered this fall to all high school seniors in Pittsburgh Public Schools. Developed by a team of educators, the course will introduce students to books by and about African Americans. Encompassing the familiar (i.e. slavery) in innovative ways, this literature course also reveals diverse aspects of the African American experience not commonly presented to students. (more…)

If it’s February, it must be Black History Month. From schools and bookstores across the country to special television programs and even spots on the evening news, African Americans’ and their contributions to the U.S. are spotlighted this month. And in theory, this is great. However, it’s time to revisit this practice. (more…)

When Virginia Governor Tim Kaine announced last week that his state’s Education Department was reviewing minority students’ low rate of participation in Virginia’s gifted education classes, I began to wonder about the other forty-nine states. (more…)

Recently, the Education and Labor Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives held a hearing attended by teachers and teacher representatives. The central focus of the meeting was how to develop a more equitable distribution of effective teachers, so that low-income and minority schools are not always at a deficit in this area. As you might expect, although the consensus was that these schools definitely need more teachers who are effective, there was little agreement on how to achieve this or even on how to define “effective.” (more…)