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To keep yourself and others safe, please consider the following:

• Use the buddy system and watch out for each other.
• Trust your instincts. If you feel unsafe, get to a safe place and call for help.
• Don’t feel obligated to do anything you don’t want to do. “I don’t want to” is always a good enough reason.
• If you are interested in proceeding physically with an intimate partner, seek permission and do not proceed without an explicit and enthusiastic "yes" from your partner.
• Do not make any assumptions about what your partner is interested in doing sexually. Define your limits and make your intentions known.
• Remember that prior sexual interactions with someone do not automatically give permission for future sexual interactions with that person. Consent is required each and every time.
• Understand that consent to one sexual act does not imply consent to other sexual acts and that consent can be withdrawn at any time.
• Get your own drinks; don’t let someone continually fill your cup or leave your drink unattended.
• Be aware that some people may encourage excessive alcohol consumption in order to take advantage of others sexually.
• The ultimate responsibility for preventing sexual assault lies with those who would commit it. Take responsibility for your own actions and don't blame those hurt by sexual assault and other forms of interpersonal violence.
• If you feel afraid, call 911 or University Police at 864-294-2111, or utilize transportation resources such SafeRide or a Furman Police escort.

Let's Talk About Sex (Education Inequity)!

Let's Talk About Sex (Education Inequity)!

Emilee O'Brien

Emilee O’Brien is a Fellow at the Albert Shanker Institute in Washington, D.C. She is pursuing a Master’s in Educational Transformation at Georgetown University. Prior to her fellowship at the Shanker Institute, she was the Post Baccalaureate Fellow for Social Justice and Community-Engaged Learning at Furman University, where she developed an intergroup dialogue program and an alternative spring break experience. Her interests in equity within the field of education include comprehensive sex education, culturally relevant pedagogy, and student advocacy. Emilee earned a B.A. in Political Science and Poverty Studies from Furman University in Greenville, SC, where she was a state certified Victim Advocate and co-chaired the University Title IX Committee.

White Fragility. What it Looks Like in Schools

White Fragility. What it Looks Like in Schools

No Measurable Gap Between Charters, Traditional Public Schools on National Tests

By Andrew Ujifusa on September 25, 2019 12:40 AM

There are "no measurable differences" between the performance of charter schools and traditional public schools on national reading and math assessments from 2017, a finding that persists when parents' educational attainment were factored into the results. 

That's one key takeaway from a report released Wednesday by the National Center for Education Statistics about charters, private schools, and home schooling. "School Choice in the United States: 2019 " also found that Hispanic students constituted a plurality—33 percent—of charter school enrollment in 2016-17, followed by white students at 32 percent and black students at 26 percent. Meanwhile, nearly half of students enrolled at traditional public schools, 49 percent, were white. And a higher share of charter school students were enrolled in "high poverty" schools compared to their traditional public school counterparts, as defined by eligibility for free or reduced-price meals, by a count of 34 to 24 percent. 

Enrollment in charter schools grew by more than five times between 2000 and 2016—not the most shocking finding given the growth of the charter sector in general, although that increase did outpace the enrollment growth of just 1 percent in traditional public schools over the same time period. Meanwhile, the number of children ages 5 to 17 being home-schooled nearly doubled, reaching 1.7 million in 2016.

Let's dig into those math and reading results for a minute. They come from the 2017 administration of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, also known as the "nation's report card," in reading and math to students in the 4th and 8th grades. It's important to remember that these exams have no stakes attached for students, educators, and schools. And there are other ways in which using NAEP to measure the impact of policies and practices can get tricky very fast. For more on how to look at NAEP data and avoid "misNAEPery" go here for a classic Education Week piece from 2013 by Stephen Sawchuk. 

With that said, here are a few conclusions we can draw from the new NAEP data comparing charter schools and traditional public schools:

• Based on scores alone, with no controls, there was no statistically significant difference between charters and traditional public schools on NAEP in reading or math.
• Why does this matter? Because these schools tend to serve different populations with different background characteristics, which can skew scores.
• The researchers controlled for parent educational attainment, and still found no significant difference.
• A lack of data meant NCES couldn't rule out lots of other factors (like income, teacher quality, race and ethnicity) that are potentially caught up in these test results. The report notes that other factors not controlled for "are substantively correlated with student assessment scores and school type."
• This data is based on average or aggregate performance, which tends to suppress outliers. We know from recent work from Stanford University's Center for Research on Education Outcomes that charters in some cities like Boston do better than traditional public schools. That's not always the case, however. 

For a visual, here's the NCES chart of those scores for charters and traditional public schools in reading: 

There's a bunch of other data on charter schools in there for folks to chew on. For example, charter schools are more than twice as likely to be located in cities than in the suburbs&mdash56 percent of charters are in cities, compared to 26 percent that in the 'burbs. 

Here's one more demographic data point for you: 57 percent of traditional public schools are more than 50 percent white, compared to 33 percent of charter schools that can be described that way. More on that breakdown here: 

To read more about what regions of the country are best for public school choice according to parents, check out the full NCES report below. There's also a bunch of information in there about gang activity in schools, bullying, and more. 

Associate Editor Stephen Sawchuk contributed to this post. 

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Little Rock Nine

Little Rock Nine

An analysis of achievement gaps in every school in America shows that poverty is the biggest hurdle

An analysis of achievement gaps in every school in America shows that poverty is the biggest hurdle

What's the Best State for Teachers? This Year's Answer Might Surprise You

By Sarah Schwartz on September 23, 2019 2:21 PM

Seeking a stable teacher salary and a healthy work environment? A new analysis suggests heading north.

This year, North Dakota took first place in personal finance site WalletHub's annual ranking of the best and worst states to be a teacher.

The other states rounding out the top five spots this year?

• New Jersey
• Pennsylvania
• Wyoming
• Connecticut 

The ranking is based mostly on what the website calls "opportunity and competition"—factors including the average salary and starting pay for teachers, potential for income growth over the course of a career, pension, tenure protections, and job competition in the state. Scores on these metrics make up 70 percent of a state's rating. 

The other 30 percent comes from measures of a teacher's work environment and quality of life. These categories cover things like per-pupil spending and teacher-student ratio, but also union strength, commute time, and how supported teachers feel in their jobs. 

To calculate these scores, WalletHub uses census data, federal education data, and data from the National Education Association, the National Council on Teacher Quality, the Learning Policy Institute, and The Thomas B. Fordham Institute, among other sources. A few of the measures are taken from some of WalletHub's other state ranking lists, like statewide school quality and how friendly states are to working moms. 

Source: WalletHub

In years past, some commentators have questioned WalletHub's methodology—and since then, the site has made some changes in how it does calculations. 

In 2014, Valerie Strauss of the Washington Post noted that the ranking didn't factor in teacher evaluations, job protections, or "whether under-prepared Teach For America corps members are replacing veteran teachers." Two years later, Max Marchitello of TeacherPensions.org claimed that simply including average teacher pension didn't capture the variability in what teachers might actually receive at retirement. 

Now, WalletHub considers evaluation and job protection measures, as well as share of uncertified teachers in the state and the share of new teachers who are projected to contribute more to their pension plans over the course of their careers than they will receive at retirement. 

North Dakota does well on student-teacher ratio, school safety, and growth in teacher salaries, WalletHub reports.  

This year, the state legislature approved a 2 percent increase in the education budget. Republican Gov. Doug Burgum said the additional money could be used for a teacher pay raise, though districts can choose how they want to spend it. 

Still, salaries are below the national average in North Dakota. In NEA's calculation, the state's average teacher starting salary is $38,611 (compared to $39,249 nationally), while average teacher pay across the state is $52,850 (compared to $60,477 nationally). 

The states that pay teachers the best in WalletHub's analysis, with salaries adjusted for cost of living, are Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Massachusetts, and Iowa. 

And North Dakota hasn't escaped the wave of teacher activism that spread across the country over the past year. 

Earlier this month, the Fargo teachers' union sought a court order to force the district school board to resume contract negotiations, after the groups reached a stalemate over teacher starting salary and school safety issues. (It's illegal for teachers to strike in the state.)

WalletHub's full rankings are available here.

Photo: Library Media Specialist Stacy Olson talks with kindergarteners at Rita Murphy Elementary School about their Ozobot activity on Thursday, February 28, 2019 in Bismarck, North Dakota. The Ozobots are small, handheld robots that move and follow a marker line. —Kristina Barker for Education Week—File

Labour delegates vote for plan that would abolish private schools

Labour delegates vote for plan that would abolish private schools

On Teachers & Teacher Bashing

On Teachers & Teacher Bashing

Colorblind Ideology Is a Form of Racism | Psychology Today

Colorblind Ideology Is a Form of Racism | Psychology Today

What White Kids Learn About Race in School

What White Kids Learn About Race in School

Map: The United States of America, ranked from best to worst

Map: The United States of America, ranked from best to worst

'It's About Power': D.C. Students Seek To Remove Bias In School Dress Codes | WAMU

'It's About Power': D.C. Students Seek To Remove Bias In School Dress Codes | WAMU

"socialism & free stuff"

A new poll was released showing a stark drop in young Americans’ feelings on the importance of patriotism, religion, & having a family.Too often, younger Americans are hearing about socialism & free stuff w/o regard for the future.They need to hear the truth. @standamericanow 🇺🇸

— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) September 3, 2019

Breaking the Gender Codes of Dress Codes

Breaking the Gender Codes of Dress Codes