Voice: Sharif El-Mekki

Guest Commentary: Believe in Black Students
Here are some ways schools can take action and demonstrate a commitment to anti-racism that is essential for reducing pandemic learning loss
By Sharif El-Mekki
Guest Commentary: Tackling Illiteracy
The first-ever virtual Freedom Schools Literacy Academy models liberation education—and gets results
By Sharif El-Mekki
Guest Commentary: Teaching Black Children is a Revolutionary Act
The director of a Black teacher training program pens an open letter to new educators for their “subversive act of hope”
By Sharif El-Mekki
Guest Commentary: Is Progressivism Letting Down Our Kids?
A longtime educator/activist bemoans the dilemma of progressive cities like Philly, where everyone progresses, except for Black and Brown children.
By Sharif El-Mekki
Black Teachers Are Not Enough
A Mastery principal notes that schools also need support to keep those—and all—teachers in their jobs
By Sharif El-Mekki
Citizen Of The Week: Nasihah Thompson-King
As her Mastery-Shoemaker principal attests, the high schooler benched from basketball because of her hijab is a freedom fighter for our times
By Sharif El-Mekki
I’ve Known Gun Violence
A Mastery high school principal who is both a gun owner and gunshot victim on why guns in schools makes kids less safe
By Sharif El-Mekki
“Black History is Yours to Make”
A Mastery principal who boycotted the NFL this year is grateful to the Eagles—for helping him demonstrate that activism matters
By Sharif El-Mekki