DIANE RAVITCH 02/18/13 By Diane Ravitch During Michelle Rhee’s book tour, the nation will hear a lot of claims about the dramatic changes she imposed on the D.C. schools, which qualifies her to export her ideas to the rest of the nation. What should other states and cities seek to […]
WASHINGTON POST 02/11/13 By Michael Shank When it comes to forecasting the educational future of District youth, especially for those living in low-income communities, there are some impressive words and initiatives being thrown around by past and present city leadership. Whether it’s Mayor Vincent C. Gray’s “Raise D.C.,” a recently […]
WASHINGTON POST 12/05/12 By Michael Shank and Lindsay Schubiner D.C. Council member Marion Barry’s ex-offender bill, which is on the city’s legislative hopper and addresses discrimination by granting employment protections, is needed not only in the District but also across America. It is needed for an estimated 65 million Americans, […]
BET 11/16/12 By Cord Jefferson The nation’s capital now has the worst racial achievement gaps in the country when it comes to educating children. A new op-ed in the Huffington Post dredges up a well known but important topic of conversation: the growing and increasingly entrenched disparities between whites and […]
WASHINGTON POST 11/14/12 By Michael Shank Of the two rivers that cup our nation’s capital — the Potomac and the Anacostia— the latter of the two is, perhaps, the most apt reflection of where America is at socio-economically. The Anacostia River, the Anglicized namesake of which was first officially recorded […]
ROLL CALL 04/02/12 By Michael Shank and Former Republican Congressman Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD) Three months in and 2012 is setting trans-Atlantic records for harsher-than-normal austerity measures and disillusioned voters. East of the Atlantic, Greece struggles to regain footing while Portugal, Italy and Spain teeter on the brink. West of it, […]
THE HILL 04/24/12 By Michael Shank Today (April 24), the Institute for Economics and Peace released the second annual U.S. Peace Index, which assesses America’s peacefulness at the state and city levels and analyzes the costs associated with violence and the socio-economic measures associated with peace. So just how peaceful […]
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER 01/12/12 By Michael Shank and US Congressman Michael Honda (D-CA) Homicide, other violent crimes, incarceration, policing, and guns are costing this country hundreds of billions of dollars, and millions of jobs, every year. According to conservative estimates by the Institute for Economics and Peace, if the United States […]
THE HILL 12/21/11 By Michael Shank and US Congressman Michael Honda (D-CA) In light of Congress’s failure to wrestle up short-term cost-cutting measures for our country, we must not lose sight of longer-term concerns about the sustainability of our deficits, debts and, ultimately, our budgets. While we tempt deadlines now, […]
THE HILL 11/17/08 By Michael Shank and U.S. Representative Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD) Late last month, buried beneath the noise of last-minute presidential campaigning, a 2008 report released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) cited rising inequality and poverty among member states. Press-released in Paris, this newsworthy point […]