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Ryan

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Bowers

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More by Ryan Bowers

New fellowship to support work with Black males

Submitted by Ryan Bowers on Tue, 12/13/2011 - 15:02 Posted in Latest news | Permalink

The Notebook is no stranger to discussions on improving the life outcomes of Black males in Philadelphia. Recent Notebook posts have examined:

the high dropout rate of Black boys at KIPP middle schools,
the District-run task force on the dropout rates of Black and Latino males, and
the widely attended "Shifting the Numbers panel" on men of color and education.

Those more familiar with this field know that there are a number of organizations and individuals around the city doing great work on this topic, many of which fly under the radar and often don’t get support to sustain and bring their work to scale.

Which is why I was excited to hear about the creation of the new Open Society Fellowship for Black Male Achievement (BMA), in partnership with Echoing Green.

When districts break up

Submitted by Ryan Bowers on Wed, 07/27/2011 - 14:16 Posted in Commentary | Permalink

A few weeks back I stumbled on an unusual proposal by the Wisconsin teachers’ union (WEAC) to deconsolidate, or break up, Milwaukee’s public schools.

It appears that deconsolidation’s coming back in vogue as a "when-all-else-fails" strategy for district reform.

Introducing our new blogger: Ryan Bowers

Submitted by Ryan Bowers on Wed, 05/25/2011 - 14:41 Posted in Commentary | Permalink

First, I’d like to acknowledge what an honor it is to join the Notebook’s blogging community. I’m looking forward to making a small contribution to the growing debate around school choice, a topic of importance to me both personally and professionally.

I’m starting to feel the weight of school choice at home as my wife and I are faced with figuring out where we’ll send our 4½-year-old son to kindergarten next year. I'm taking a hard look at our neighborhood school, as well other options that might be on the table.