Photo: Judge Mitchell applauds senior Asia McBride for staying in school and helps her plan to dual enroll in college courses as she finishes her high school credits next year. Recently, the director of OSI’s Education and Youth Development Program, Karen E. Webber attended a meeting of the Truancy Court Project (TCP), an OSI grantee operated by […]
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Pratt Library CEO and Former OSI Board Member Carla Hayden Clears First Hurdle to Becoming Librarian of Congress
Monday, April 25, 2016Yesterday, Dr. Carla D. Hayden, CEO of the Enoch Pratt Free Library and former OSI-Baltimore advisory board member, cleared her first Senate confirmation hearing as President Obama’s nominee to librarian of Congress. If confirmed, Hayden will be the first African American as well as the first woman to head the Library of Congress. Sens. Barbara […]
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Baltimore City students stage walkout protesting standardized testing
Monday, April 18, 2016Holding signs with messages like “Jobs Not Jail,” “Park the PARCC,” and “We are students, not test scores,” about 100 students across Baltimore City walked out of their classrooms Friday afternoon to protest the PARCC standardized test, which they call a “mechanism of institutional racism.” The walkout culminated at a rally in front of the […]
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Message from Progressive Congress Summit: “Seize the Moment”
Friday, February 12, 2016By Karen Webber, director of OSI-Baltimore’s Education and Youth Development program I had the honor of participating in the 2016 Progressive Congress Strategy Summit that was convened in Baltimore on February 5-6. National leaders and members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus talked about their shared strategy for progressive change. Many referenced the presidential debates where, […]
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The Importance of Student Attendance
Friday, September 18, 2015September is, appropriately enough, Attendance Awareness Month and a good time to talk about how attendance is a portal to many other issues involving Baltimore City students, families and schools. Nearly 85% of our students qualify for free and reduced meals, which is an indicator for poverty; and we can’t discount the attendant barriers and burdens that accompany modern poverty in America.
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Invisible Homelessness: Baltimore Youth Speak Out
Monday, July 07, 2014When you walk, drive, or ride the bus in Baltimore do you see homeless youth? Can you tell whether the youth you stroll past is headed to a safe, stable home, or whether she doesn’t know where she’ll lay her head tonight or find her next meal?
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A Lesson on Zero-Tolerance
Wednesday, May 28, 2014When we punish students by kicking them out of school for nonviolent infractions, we’ve lost the opportunity to instruct them. But when discipline practices change, students’ outcomes change—for the better.
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The Challenge of Student Attendance in City Schools
Wednesday, March 12, 2014Student attendance has long been a challenge in City Schools, and in recent years it has received renewed attention. Yet attention alone is not achieving the attendance levels necessary for our students to succeed.
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A common-sense approach to school discipline
Wednesday, January 29, 2014We actually did it. After the debates, public hearings and letter-writing campaigns, advocates for school disciplinary reform heard a decision from the Maryland State Board of Education that was three years in the making. The Board decided to eliminate zero tolerance policies and enact a common-sense approach to school discipline.
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Up for Debate
Thursday, December 12, 2013Relying on suspending or excluding students doesn’t get to the root of behavior problems or make them more interested in school. But a new video, Up for Debate, shows how the Baltimore Urban Debate League has helped students become motivated learners. Watch the video.
