Weekend Reads: A deep dive into the school-to-prison pipeline in St. Louis and beyond

  • A U.S. Justice Department investigation finds vastly disparate treatment of black and white children in St. Louis County’s juvenile justice system that “cannot be explained by factors other than race.” HuffPost
  • A plan to integrate an under-enrolled California school in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood represents a new, more cooperative approach between school districts and housing developers. The Hechinger Report
  • Comedians Key and Peele got a viral video hit by imagining a world in which teachers are treated the way we treat professional athletes, including a draft, incentive pay and lots of classroom game tape. YouTube
  • A California high school teacher lists seven things he wishes the public understood about teaching, including that the “cult of the superteacher” is a myth. Vox
  • In an analysis of data from more than 60,000 schools, a sociologist finds that schools with more poor students and students of color are more likely to respond to behavioral problems with criminalized disciplinary action rather than referring students to psychological or medical care. Vox
  • Another new study finds that academically talented black and Hispanic students often turn away from the chance to attend elite universities in favor of schools closer to home with larger numbers of students of their race. EWA’s Latino Ed Beat
  • Here’s a quick guide to the research behind education buzzwords such as motivation and grit. The Atlantic
  • The most popular high school plays over the past seven decades are “Our Town” and “You Can’t Take It With You,” plus more fun facts from an analysis of high school theater productions. NPR Ed
  • An intense summer program aimed at getting Mississippi third-graders who have repeatedly failed state reading tests on grade level is getting mixed results and a bit more time to succeed. The Hechinger Report
  • A quarter of teachers who responded to a survey on teacher satisfaction reported the lack of opportunity to use the bathroom as an everyday stressor — and that seemingly small problem could have big implications for the profession. The Atlantic
  • A New York City education advocate sees parallels between Mayor Bill deBlasio’s fight with the car-sharing service Uber and his conflict with city charter school operators. The 74 Million
  • The first thing that schools often get wrong about their newly arrived immigrant students is their names, a basic error that can have repercussions far into the students’ education. Chalkbeat Indiana