• Howard University School of Law Presidential Charge to the Class of 2025

    Our guest author is Jaden Alexander Cody, a 2025 graduate of Howard University School of Law in Washington, D.C. and the 70th Student Bar Association President of Howard University

    Good afternoon everyone, it is a delight to share this space and this air with you all today. To President Vinson, to Provost Wutoh, to Dean Fairfax, Senator Alsobrooks, faculty, staff, esteemed alumni and guests, families and loved ones, I bring you greetings, but most importantly to the reason we are all here today, the class of 2025! Good afternoon, to you!

    My name is Jaden Alexander Cody, I am a graduating Third-Year Law student here at the University from Atlanta, Georgia and I have had the esteemed privilege of serving as the 70th Student Bar Association President of Howard University and thus Student Body President of Howard University School of Law.

    Before I continue, I want to just take a moment and class if you would join me I’m gonna need you… Because as much as we like to think it’s us and our brilliance, hard work and grit that got us to this seat, I’m sure those who filled the seats around us and online would disagree. All of us are here because someone or a lot of someones ensured that we had what we needed to graduate today, whether it be prayers, calls, textbooks, outlines, food, a roof over our head and or money, we are here because of a village behind us, so I want us to thank the villages that have convened here today for their part in ensuring that JD is about to follow our names. Lets thank the fathers, sisters, aunts, uncles, grandmothers and grandfathers, friends, spouses, children, linebrothers and linesisters. And of course, because our celebration shares a weekend with a special day, the mothers and mother-like figures that have impacted us, class, if you would join me in thanking them for all they have done for us.

    While today we are ending a chapter as students of Howard University School of Law, we are entering a time of urgency, a time that scholars are noting already feels eerily similar to what many of us have learned about during our educational careers. We are standing in the days in which our children and their children will look back and either view our actions fondly, speaking our names proudly or question our complicity as we do those in Germany in the 30s, South Africa in the ’40s, 50s, and 60s or honestly, how we view peoples inaction in the face of injustice at any other point in American history. How will people be able to answer where you, where we, where the HUSL class of 2025 stood in history, how did we impact this field, that is so rapidly changing? How are we living out the mission of our University? How are we making the lives of minorities everywhere better? That is what I am here to welcome you to, welcome to a lifelong commitment to service, a lifelong commitment to justice, a lifelong commitment to equity, even when it makes some feel uncomfortable. That is what is expected of a Howard University School of Law lawyer.

  • Public Funds to Private Schools Will Leave Students with Disabilities Behind

    Our guest authors are the National Center for Learning Disabilities, The Arc of the United States, the Council for Exceptional Children, and the Center for Learner Equity.

    Just 50 years ago, in 1975, Congress enacted the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in order to ensure that students with disabilities have the opportunity to a free and appropriate education, like all children deserve. Thanks to generations of advocates the US House and US Senate passed IDEA and President Gerald Ford signed it into law.

    Last week the US House Ways & Means Committee marked up a budget reconciliation bill that will include a $20 billion proposal diverting public funds to private schools via the Educational Choice for Children Act (ECCA). While the bill includes new language about so-called “protections” for students with disabilities, it is insufficient in providing meaningful, enforceable protections for students with disabilities and their families. As the nation’s leading student advocacy organizations, the National Center for Learning Disabilities, along with the Council for Exceptional Children, the Center for Learner Equity, and The Arc of the United States, are staunchly opposed to this bill. 

    Consider this math: ECCA is estimated to fund private school tuition for about 1 million children for $5 billion a year (averaging $5000 per child). By contrast, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) currently serves 7.5 million children and receives $14.6 billion in federal funding a year, averaging less than $2000 per child. This funding level is about 10% of the average per-pupil expenditures. Instead of fully funding IDEA, a promise Congress has never fulfilled, this Congress chooses to fund vouchers, which ultimately benefit the wealthy instead of investing in educating students with disabilities, the overwhelming majority of whom attend public schools.

  • Beyond Scripts: Why Structured Adaptations Are Key to Scaling Literacy Programs

    During National Teacher Appreciation Week, we showcase guest author Susan B. Neuman, who is Professor and Chair of the Teaching and Learning Department at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at New York University and a Shanker Institute Board Member.

    I’ve had a front-row seat to decades of curriculum reforms—each promising to close gaps, accelerate learning, and transform instruction. I’ve seen the excitement of a new initiative, the careful design of pilot studies, and the early gains that spark real hope. But I’ve also seen something else: how quickly that promise can fade when programs meet the messy, beautiful, and unpredictable reality of classrooms. Curricula do not teach students to read - teachers do. Without supporting teachers, even the most evidence-aligned programs won't be able to deliver on their promise. 

    The truth is, many of our most effective interventions never make it beyond the lab or the pilot stage—not because they don’t work, but because they weren’t built to meet the learning environments they were designed to help. In fact, one of the biggest challenges we face is how to take successful small-scale interventions and implement them across dozens—or even hundreds—of classrooms without losing their impact. This is especially true for vocabulary-building programs designed to reduce opportunity gaps for children in low-income communities. 

    But here’s the big question: How do we maintain fidelity to a program’s core while allowing room for teacher voice and expertise to address classroom realities? The answer lies in something called structured adaptation—and it might be the missing link in making good programs great at scale. But what is structured adaptation?

    Structured adaptation is a middle path between a rigid, word-for-word scripted curriculum and a loosely guided one. Think of it as a soft script: teachers are provided with clear objectives, key vocabulary, and suggested questions—but they’re also empowered to adapt the language, pacing, and delivery based on the needs of their students.