About the EP Blog

Education Pioneers shares stories of impact, insights, ideas, and opinions to advance the conversation about what great leadership in education looks like.

Category 
Leadership Journeys

Black Women and Education, Interrupted

By Kwamara Thompson, September 1, 2020

Education is the civil rights movement of our time. Positive education always causes elevation (PEACE). Those two mottos guide every professional decision I make. From working with children in Brownsville Brooklyn, Flushing Queens, and the Mississippi Delta to building Thompson Education Consulting (TEC), an education consulting company with clients across the country, those thoughts live within my being and drive my actions. I created the “I am a Black Woman, Yes I Matter” community event series while producing the play, Sistas on Fire in New York City as a way to bring excerpts of the play...
Category 
EP Updates
Talent in Action

We’re proud to announce the COVID Response Fellowship

By Melissa Wu, August 19, 2020

Education Pioneers COVID Response Fellowship empty classroom students leaders
Dear Pioneers, partners, supporters and friends of EP, As COVID-19 rages on and the 2020-2021 academic year begins, school leaders are wrestling with hard choices and conflicting priorities around community safety, student learning, and budget constraints. Eighty-five percent of the 20 largest U.S. school districts are starting remote-only. Studies are simultaneously projecting that existing achievement gaps will widen by another 15-20% as low-income and students of color face distance learning inequities — all while there’s a national spotlight on racial injustice. There are no playbooks for...

Building Back Better Starts Now

June 24, 2020

Summer is typically “time on” for education leaders and school staff who need to advance critical work ahead of the next school year. As June rolls around this year, little is typical. Students have been out of school buildings for months and planning for a potential return to learning in the fall amidst the continued public health crisis will be different and more complex from what most education sector professionals have ever seen. At the same time as the education sector is navigating the looming budget crisis and strong potential for learning loss caused by COVID-19, there’s also a racial...
Category 
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
EP Updates

Black Lives Matter

June 5, 2020

Black Lives Matter. We are outraged by the recent racially motivated murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and Tony McDade — and by the countless other acts of violence and injustice that have occurred over the course of our country’s racist history. Today and always, Education Pioneers stands in solidarity with the Black community — those on our staff, in our network of Alumni and Fellows, and in the communities we serve. This moment again shines a light on white supremacy and its imprint on our society and our systems. Our schools are not immune: massive inequities exist...

Pivoting with Purpose: How EP Impact Fellows are Responding to COVID-19

By Colleen Downie, May 28, 2020

Leadership and management in education matter now more than ever. On a typical day, the work of our Impact Fellows is behind the scenes, supporting teachers and students in the classroom. The COVID-19 crisis has made their work visible; they pivoted quickly in the initial weeks following school closures from their initial Fellowship projects to support the education sector’s response. Their work continues to support kids and familes in their local communities, but in a new and complicated context. The stories below, from some of our current EP Impact Fellows across the country, highlight how...

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