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"Two decades ago, as a 23-year-old history and English teacher at Wings Academy in the Bronx, Charles Best noticed he was spending a lot of his $30,000 salary on school supplies. The public high school was a bright place in a newish building, but copy paper was often rationed and teachers with ideas for science experiments or art projects usually had to fund them themselves. During his 5 a.m. excursions to Staples to photocopy pages of 'Little House on the Prairie' for his class, Mr. Best began dreaming of a website that would invite donors to help pay for the books and field trips that he and his colleagues wanted for their students. In 2000, he founded the nonprofit DonorsChoose, initially running it out of his classroom.Since then, DonorsChoose has raised over $1.1 billion to support 2 million projects in public schools across the country. Because the organization vets requests and purchases the materials or services itself, it has become a rare 'force for equity in crowdfunding,' says Mr. Best, 45, over the phone from his home in Manhattan, where he lives with his wife, Bridget, and their two children. 'A teacher does not have to have friends with money or students with money to get a classroom dream funded,' he explains, noting that most of the projects serve students from low-income communities and around three-quarters of the funds raised on the site come from sources teachers don’t know personally. Four out of five public schools in America have a teacher who has posted a request on DonorsChoose."
‍Read the full story on wsj.com.

Every back-to-school season, “learning loss” re-enters the conversation. This year, as the public tries to understand the impact of COVID-19 on education, the term has been in the media more than ever. With the first wave of schools starting, we’re diving into how the term is being used. We asked our teacher community how they are thinking about “learning loss”, and whether this catchphrase paints an accurate picture of what students experienced over the last year and a half. 

The history of learning loss

Before the coronavirus pandemic even began, the idea that students “lost learning” based on their home environment over the summer was dubious. 

Prior to COVID-19, learning loss typically referred to the “summer slide” — the idea that students lose progress over summer break — and how it impacts achievement along economic lines. In 2017, the National Summer Learning Association posited that the achievement gap (i.e. different educational outcomes based on economic lines) was largely due to learning loss over the summer.

But whether or not that conventional wisdom holds true isn’t certain; for example, remedial summer programs have not had huge successes, and in a recent study by the Iowa Reading Research Center it was suggested that learning wasn’t lost over the summer, even among communities considered to be most vulnerable to the summer slide. 

Assumptions about learning loss and the achievement gap

Home environment was the focus of most articles about educational inequity during the pandemic, but it may not be the main factor in disparities present when students return.

As the pandemic progressed and schools started to close, concerns about equity and student access to learning took over the conversation. Sources from the CDC to The New York Times talked about how the pandemic would widen existing equity gaps and put students of color and students from low-income households at risk of falling behind.

Much of the news focused on the hardships students faced learning from home, but few articles discussed the existing and systemic inequities in the education system. As the pandemic progressed, a new inequity developed: who was staying home, and who was receiving in-person instruction?

Moving the focus from resources available at home to resources available in the classroom

“The ‘achievement gap,’ then, isn’t inevitable. It’s baked into the system, resulting from the decisions adults make, consciously and unconsciously, about which students get what resources. It’s a gap of our own design.” — The Opportunity Myth, TNTP.org, 2018

In the United States, not all school communities have the same access to resources. During the pandemic, the most precious resource became in-person access to teachers.

A recent report from McKinsey & Company found that “Black and Hispanic students are twice as likely as White students to have received no live contact with teachers over the previous week and are... less likely to be receiving consistent live instruction.” Our survey of 1,100 DonorsChoose teachers found the same: teachers at schools in low-income communities were more likely to report that they were providing all instruction via remote learning, compared to teachers at schools in more affluent communities. The same was also true for teachers at schools that serve a majority of Black, Latino/a, and Indigenous students, with more of these teachers reporting being fully remote than teachers from schools with mostly White students.

Where students are learning according to community income level

Where students are learning according to race

New ways to think about COVID-19 learning outcomes

Rather than attributing student academic struggles to traditional terms like “learning loss”, there are other ways to think about educational inequity that get closer to the heart of the matter: Access to the classroom and the resources in it (including teachers themselves) widens the equity gap. Moving away from the idea of “learning loss” opens up new avenues to help students succeed, and — as usual — teachers are way ahead of the curve here.

Berkley Scholar Chunyan Yang says, “When we talk about learning loss with teachers, it triggers a lot of questioning and resistance. Teachers feel that they have been making so much effort during the pandemic. They’ve imposed on their family’s time and neglected their own mental health to try to minimize the loss among their students.”

The pandemic had an undeniable impact on students, but the impact wasn’t as simple as students failing to absorb information. Researchers such as McKinsey & Company use the term “unfinished learning” to “convey the reality that students were not given the opportunity this year to complete all the learning they would have completed in a typical year.” 

Similarly, when asked about the term, DonorsChoose teachers say it doesn’t give a clear picture of the year and its challenges. Instead of the term learning loss, they would use labels like:

• Impact learning: “Students that have lost a year of learning will need extra support routines and practices in place to build skills and confidence… Learning loss implies that kids have lost the ability to learn or that learning has not occurred. Learning takes so many forms and occurs in so many ways it’s unfair to say students have learning loss because they were not physically in a school building. ” - Leslie, New Jersey

• Digital Learning: “There is no learning loss. Our children just focus on a different set of skills — mainly life skills — and learn to adapt to a different style of learning (mostly digital).” - Katie, Massachusetts

• Pandemic disconnection: “We shouldn't approach this year with a deficit mindset but rather what our students have gained. They've learned technology skills that will benefit them in their future. Many have learned more life skills. There was a great deal of learning last year, just maybe not with the standard curriculum.” - Becky, Massachusetts

• Nothing - the term shouldn't exist at all! “Our educational system is so focused on outdated scheduling and materials that were intended back during the Industrial Revolution, rather than skills and subjects that would benefit today's technological-based society. While students as a whole may not know the same things the previous generations knew, how many times has someone said ‘I didn't need _______ in my adult life’?” - Shaylyn, California

Supporting students this school year and beyond

When asked about their top priorities for the back-to-school season in a recent survey, most DonorsChoose teachers shared their focus was on developing relationships with students and their families and building and fostering a classroom community.

“For many students, their mental and emotional health need to be stabilized in order for learning to take place.” — Crystal, Pennsylvania

There is also the learning curve that comes with re-entering the classroom. Many of our teachers note that their students haven’t been in a classroom for the last 18 months. They are excited to see each other and it will take time to relearn the behaviors and norms that make a fun and engaging classroom.

“We need the kids to be safe and rebuild the engagement with school...if they feel like it is too much, they are going to become permanently disengaged from school.” — Laura, Connecticut

Over the last year and a half, teachers have adapted to a whole new teaching style, which often requires additional resources. This back-to-school season, public school teachers have already submitted over 80,000 requests on DonorsChoose, and our recent back-to-school site-wide matching campaign supported by Bill Gates was our first big giving day of the school year. Our donors know that the way to give students access to the education they deserve is to support teachers; by listening to the wisdom of teachers on the frontlines, and ensuring they have the resources they need we can set students up for success academically while giving them much-needed social emotional learning support.

Ready to help students access the resources they need? Support a classroom today!

This is the first post in our Equity Focus series. To learn more about our Equity Focus and how DonorsChoose directly addresses inequity in education, go here.

Recently, The New York Times ran an article about the communities and students most effected by the coronavirus outbreak in the United States: “​The Pandemic Hurt These Students the Most”. They concluded that “an education system plagued by racial and socioeconomic inequities [has] only gotten worse during the coronavirus pandemic”.

While the COVID-19 pandemic made learning disparities more glaring, inequity in education is hardly a new phenomenon. As students return back to the classroom this fall and disparities are laid ever more bare, we thought this would be the right moment to share three studies that dig into the who, what, why, and how of educational inequity over the past decade — and how funding classroom resources is one avenue for change.

#1. The $23 billion resource gap

The Headline: “School districts serving mostly students of color get $23 billion less than districts serving mostly White students, despite serving the same number of students.”

The Story: EdBuild points to racial and economic segregation created by gerrymandered school district boundaries and overallocation of resources to smaller districts as two of the variables leading to this constant: “Financially, it is far better in the United States to have the luck and lot to attend a school district that is predominantly White than one that enrolls a concentration of children of color.”

The Data:

• For every student enrolled, the average school district serving students of color receives $2,226 less than a majority White school district. 
• Low-income, mostly White school districts receive over $1,400 more per student than school districts that serve low-income students of color.
• In the United States, 20% of students are enrolled in districts that are both low-income and mostly students of color, but just 5% of students live in low-income districts with mostly White students.

The Source: EdBuild, $23 Billion
By design, EdBuild was a limited-term (2015–2020), nonprofit organization that developed key reports and tools in three key areas: The School Funding System is Broken; There are Ways to Fix It; and There are Tools to Guide You.

#2. Teachers are trying to meet student needs with their own money

The Headline: Teacher out-of-pocket spending might be a key indication of student need.

What’s the story? Of the many ways to identify areas of educational imbalance, this study proposes that higher teacher out-of-pocket spending may be a useful barometer of student need otherwise going unmet in classrooms. Another key aspect of the story: “As the share of racial/ethnic minority students in a school increases, teacher out-of-pocket spending also increases...”

The Data:

• Student demographics — both student race/ethnicity and student household economic level — are important predictors of teacher spending.
• Teachers in schools with 75–100% racial & ethnic minority students spend about $130 more per year than peer teachers in schools with 0–24% racial & ethnic minority students (a 31% difference).
• More teacher control over purchasing classroom supplies (within school-based budgets) means less out-of-pocket spending. Teachers who said they had more autonomy over their classroom spending budget said they spend on average $135 less of their own money than teachers who reported not having much say in what they spend funds on.

The Source: University of Virginia, EdPolicyWorks, Supporting Students at Any Cost?
This study comes from Brian H. Kim at the University of Virginia’s Center on Education Policy and Workforce Competitiveness (EdPolicyWorks) with research partner DonorsChoose.

#3. Teachers know their students best

The Headline: ”Crowdfunding the Front Lines: An Empirical Study of Teacher-Driven School Improvement”

What’s the story? The preK–12 system is filled with wide inequities, operational inefficiencies, and now COVID-related learning disruptions. This University of Michigan study analyzed student test scores in Pennsylvania to determine the educational impact of teachers selecting resources based on their students' individual needs and context.

The Data:

• Overall, the study’s results indicate that, despite overwhelming obstacles within the existing ecosystem, crowdfunding platforms that empower teachers have the potential to be an equalizing tool.
• At low-income schools, each teacher-driven funded resource request on average moves between 4 and 10 additional students to at least a basic level of proficiency in tested subjects.
• By analyzing 20,000+ teacher-submitted impact reports, the study found that teachers selecting their own resources led to four areas of consistent improvement: Knowledge Retention, Repeated or Shared Use of Resources, Differentiated Learning, and Streamline Work Processes.

The Source: University of Michigan, Crowdfunding the Front Lines | Stop The Revolving Door
This study came from the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan (specifically, Samantha M. Keppler, Jun Li, and Di (Andrew) Wu) with research partner DonorsChoose.

Without a doubt, this is the most “back-to-school” Back to School EVER! Right now, our nation’s kids are returning to school to get back to learning. Their success isn’t a given, but when teachers have the tools they need, it is achievable.

On Thursday, August 12, the DonorsChoose Community kicked off the school year with a back-to-school boost thanks to Bill Gates. On this day, every donation to a teacher’s project on DonorsChoose got a 50% match.

Thanks to the generosity of 40,255 donors and the boosting funds, we were able to raise over $7 million and fully fund 12,549 projects — in just one day! Congrats to the 21,080 teachers who received donations to their projects.

Here are a few of our favorite moments from social media celebrations.

Celebrities helped rally the public

‍Parents (tried to) anonymously support their kids who are teachers

Huge shoutout to my parents for helping with my @DonorsChoose project. I especially enjoyed them pretending they didn’t do it, even though their name was on the donation. — Kim Kahan (@MsKahansClass) August 12, 2021

School districts bolstered teacher fundraising efforts

Teachers celebrated their success (and cheered each other on)

This is the first of many big days we have planned for teachers and students as the school year unfolds. We can’t wait to see how teachers use these classroom supplies to help their students fall in love with learning this year.

"[DonorsChoose] and its district partnership model have enabled teachers to raise over $670,000 in funds for warmth, care, and hunger needs for students since January 2020....The New York City Department of Education, Los Angeles Unified School District, and Philadelphia City School District joined DonorChoose’s partnership program in 2020, which more than 180 districts now participate in, representing over 10,000 schools nationally....Austin Buetner, who ended his three-year tenure as superintendent of the country’s second-largest district this June, told The 74 that LAUSD’s participation is part of an effort to engage the broader community in schools, particularly as housing and food insecurity becomes more widespread....Superintendent Buetner dubbed teachers’ projects, 'the voice of the classroom, which we can learn from.''The best perspective of what students needs are comes from the front of the classroom,' he said, 'not from some distant central office building.'"
‍Read the full story on the74million.org.

It may sound cliché, but a photo really is worth a thousand words—especially when it comes to your classroom. A distinct photo for your DonorsChoose teacher page and projects helps donors connect with your classroom and are a powerful tool for creating long-term connections. Check out these tips for creating a dynamite photo and some examples of classroom photos that we love:

‍

Tip 1: Take a photo!

A classroom photo should ideally be just that—a photo! Although it can be tempting to use stock images, clipart, memes, bitmojis, emoticons, etc. taking and sharing an actual photo gives donors the best snapshot of what makes your classroom unique. Here are a few ideas of what you can include in your classroom photo:

• your students in action at their desks or playing games
• a collage of student artwork
• your classroom bulletin board
• your students having fun as a group

Photos tell your students’ story best!

Tip 2: Safety first!

Good photos are, first and foremost, safe photos. To take safe photos of your students:

Go for the group shot.

Group shots of students, or photos that feature the sides or backs of students’ heads, help protect student privacy.

Break out your safest background.

If your classroom number school name, or student names are visible, try selecting a new background that features student artwork instead.

Emoticons are great—but not on your students!

We’ve seen some pretty creative methods of editing photos for student privacy, including frequent use of smiley-faces covering up student faces. Here's a good rule of thumb: If you need to edit a photo, it most likely wasn’t a safe photo to begin with. If you’re worried about posting images of students, or are waiting on permission slips, stick to photos that feature the back of students’ heads or photos of your donated supplies without students.

Tip 3: No students? No problem!

No access to students or your classroom during the summer? If you’re struggling to get a photo for your project, try these tips:

Ask around

Another teacher or a parent at your school may already have some compelling, safe photos of your classroom or students’ work. Have them email you the photos to make uploading one to your project a breeze.

Old photos are better than no photos.

New teacher? Trying to get a photo during the summer? Using an image of previous students or classrooms is a good option—but plan to update it to feature your new classroom once school is in session! If you don’t have students yet, a photo of your bulletin board or vibrantly decorated classroom is another great option; show donors your creativity!

Reach out to our customer service team through the Help Center.

‍If the upload feature is giving you trouble, or if unique circumstances have you stumped about how to get a photo, there’s a team of people eager to help.

Learn how to upload or change your classroom photo.

This post was published in July 2018 and was updated in July 2021.

More than half of the donations on DonorsChoose come from a supporter who’s never met the teacher they’re giving to. For teachers, the magic of knowing someone you’ve never met supports you, your classroom, and your students is priceless.

 DonorsChoose allows me as an educator to connect with people across the country who understand the importance of these materials and generously fund projects to obtain them. There is a sense of community and endless support from donors. It makes me feel valued as an educator. — Mrs. Rodriguez-Calzada, Illinois

Being a data-driven organization, we naturally wanted to put numbers behind that feeling. So, it was time to figure out who the biggest supporters of each state (and Washington DC) were. It turns out that New Yorkers love giving to their neighbors in Connecticut. South Carolinians support their neighbors to the North, and vice versa. Our friends in Wyoming are spreading the love across the southwest. As it turns out, landlocked Hoosiers are especially generous to Hawaiian teachers.

Who brings teacher dreams to life in your state? Take a look below!

It’s the end of a WILD school year and as you and your fellow teachers part ways for the most well-deserved R&R ever, here’s a short post to remind you that this DonorsChoose community isn’t going anywhere. Though your students and your classrooms and your neighborhoods may be vastly different, it’s those universal DonorsChoose experiences that bind us together from one school year to the next.

Without further ado, we present:

Tell me you’re a DonorsChoose Teacher without telling me you’re a DonorsChoose Teacher.

We’ll go first:

A “rocket ship sighting” has nothing to do with Elon Musk and everything to do with classroom celebrations. (In fact, it’s very possibly the highlight of your week!)

"A package was delivered to the office with no name. The secretaries assume it is mine." –Emily 

"When the security guard is told there are packages in the front and he says, “They’re for Mrs. Wright’s Class” without even looking at the boxes." –Nancy

 You’re on a first-name basis with your school’s USPS driver.

"My kids’ answer to any question about adding things to our room or school is always: “We should write a DonorsChoose Project!" –Suzanne

"Summer School student enters the classroom: ‘you're THAT teacher.’ 😆” –Eric

Kids who aren’t even in your class hang out in your classroom.

"I am known as the DC 👑 Queen at my school 🏫 and that title has nothing to do with our nation’s capital!" -Teri

"My phone is full of photos of shipping boxes." –Reuben

Your friends know your favorite Teacher Appreciation Week gift is project donations.

"Office Staff: You have ANOTHER delivery!" –Jennifer

"The front office staff has told me that they think I really like to shop." –Valerie

School budgets don’t stop you from dreaming big.

"I (almost) never have to tell my students we can't do something, because we don't have the budget for it." -Jennifer

"People from the west coast to the east coast support my students." –Kimberly

Your classroom is a week-to-week ‘spot the differences’ game of new materials.

"Other teachers stopped asking, "how did you get ___________? They know it is from DonorsChoose!" -Nancy

"My students have materials they need!" –Kellie

What did we miss? Tell us in the DonorsChoose Teacher Facebook Community! 20,000 of your fellow teachers are there waiting for you!

All the heart-eyes for a color-coordinated, hyper-organized, rainbow classroom! 😍 Go wild with stackable plastic bins; is there such a thing as too many? “A place for everything and everything in its place”, but make it polychromatic!

There’s something very soothing about this classroom — and we’re here for it. A cool, consistent color palette, soft textures, flexible seating, and a Tiki umbrella (!!) makes us more than willing to complete whatever daily tasks await in those perfectly-numbered teal cubbies. 

Everything in this classroom feels warm and purposeful. A reading nook, a Zen Zone, a puzzle table...this is a space designed for mental math AND mental health. With a rug, cushions, poufs, and yoga mats, the floors can add as much value as the bulletin boards on the walls. (See more ideas for creating a calm, focused, and happy classroom here!)

The more you look at this classroom, the better it gets. It’s a student-nerd turned teacher-nerd’s dream: a Rubik’s cube side table, a TARDIS to teach social studies via “time travel”, flexible seating that looks like keyboard caps, and life-size cardboard cutouts of the cast of The Big Bang Theory for character integration in science activities. (Bonus: Those Hokki Stools were a DonorsChoose project!)

This season may not be the full-fledged, pedal-to-the-metal, “usual” back-to-school we all hoped for, but you can make your room exactly what your kids need right now: a welcoming, focused place. This fall, before you tackle the academics, social growth, and creativity that the pandemic has postponed, consider these ways to help your students know that the classroom is their safe haven.

1. Make a game plan.

So much changed last year and some of the systems and processes you put in place during pandemic-learning may still be useful.

Designing a flow for your classroom in advance can make all the difference. Some things to consider: How will your students line up to come in from recess? Borrow books from your classroom library? Enjoy an orderly snack time? Store their projects and materials for future use?

Setting expectations for structure and organization from the first day back can help start the year on the right note.

2. Allow space for brain breaks.

Things we may see this fall: shorter attention spans, social anxiety, and easy over-stimulation. Here’s a tip from DonorsChoose teacher and Kern Avenue Elementary School Counselor Ms. Andrews, via her project Calm-Down Kits:

“Many students coming back to in-person learning are suffering from extreme anxiety. Students of all ages are re-learning classroom protocols and norms. Teachers need to be prepared in a moment’s notice when a student begins to feel big emotions.”
Her project requests a Calm-Down Kit for each classroom in her school. What’s inside? Noise canceling headphones, emotions flash cards, fidget toys, drawing boards, bubbles, kaleidoscopes, puzzle cubes, stress balls, coloring books, Play-Doh, pinwheels, and sand timers. 

Any one or more of these items — and permission to use them as needed — can help your students adjust back to full days of learning.

3. Bring mindfulness into your classroom.

Coming back from summer is always an adjustment. Perhaps more so this fall than ever. Create opportunities for your students to reflect on their experiences, de-stress, and channel any anxious energy into something creative or productive.

A few ideas from fellow teachers:

• Journaling for Health, Mrs. A, High School, Connecticut
  Colorful College Ruled Notebook Journals; Colorful Fine-Tip Ink Pens
  “It is well researched that writing helps to process emotions; the pandemic has caused much stress and anxiety that needs to be resolved and then put away to make room for education.”
  
• Help! De-Stress My Reading, Mrs. Rutledge, Pre-K-2, Texas
  Yoga Mats, Exercise Blocks, 50 Activities for Calm, Focus and Peace Card Deck
  
• “I want to use yoga-themed storytime to get the kids moving, focus on their breathing, and allow time to de-stress. Storytime yoga will provide my students the opportunity to move in many ways, including cross-laterally, as they use their bodies to act out stories, express emotions, and move creatively.”
  
• Yes We Can! So Watch Us Grow!, Teacher Kubo, 9th Grade, Arizona
  Raised Metal Garden Planter Beds, Potting Soil, Self Watering Devices
  “[My students] are stepping out of a pandemic to re-emerge as valuable members of the community and the school atmosphere. We will use different planters to create artistic spaces outside buildings, while planting resources for fresh produce for students to take home. These young men and women deserve an opportunity to begin a project, build within the project both mentally and physically, and then see it come to fruition.”

4. Consider your classroom setup and decor.

We’re seeing teachers across the country spending a bit of their summer redesigning their classrooms. Flexible seating, soft textures, bright colors, and organizational materials are among the most popular upgrades. 

Here’s how some DonorsChoose teachers are rethinking their classroom setup:

”The items I have chosen will make for a warm and inviting place to learn. The community time that we spend together after a post-pandemic year is so important in building relationships and learning social and emotional well-being.” - Mrs. Vaughn, A Rainbow of Possibilities With a Room Full of Sunshine, Kindergarten, Kentucky

“Post pandemic, I think new, flexible, comfortable, matching seating will allow my students to feel like this is their space...created just for them without dealing with the antiquated, wobbling, mismatched tables and chairs pre-pandemic...My students have spent the last 18 months during the global pandemic doing school from home. As we transition back to the classroom, I want to welcome them with an inviting, comfortable environment.” - Ms. Nixon, Cozy Homeplace, Grades 6-8, California

5. Stock up.

Reaching for a pencil, dry erase marker, or notebook and not having one is a stressor no one needs this coming school year. Make a list now of the supplies you’ll want on hand for Day One, including anything that would make your year as smooth as possible. (Here’s one list from Aimee’s Edventures to get you started!) Then make a plan to stock up.

Need some inspiration? Check out these 5 eye-candy classrooms!

Written by Briana Maddox-Miller, James Robinson, Yesenny Fernandez, and Ebony Atwell

Every year, DonorsChoose welcomes a group of fellows: high-achieving recent college graduates from untapped backgrounds who spend a year working across the organization to support our national community of educators and donors.

As our Fellow Yesenny can attest, DonorsChoose projects benefit students both in the classroom and beyond. In 2014, Yesenny’s 11th-grade teacher, Ms. Smith, requested copies of The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. Like Esperanza, the novel’s main character, Yesenny took on the challenge of navigating a new culture and language when she first arrived in the United States. The ability to see herself reflected in this text not only enhanced Yesenny’s mastery of English, but it reinforced her identity in and outside school.

When amazing educators like Ms. Smith request resources for their students using DonorsChoose, they’re bringing more than supplies into the classroom — they’re introducing new learning opportunities. Teachers do this with a unique understanding of their individual students’ needs, which allows them to personalize instruction. Recent studies like “Crowdfunding the Front Lines: An Empirical Study of Teacher-Driven School Improvement'' show that DonorsChoose projects have a positive effect on student learning because they rely on this teacher frontline wisdom.

After a year working at DonorsChoose, learning the professional skills needed after college, and seeing the creativity that teachers across the country bring to projects, Yesenny and the rest of our fellows wanted to share some key skills that can help teachers prepare students for their long-term career journeys.

Want to help your students be career-ready when they graduate? Read on our fellows’ tips.

Encourage student writing beyond essays

When we first entered the DonorsChoose fellowship program, we took our writing to the next level. Instead of working on essays and research papers in a school setting, we developed skills to communicate through professional emails. The power of a well-crafted email can go a long way when making an ask of a colleague or communicating with a customer! Building students’ broader writing and communication skills serves to prepare them for life in the workforce.

Empower student ownership of goals and planning

Essential to any professional role is the ability to think strategically about how to meet goals. In school, rubrics and syllabi are given for classes and assignments which include expected milestones determined by the teacher. When joining a professional team, those assignments and milestones are self-driven, and we each crafted methodical project plans and documents detailing project deliverables through the course of our professional growth. By opening the door for students to play a role in rubric creation, you could give students a vital experience in self-accountability and responsibility that would serve them in their early careers There is a level of accountability that accompanies being the one to decide the process by which you achieve your goal in a professional setting.

Lean on the wisdom of amazing peer educators

Working at DonorsChoose, it’s impossible not to see how many incredible ideas teachers are dreaming up on a daily basis. Browsing projects from fellow teachers can be a great source of inspiration! Here are a few of our career-readiness faves.

Mrs. Chappell had students create and lead a food bank that provided families with food and home supplies during a time of need. Through this experiential learning opportunity, students were able to hone the valuable skills of operational organization, teamwork, and effective communication to achieve a common goal. 

Meanwhile in Minneapolis, Ms. Schmidt-Kost   empowered students to recognize the importance of organization and goal setting through her project “Planning for a Bright Future.” These skills are foundational to good project management at any job.

While these are just two projects of countless others, they represent the possibilities teachers bring to their classrooms through career-focused requests on DonorsChoose. When teachers use what they know about their students to bring new learning experiences and resources, teachers (and the community who bring these projects to life) broaden students' opportunities. One project can give students the tools to imagine futures outside of school and build a better foundation for succeeding in the professional world. 

Thanks to our 2021 fellows, Briana, James, Yesenny and Ebony, for all your amazing work this year. Best wishes for the next step in your journey!

Juneteenth, celebrated on June 19th, commemorates the moment when emancipation finally reached the most isolated parts of the South, two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation. It’s a celebration of freedom — and a recognition of justice delayed and work yet to be done. 

Juneteenth has been celebrated as a second Independence Day in the Black community for a long time; however, this significant day has not traditionally been a part of the history taught in America’s classrooms. While some teachers have made Juneteenth a part of their classrooms for years, many teachers and students want Juneteenth officially added to the curriculum.

In the Classroom

By making Juneteenth part of their curriculum, teachers are introducing their students to the horrific realities surrounding our country’s history with slavery and how it affects our society today. For example: traditionally, lessons around slavery often highlight how the US Government granted enslaved people their freedom. In doing so, these lessons fail to acknowledge the role that enslaved people played in their own emancipation through everyday acts of resistance. 

Learning for Justice writer Coshandra Dillard points out that, “The overall narrative goes something like this: America overcame slavery, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. helped usher in new civil rights laws, and then we elected the first Black president.” However, this story, simplified down to suggest there was continual progress, removes the critical nuance of the Black experience, and makes it difficult for students to see and understand the effects of racism that still exist in today's society.

Honoring & Celebrating

Throughout the years, despite efforts to stop or disrupt Juneteenth celebrations, Black communities have commemorated the day by honoring the progress they've made and reveling in Black Joy. Former educator and two-time winner of the Diversity Teacher of the Year award, Ann-Katherine Kimble, discusses the importance of celebrating Black Joy, saying:

“...we have a flame that — though it may flicker — never fully extinguishes. That light is our joy. That joy is an act of resistance against systems of oppression. Even on plantations, you could hear us rejoicing. In this original “melting pot” — full of people stolen and transported like goods, coming from African kingdoms, with hundreds of dialects and customs — you could hear rejoicing in the midst of oppression and inequity.”

Celebrating Juneteenth puts Black culture — past, present and future — in the spotlight and gives the Black community and allies a chance to celebrate together.

Classroom Resources

• Teaching Juneteenth: Learning for Justice has put together a framework for teaching Juneteenth that you can add to a learning plan
• This is Why Juneteenth Is Important for America: This short video by The Root gives a quick introduction to how Juneteenth was born and the backlash that followed.
• Celebrate Juneteenth: This classroom activity invites students to compare Juneteenth celebrations to 4th of July celebrations and discuss.
• Get digital and lyrical: DonorsChoose teachers often create projects giving them access to sites like Brain Pop, Newsela and Flocabulary, which have digital and hip hop lessons on the meaning of Juneteenth.
• Books about Black History and Black Culture: For Juneteenth, many teachers create projects that pull together books about black history and about black culture to give their students an opportunity to explore the devastating parts of our history while celebrating the people who left a legacy. If you’re looking for inspiration, check out these projects: Celebrating Juneteenth, by Ms. Davis and Representation Matters by Ms. Scheele.
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Ready to help teachers celebrate Juneteenth with their class? Give to a Juneteenth-related project!

Teachers: Are you ready to bring Juneteenth into your classroom? Right now, you can earn a $100 DonorsChoose gift code by completing Google’s Applied Digital Skills Create a Flyer for a Juneteenth Celebration lesson with at least 15 of your students, while funds last!