May 17th is the 59th anniversary of the historic Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision. Decades later, students, parents, teacher and advocates are still fighting against education policies that leave students of color and low-income students deprived of the resources and opportunities they need to succeed. But a grassroots revolution is brewing, what blogger Jeff Bryant has been calling an "education spring," and this past week has seen headline-grabbing victories and inspiring actions.

Mark your calendars for an exciting, free webinar on Wed. May 22nd at 7:00 p.m. (ET) hosted by the Center for Teaching Quality, OTL Campaign, National Education Association, and the Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education.

It’s time we recognize that students fall behind not because of inherent character flaws, but because our education policies for the past two decades have focused on implementing tough standards while failing to build support systems that address the societal factors that create barriers to academic success.

Standards-based reform creates an inherent system of winners and losers by raising the bar and assessing who makes the cut. Supports-based reforms provide and strategically align the needed resources so each student has the opportunity to reach that bar—and surpass it.

Many students, including those with disabilities, English Learners, students of color, and students from low-income or rural communities are being taught by teachers with little or no training. The 93-member Coalition for Teaching Quality asks that the US DOE compile a national report on the number of students being taught by teachers-in-training who are inappropriately identified as "highly qualified teachers" under federal law.

At the National School Boards Association (NSBA) Annual Conference this weekend, hundreds of school board members voted to adopt a resolution to prevent the use of out-of-school suspensions and encouraged school boards to implement positive discipline policies that keep students in the classroom and learning. One of the most crucial tools to use on the local level is being released today: the OTL Campaign's brand new policy guide for school board members and local advocates.