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Articles by Conor Williams

Conor P. Williams is a fellow at The Century Foundation. Previously, Williams was the founding director of New America's Dual Language Learners National Work Group. He began his career as a first-grade teacher in Brooklyn. He holds a Ph.D. in government from Georgetown University, a master’s in science for teachers from Pace University, and a B.A. in government and Spanish from Bowdoin College.

Latino Students Will Soon Be 30% of All Public School Enrollment: Now What?

Why Actually Working Isn’t Enough to Defend Effective Education Ideas

Washington D.C.

Williams: Welcome to D.C. — Publicly Progressive, Privately Guarding Its Privilege

In Yet Another March For Our Lives, Fresh Despair, But Defiant Hope in Democracy

Uvalde Shooting

As Tragedies Mount, We Wring Our Hands and Do Nothing

The 74 Interview

Charter School Co-Founders on Dual Language for All

Williams: Year-Round Schooling, Not Just a Question of Time, But Quality

Williams: A New — and Long Past Due — Roadmap for Overhauling How Schools Serve English Learners

Analysis: Why Testing Students (Even During a Pandemic) Is Critically Important

Swapping Mayoral Control for Elected School Boards Not the Smart Choice

When a School Reopening Risk Ends With Your Child Getting Sick With COVID

The Fatal Flaws of Conservatives Championing the ‘Recklessly Unmasked’

Back to School — After 18 Months of COVID: Before Kids Can Learn They Must Heal

Keep Pandemic’s Digital Innovations for English Learners

District of Columbia

Opinion: Easier to See Racism in Police Brutality Than Segregated Schools

Williams: Biden’s Proposed Child Tax Credit Is Smart Fiscal Policy, But That’s Not the Real Reason America Should Take Better Care of its Children

Williams — It’s Our Own Damn Fault: Too Many Have Treated a COVID Catastrophe as an Inconvenience, Leaving Our Health in Grave Danger and Our Kids Locked Out of School

New Math Toolkit Aims to Enhance Equity in Math Instruction, Prepare Students for a World Where Numbers Matter

Start at the Beginning: New Report Offers Solutions to Rooting Out Racism in Early Education

Shantel Meek, Rosemarie Allen & Conor Williams

Washington D.C.

As D.C. Feels Gentrification Pressures, New Study Finds Its Pre-K Lottery Provides Equal — but Not Necessary Equitable — Access

Williams: The Country Can’t Pretend Its Way Around Flattening the Curve — Especially If We Want to Reopen Schools Soon

Williams: The Education Reform Era Is Ending and American Schools Need a New Paradigm for Tackling Ingrained Inequity

Williams: Despite Our Desperation — and the President’s Insistence — Facts Don’t Support Schools Safely Reopening This Fall

In the Face of American ‘Truth Decay,’ Polls Shed Light on How Much Families Are Hurting During COVID-19

The Coronavirus Wipes Out New York City’s District-Charter Collaboration Program

The 74 Interview

74 Interview: Author Tim DeRoche on the Inequity of School Attendance Zones, the Flaws of Open Enrollment and Why the Government Should Drive Down Housing Prices

Williams: The Politics — and Economics — Around Why We Should Make Pre-K Universal Are Changing

Forced to Throw Out Their Old College Admissions Standards, Higher Ed Institutions Should Seize on the Crisis to Create Better Ones for the Future

Williams: Coronavirus Pandemic Reveals the Reality — and the Risk — of America’s Child Safety Net Being Its Public Schools

Williams: Charter Schools Hurt Their Cause When They Are Lumped In With Other Forms of School Choice

Williams: Successful Community Schools — Like Those in NYC’s Rand Study — Are Compatible With Successful Education Reforms

Tribute: Courtney Everts Mykytyn Inspired Countless Parents Seeking Integrated Schools. Her Death Is a Heartbreaking Loss

Every Student Succeeds Act

It’s Nearly Time to Reauthorize the Every Student Succeeds Act: 4 Priorities Otherwise-Distracted National Leaders Should Set to Make the K-12 Law Stronger

In New York City, A District-Charter Collaboration That Puts Kids First and Offers a Fresh Perspective on the Political Divide

Back to School but Nothing’s Normal. Schools Mobilize to Help Children of Immigrants After Traumatic Summer

Conor Williams & Rosario Quiroz Villarreal

Williams: School Choice Panel at National Urban League Summit Shows We’re Having the Wrong Conversation About Charter Schools

Washington D.C.

Williams: Dual Language Immersion Doesn’t Work If English-Speaking Students Are Given Preference

When Success Is Not Enough: Charter Schools Delivering Better Outcomes for Low-Income Students Still Target of Progressive Ire

Williams: The 2019 Democratic Debates, Where No One Argues for Fixing America With Better Schools

Williams: Democrats Awash in Campaign Promises to Put More Money Into Education, but Silent on How to Change Schools to Better Serve Kids

Williams: Kamala Harris’s $315B Teacher Pay Raise Has Merit, but Is It the Best Way to Improve Education for Poor Kids?

Analysis: Why Those Looking to Reform American Education Will Need More Than Facts on Their Side to Win the 2020 Political Debate

Williams: 30 Years Ago, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Parents Made a Difficult School Choice. Now Her Cousin May Have to Do the Same

Williams: On Testing, Meritocracy and Educational Equity: How Exams Forced Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s School to See Beyond Stereotypes

Williams: Old Habits Die Hard, Especially in the Classroom. Inside a New Campaign to Elevate the Science of Learning

Washington D.C.

Williams: As Washington, D.C., Considers Ramping Up Dual Language Programs, How the Nation’s Capital Can Use Multilingual Instruction as a Tool to Advance Equity

Williams: ‘The Make-or-Break Year’ About the Transformation in Chicago’s Dropout Rate Argues for Education Reform Done From the Ground Up

A Parents’ Guide to Finding and Understanding Useful Education Data: 6 Ways to Get More out of Those Confusing School Performance Numbers

The Age of Anxiety? Why More Educated Millennial Parents Are Telling Researchers They Want to Know How Their Kids Measure Up in School vs. Their Classmates

The 74 Interview

74 Interview: Integrated Schools Founder on Talking to White Parents About Privilege and Turning Neighborhood Schools Into a Rallying Cry for Integration

Williams: Just as Florida Should Be Embracing Its Vibrant Immigrant Community, Its New Education Plan Is Set to Make Life Harder for Students Learning English

Williams: I Lived — and Transcended — the Opportunity Myth. But for Students in National Study, It’s Much Harder

The 74 Interview

74 Interview: Former Sacramento School Chief, Author of ‘Wildflowers: A School Superintendent’s Challenge to America,’ on Educating the ‘Whole Child’

Review: In Arne Duncan’s New Memoir, Reflections on Putting Kids First, the State of Our Union, and the Lies We Tell About Our Schools

Williams: Why a Longer School Day Could Make Learning More Compelling for Kids — and Life Less Stressful for Parents

Williams: Inequality, Meritocracy, and Privilege: Some D.C. Private Schools Leave AP — and Further Abandon Our Shared Democratic Life

Williams: We Are Rightfully Moved by the Suffering of Immigrant Children Taken From Their Parents, but It Shouldn’t End There

Williams: As Immigration Issues Roil the Nation, One Georgia Community and School Welcomes Refugees

At DeKalb PATH Academy, an Oasis for Refugees and Immigrants: How One Atlanta School Has Created a Community Around Students Learning English for the First Time

Williams: Trump Continues Anti-Immigrant Assault By Targeting the Education Department’s Office Serving English Learners

Williams: 10 Outstanding Children’s Books That You Won’t Mind Reading Over and Over Again

Dad Talk: 8 Tips on Reading to Your Kids, a Comforting Constant in a Time of Parenting High Anxiety

Williams: Americans Love Simple Solutions, but the ‘English All the Time’ Approach to Teaching ELL Students Doesn’t Actually Seem to Work Very Well

Williams: How One Hmong Charter School In Minnesota Is Preserving Student Culture, Raising Test Scores and Attracting Non-Hmong Students

The 74 Interview

74 Interview: ‘Newcomers’ Author Helen Thorpe on a Year in the Life of America’s Refugee Students — and Why Public-Private Partnerships Are Essential

Williams: Why We Shouldn’t Reserve Our Outrage Over Privilege and Good Schools to Just D.C.’s Antwan Wilson Gaming the System

Williams: Some Practical — If Uncomfortable — Solutions to the Stubborn School Segregation Mapped Out by Vox

No Child Left Behind

Williams: NCLB Sounded Tougher on Accountability Than It Actually Was and Yet It Was Still Demonized

Williams: Trump’s America Through the Fearful but Still Hopeful Eyes of My Old Brooklyn Student & Friends

Every Student Succeeds Act

Williams: As Florida Flouts America’s New Education Law on English Language Learners, Will the Feds Take a Stand?

Analysis: Why Orange Is the New Red in California — and School Accountability Just Got a Whole Lot Harder to Read

When Being Right Feels Wrong: Yes, ESSA’s Civil Rights Protections Are Every Bit as Weak as Predicted

Washington D.C.

Williams: D.C.’s Vast and Successful Education Reforms Raise the Question: What Next to Close Achievement Gaps?

Williams: On Trump, DACA, and the Children You Haven’t Read About Who Will Be Hurt in a Crueler, Weaker U.S.

The Joy in My Day: A Love Note to My Kids’ School

Williams: How a Tougher Test and Chaos in D.C. Just Made Things a Whole Lot Harder for Kids Learning English

Williams: Raising LA High School Graduation Rates by Any Means Necessary Is an Empty Accomplishment

Williams: The Closer Charter Fans Are to the Classroom, the Higher Their Trump Anxiety

Williams: In Praise of New Jersey, Illinois, Louisiana — 3 States Smartly Using ESSA to Help English Learners

Williams: Trump’s Ed Budget Masks Cuts as Flatlines and Makes Cuts That Devastate Kids

Williams: The D.C. Enrollment Scandal Shows How Critical It Is to Guard Against Parent Privilege

Williams: It’s Not What Trump’s Education Department Will Do That Should Worry Critics; It’s What It Won’t Do

Williams: Lord, What Fools These Ed Reformers Be! A Requiem for the Every Student Succeeds Act

Williams: Congress Moves to Kill ESSA Accountability Rules, Giving States Lots of Room to Do as They Please

The 74 Interview

The 74 Interview: L.A. Education Activist Yolie Flores on Schools, Politics, and Why She’s Running for Congress

Williams: The Temptation to Compromise With Trump on Schools — and Why It Might Kill Education Reform

Williams: Donald Trump Rode to Power on the Populism of the Past. Now, What About the Future?

Williams: Trump and Schools — and the Lasting Damage to How Kids View Democracy

Williams: Two Big Charter School Truths Lost in ‘Shoddy Discourse’ Over Lifting Massachusetts Cap

Williams: The Cool Factor in Embracing Calif.’s Bilingual-Education Vote: Multiculturalism

Williams: What Would Hillary Do on Education? Community-Focused Reading List Offers Clues

The New Reformers: City-Loving Millennials Who Want Quality Schools Not Tied to Their ZIP Code

The 74 Interview

74 Interview: Early Ed Expert Ruby Takanishi on Why K-12 Doesn’t Work Without Pre-K

Williams: Standing Up for Students Means Finally Standing Up to Donald Trump

Desperate for Bilingual Teachers? New Paper Says You Should Start With Your Classroom Aides

Williams: As California Fails Its Dual Language Learners, a Preview of ESSA Problems to Come?

Williams — Everyone Loves Pre-K, But No One’s Asking the Key Question: How Do We Train Early Educators?

Williams: Linguistic Politics, and What’s At Stake In November with California’s ‘Multilingual Education Act’

The Real Reason Candidates Aren’t Talking Education in New Hampshire, South Carolina (or Anywhere Else)

Williams: The Fight to Boost Student Literacy Is Happening Years Too Late

Williams: Education Politics vs. Practice (Or Why So Many VERY BIG IDEAS Rarely Make It to the Classroom)

Williams: Why Progressives Should Fear, Conservatives Should Hate and Obama Should Veto the NCLB Rewrite

Williams: NCLB Brought Good Things for Multilingual Students

Williams: The Existential Horror of Teach for America

Williams: Mr. Duncan Goes from Washington, and Education Policy Loses a True Public Servant

Williams: The Disjointed, and Increasingly Dishonest, Attacks on Charter Operators

Opinion: Liberals Push to Correct Inequality — Just Not If It Involves Opening Up Our Neighborhood Schools

Review: In Dale Russakoff’s “The Prize,” an Urgent Education Catastrophe Overflowing with Culprits and Caveats

The 2015 NH Education Summit

Opinion: Jeb Bush Swings Big on Pre-K at the Ed Summit — and Misses

Conor Williams: Shut Down Student Data and Shut Out Lights on Ed Woes

Conor Williams: No Pressure on States Means No Changes for Underserved Kids

Conor Williams: If You Want to Win the Reform Wars, You’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat

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