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Schools Get Graded on Racial Equity

Holding districts accountable and closing the racial achievement gap is the long game, but the first step is proving the problem’s scale. “People want to hear about the evidence,” says Rebecca Epstein, executive director of the Georgetown Law Center on Poverty and Inequality, noting that raw DoE data isn’t adequately disaggregated by race and gender.

Why the approval of the JCPS Females of Color STEAM Academy brought me to tears

In a 2017 research article from the Center on Poverty and Inequality at Georgetown Law, “Girlhood Interrupted: The Erasure of Black Girls Childhood,” authors Rebecca Epstein, Jamilia J. Blake and Thalia Gonzalez wrote that often times black girls are seen as being older, louder and more difficult…I can speak from personal experience. I was always

Protect Black Girls Before It’s Too Late

From a young age, adults hypersexualize and adultify black girls; they’re seen as more mature than their white counterparts and, because of this, adults fail to protect them. The lack of protection allows us to become an ignored demographic; this leads to a world of danger for growing black girls. Read the Full Article at

When ‘Incorrigible’ Teen Girls Were Jailed

Times have changed since the 1930s, and girls’ experiences in the criminal justice system have too. Yet echoes of my grandmother’s time remain. According to the report “The Sexual Abuse to Prison Pipeline,” published by the Georgetown Law Center on Poverty and Inequality, the Ms. Foundation for Women and Rights4Girls, girls in the criminal justice

Black students are punished more in school due to racism

Georgetown Law’s Center on Poverty and Inequality released a study, Girlhood Interrupted: The Erasure of Black Girls’ Childhood, in 2017 about perceptions of innocence in black girls. The study found that black girls aged 5-19 are viewed by adults to need less protection, nurturing and support than white girls of the same age. It also

When officers bring danger, not safety, to school campuses

Teachers may misinterpret trauma-related behavior — struggles to focus in class, sleeping in class, being irritable — as being disrespectful. In addition, adults view black girls as less in need of nurture, protection, support and comfort than white girls of the same age, according to research by Jamilia Blake and colleagues from the Georgetown Law

Schools ‘Criminalize’ Black Girls, Jeopardizing Their Future Success

As recent as last week, a report was issued by Georgetown Law’s Center on Poverty and Inequality that details stunning statistics and first-hand accounts of how American society and our education system are stacking the odds against young girls of color. It starts early, says Rep. Karen Bass (CA-37). “It can actually start with pre-school,”

Black Girls Feel the Impact of Adultification, Especially in School

Apple Podcasts Research has already shown that black girls are seen by adults as less childlike than white girls. This phenomenon, known as “adultification,” was first documented two years ago by researchers at Georgetown Law’s Center on Poverty and Inequality. Now, a followup study reveals that, not surprisingly, black girls and women sharply feel the