Illustration: Stephen Kroninger

Teaching for Environmental Justice

It's no exaggeration to say that how educators of conscience respond to the global ecological emergency will echo through the ages. The summer issue of Rethinking Schools magazine features a collection of five articles on teaching for Environmental Justice. The collection includes:

The Big One
by Bill Bigelow
Bigelow, Rethinking Schools' curriculum editor, argues that that our rapidly warming earth—especially at the poles—is a civilization-threatening issue, and requires an urgent cross-curricular approach in schools—that no one discipline "owns" the environment.

Also in this issue of Rethinking Schools:

Connected to the Community
by Marianne Smith and Jan Osborn
Although Chapman University's I-Teach program is defunct, Smith and Osborn believe the program they helped develop and oversee provides enduring lessons on educating teachers committed to working in high-need schools. This is another in a series of Ford Foundation-supported articles on retaining and nurturing teachers.

An Open Letter to Arne Duncan
by Herb Kohl
In his "Good Stuff" column, Kohl, a National Book Award winner, warns Education Secretary Arne Duncan that in the zeal to produce measurable learning outcomes, "we have lost sight of the essential motivations to learn that moved my students."

'Bait and Switch'
by Barbara Miner
Voucher advocates are fast-talking their way around a new report that cast doubts on the value of the program.

Obama, Schools, and the Environment
An editorial from Rethinking Schools
It's no exaggeration to say that how the president and educators respond to the environmental crisis will echo through the ages.

There's a lot more inside this issue.

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Special Article Collections
Rethinking Schools special collections on critical education issues, including:

• War, Terrorism and Our Classrooms
• School Vouchers
• Bilingual Education
• Bush's No Child Left Behind Act
• The Return to Separate and Unequal -- How Minority Students are Being Shortchanged
• Teacher Unions
• Creationism in Public Schools
• Let's Talk About Sex