Suspending Opportunity. After analyzing 9 years of data from the Department of Education, we found that every school district in Rhode Island suspended students with disabilities at rates more than twice as high, on average, as their representation in the student body. These disproportionate suspension rates, like those that impact racial minorities, begin in the earliest grades, and are often for low-risk behavioral issues that could be addressed in other ways. Our report, Suspended Education, breaks down the data and offers a series of recommendations to the General Assembly and school districts. 

Happy Pride! In the first week of Pride Month, City of Providence announced that its health insurance plans will now cover transition-related care for transgender employees and retirees.

PARCC is the Wrong Answer. We joined a coalition of 11 other organizations representing youth, parents, the disability community, and civil rights activists to file a formal petition with the state Council on Elementary and Secondary Education to initiate a public process to bar school districts from using high-stakes testing as a graduation requirement or grading tool before 2020. Right now, districts can use PARCC as a graduation requirement starting in 2017 and use it as a factor in students' grades by next school year. Accepting the petition would provide the public with its first real opportunity to discuss the Council’s expedited schedule for use of the PARCC.

#FBF: Women's Rights. Sunday marks the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling that legalized birth control. Our intern Nora talks about the discrimination pregnant workers faced then and and still face now

Discrimination is Out of Style. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled this week that Abercrombie & Fitch violated the Civil Rights Act with its refusal to hire a Muslim woman because her hijab violated their "Look Policy."

"The World Says No to Surveillance" Check out Edward Snowden's op-ed in the New York Times today talking about surveillance and the power of an informed public.